I don't have time to respond right now.
But I'd like to throw in this one little thing real quick.
When I was 11 years old, I joined the Boy Scouts of America.
I had spent time as a cub scout previous to this, but had little idea what to expect from the boy scouts which was a much more mature organization.
I clearly recall my first meeting. Well. Portions of it.
All the new recruits had to to study the motto, the oath, the creed, etc...
I can't really remember all of them. But, one of them, I drilled into my head so squarely that it exists there to this day. And I can rattle it off without even stopping to think about it.
A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.
There have been periods that lasted for years where I never thought of this, then the subject of memory comes up and this memory comes to the surface and I rattle it off. Machine gun style.
I believe that I remember it so well because I placed a great deal of emphasis on its learning at the time. The other things I had to memorize that night were all far easier to remember and required no great effort. But this long list was difficult to remember and I drilled it in. And in it remains.
I also have a clear memory of the first day of first grade. I was late. Everyone turned to look at me as I entered the classroom.
Again. The reason for the memory? Embarrasment.
TheoryOfRelativity has pasted a link to the hippocampus already. The hippocampus is central to the focusing of attention in the brain. There is a delicate feedback mechanism which reinforces certain memories while overlooking others.
I tend to believe that the brain does not store all memories. And those memories it does store are not usually accurate.
I can understand where Mr. Anonymous is coming from, however. I suppose if I had a photographic memory I, too, might assume that such is the normal function of memory if only it were trained to be that way.
Anyway. As I said. More on that later.
