The science of remembering and why a memory is never permanent

Our memory is a personal record of past experiences stored in the brain’s hippocampus. Every time we recall a memory from the past, our brain changes in a way that alters this memory. As such, research by professor of psychology at New York University, Liz Phelps, has revealed that our memories change each time we remember them, meaning what we recall and reminisce on is never a carbon copy of the actual event we have experienced. With this in mind, international photo curators PastBook have now revealed that 29% of the nation say that their social media accounts are the only permanent representation they have of their favourite memories.

When we recall our memories differently to different audiences, it isn’t only the message that changes, but the memory itself. Memories can often feel vivid and true to life, yet even our most important life moments do gradually change in our brains over time. A study by Boston College has also revealed that as time passes, the visual information that illustrates our memories gradually fades away, with the vibrancy and visual quality of these memories also decreasing. From birthdays to bungee jumps and weddings to will you marry me’s – reminiscing and sharing our most treasured life experiences is a crucial part of who many of us are.

Memories are dynamic—they’re always changing, yet as our brains continue to rewrite our most treasured moments, documenting these memories has never been more important. It has also never been more accessible, with many of us now recording our life stories on our social media accounts, from milestones and major life events to workouts, meals or holidays.

PastBook (www.pastbook.com) – a unique instant photo book service – captures the best memories on our socials and turns them into an image-based memoir – preserved forever. The platform’s sophisticated technology automatically creates a unique photo book of our most precious memories in just one click. Collecting the highlights of your Instagram, Facebook, Dropbox, Flickr, Picasa, computer, phone or tablet, PastBook selects the users’ best photos and instantly arranges them into a high-quality photo book.

Daniel Scheijen, CMO of PastBook, discusses the value of uploading our everyday memories on our social media accounts:

“Over time, our brain’s hippocampus changes the way we recall even our most important life memories. In fact, our memories change each time we remember them, meaning the stories and moments that we often share and reminisce are never accurate recollections. As such, it is no surprise that many of us are now recording and documenting our life stories for our social media accounts.

Today, with so many of us documenting every aspect of our lives – from engagements and gender reveals, to what we had for dinner – we now all have a digital photo album of our most important life memories, one which we can look back on in years to come. At PastBook, we create well-curated, stylistic logs of these social accounts and turn them into image-based memoirs – preserved forever.”