the perspective of perception and the mutability of memory

wow - thats a verbose thread title - but hey - on with my thoughts

we all remember things - but do we remember them accuractly ?

[ the TL : DR synop[sis of this thread is a critique of the new zealand has moved and berenstain bears threads ]

the answer is - of course not - but we think we do

my evidence to support this - is sadly personal annecdote

at the weekend - i vistited an old friend who i have not senn for 30 years and reminiscence ensured .

one topic that came up wa a noted geological / geographic feature within walking distance of his house - that we used to play at some 40 years ago

for privacy purposes - no names or details - but suffice to say - it was // is a local attraction of note // noteriety

so after consuming much alcahol - we pledged - that first thing in the morning - we would go back up there and " re-live the dream "

of course - morning came - and being now sane and sensible 50 somethinfs - we rounded up a couple of bags of saftey kit and set off

now 40 years ago - we had a bit of washing line - and a pair of shorts

but the crux of the story is - that it [ our epic adventure zone of 4o years ago ] had shrunk

i mean seriously shrunk - i was last there at age 10 - and i have done a lot since then - and it was no longer the epic place i remembered

i have grown - i now stand 26cm taller and 28kg heavier

but the place had shrunk - almost beyoud recognition - yup the track leading to it was the same [ all-beit shorter and less steep ]

but the challenges were a shadow of thier former glory

leaps of faith that formed the stuff of epic dares - and led to tears and taunts - were now reduced to insignificant mole-hills

we had fun - but my lasting impression was " is that it "

of course - the curx of the matter is - what had changed ???

had an entire geological area " been shrunk " ????????

or were my 40 year old memories faulty ???????

as anyone who has read my contribtion to the berenstain and new zealand threads will probally guess :

my opinion is :

it did look big and svcary to a ten year old kid - who lacked the skills and esperience of my 2015 self - and my 40 year old memory has " stuck " frozen in time and unaltered by the memories of things i have done since that as i say - make those 40 year ago dares look triffling .

what i did NOT do - is concoct a fantasy that it had shrunk - and i was now living in a different reality - where it was 1/4 the size i remembered

and there in is the difference - there are things we remember correctly - and things we dont - i remember the bridge leadsing to it being painted blue [ and it still is - due to estate byelaws ] .

but i accept that my persceptions of scale and danger were different then - and had been memembered erroneously

i guess the thread - bottom line is :

man up and admit you can bbe wrong

dont be an arse and try to convince the world that there is a magic place where you are right

APE - OUT

a reply to: ignorant_ape

That was a nice little story. You're absolutely right, though..Human memory is incredibly faulty; Much more so than many would like to admit. As time passes, our memories tend to become more and more exaggerated, and details are forgotten. Our subconscious then tries to fill in the blanks, thus distorting the memory even further.

The mind is a funny thing.

Edit: S&F.....and Berenstein.

Well yah, our perspectives are skewed (see my signature).

I had the same experience with a place we used to visit as kids called "Happy Hollow". It had this maze we used to get lost in. Returning later in life I was also shocked to see how small it was, now.

The whole Universe has changed, too.

Every second of every day is new.

Happy Hollow

My eight year old son has very clear memories of an incident that happened when he was around 2 years old, He swears blind that he remembers it happeneing and most likley always will.

It would be easy to say that the human mind is an amazing and mostly understood thing and sit there in awe at the fact.

The truth of the matter is that what he remembers is not the actual event but being told about it when he was a lot older and bieng shown photographs. what he remembers is not the event iteslf but his mind has formed it into an actual memory.

It is far more exiting to choose the former explanation over the latter however and that is what many will choose.

I have a certain sympathy for the "mandela effect" and posted in both the threads as I also remember things differently.

I also stated that the most likely cause of my different memories was the near fatal head injury I suffered some years ago but that idea did not seem to garner much interest.