Memory without learning

Where were you when you heard that Princess Diana had died? Or Michael Jackson? Take a few minutes to think about the question. The chances are that you can remember ‘as if it were yesterday’.

You can probably remember very clearly not just where you were, but perhaps sights and sounds of the moment, who you were with, what you said, how you heard the news, who you told it to; in effect a rich and detailed memory.

A memory without learning. (By learning I mean the effort of trying to remember something).

But this is not just memory without learning, or memory without effort; it is a rich and detailed memory of a situation you only experienced once.

This is a ‘one-hit’ memory.

You only needed to experience it once and yet you remember it in so much detail, and with such clarity, that it could have been yesterday.

You no doubt have a number of equally rich and detailed memories of important events in your life. And all of these have associations. Perhaps a smell or a colour brings back one such memory, perhaps a place, or a series of words.

These memories are special because they are not associated with plain facts, but contain other information related to sights, sounds, smells, etc.. It’s almost as if you took a snapshot of your whole senses at that one point.

These memories are richer and more detailed than could ever be achieved by conscious effort.

I believe that the least effective way to remember is by a conscious effort, i.e. ‘learning’.

(Do you remember ‘cramming’ the night before your exams? How much of what you ‘learnt’ then can you remember now?) Is it possible that we can ‘acquire’ a language in the same way as we acquire our memories, without the conscious effort of learning? I believe that it is. After all every child acquires their first language(s) without any formal learning. And with a 100% success rate.