Limelight: Remembering to remember By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Why do we remember? Why do we forget? What is memory? What is this complex, intricate and mystifying process, that occurs in the labyrinth of the mind and soul, and is still beyond complete scientific understanding? Memory is defined as our ability to store, retain, and recall information, personal experiences, and procedures, such as skills and habits. Overall the mechanisms of memory are not well understood. While scientists have identified specific areas in the brain, thought to be involved in certain kinds of memory, such as the hippocampus, amygdala, or the mamillary bodies, it is insufficient to describe memory as solely dependent on different brain regions. Some scientists who have investigated the nature of memory, like neurologists Eccles, Penfield, and biologist Sheldrake, have suggested that memories are a field phenomenon, not stored in the brain, but rather accessed through neurological structures. It is only during the 20th century, or the late 19th, that memory was placed within the paradigms of "Cognitive Psychology". In recent decades, it has become one of the principal pillars of a new branch of science, called "Cognitive Neuroscience" -- a marriage between 'cognitive psychology' and 'neuroscience'. Psychologists are interested in the workings of memory, why and what we remember or forget. Much of the current knowledge has come from memory disorders. Diseases, like amnesia, show apparent defects in the brain's sub- system. Sigmund Freud is the author of the art and science of conjuring repressed memory, of traumatic events, for the treatment of emotional or mental disorders. Scientific evidence for this notion of unconscious repression is lacking, yet there is ample evidence that there exists a type of memory of which we are not consciously aware, which scientists refer to as 'implicit memory'. Such a rich field provided food for thought for many artists of the 20th century, and became a major source for plots and scenarios for the young art of film. Alfred Hitchcock leaned heavily on memory, or the lack of it, in such films as Spellbound (1945) , and Vertigo (1958); so did director Ridley Scott in Blade Runner (1982) and Gladiator (2000). In Memento (2000), the hero is a man afflicted with anterograde amnesia, while Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), deals with the consequences and remorse of forceful forgetting of a loved one. British playwright Harold Pinter's 'memory plays', Old Times (1980), Betrayal (1983), and No Man's Land (2001), explore and dramatise the various aspects of memory. Perhaps the most renowned work of literature dealing with memory is Marcel Proust's monumental A La Recherche du Temps Perdu (Remembrances of Things Past). Remembering is an important factor in the success of our social and professional lives. Experts have devised ways to improve memory by using 'mnemonics,' tricks and clues that make remembering easy by association. Few of us know immediately if a certain month is 30 or 31 days, but reciting that famous jingle: "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November," evokes the memory. The method does have some disadvantages, since you need to remember the many devices that help you remember. Some of us have excellent memories, some poor, with no clear cut reasons. Some miraculous memories can repeat whole books word for word, or play whole symphonies after hearing them once. Memory improves up to the time of maturity, then it may show gradual decline. It is a common belief that the higher the IQ, the better the memory. In general, as we get older, we shed more and more memories, leaving only the most significant. There is a limit to what we can retain, so, unconsciously or subconsciously our memories become selective. We choose to forget names, numbers, dates, or what we don't understand or care for. We choose to remember our most pleasant experiences, occasions, matters of profound interest, events that changed our lives. If we could remember everything, all the time, life would become intolerable. Some people who come along our way leave a lasting memory whether we meet them once, or often. Those are special people with qualities and virtues that we value, esteem, admire, envy, honour, need, cherish, respect, or revere. Such was the calibre of the man who founded this very newspaper 16 years ago and steered it formidably for 13 of those years. His name: Hosny Guindy. To him Al-Ahram Weekly was more than a job, a duty, a trust. It was a task of the gravest responsibility, more of a calling, a mission, more sacred than a priesthood, more complex than a presidency. It is hard to describe how Hosny Guindy approached the task of running The Weekly. The fact is, The Weekly was his life. We all knew it, we all honoured it. Each one of his staff was a son or a daughter, each one considered him a father, though he was younger than many. He guided, encouraged and energised us, and we all tried our best to please him. He never demanded it -- it was just so. The highlight of my week was when I received a call of support or approval, in his gentle voice and modest manner. How I miss his leadership, his inspiration, his fervour, his faith! Why does the human memory store so much of one person and so little of another? Science has yet to decipher the labyrinthine web of our esoteric, enigmatic, elusive, brain -- or does memory exist within our very soul! There is little doubt that the brain constantly filters information, emotions and experiences, and selects what it wishes to store in order to recall it at will. It is simplistic to reduce it to a mere function of the hypothalamus or hippocampus. So many things about memory are a mystery, and should remain so. How can we think of Hosny Guindy without a tear, without a smile? They are inseparable. It is hard to remember the loss of a loved one; it is harder to forget. When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past. -- William Shakespeare (1564 -- 1616)
