“Some of this is semantics and some of it is lack of meaningful collaboration…..
and some of it is just another example of the way that memory works.”

Also “carve out now pathways in the brain” should have read new pathways.

The act of memory is far more than just recall. In simple terms we now understand that the brain adds weight to certain memories almost like applying experiential filters which actually distort memories and regenerate them with extra social indicators that have meaning for us.

I wrote about some of them over here
http://www.dialogcrm.com/blog/2007/08/22/uses-not-innovations-drive-technology/

The book This is your brain on music puts it all more elegantly but our brains are not neutral data retrieval systems. And yes external triggers like music and other vivid experiences all help to build a kaleidoscope of memories.

Like the Heisenberg uncertainty principle often translated as something like “the act of observation changes the act being observed” which is a bit like what seems to happen.

Each time the brain learns something new it is either added to a matching pattern area or depending on age and experience might even carve out now pathways in the brain. (or both)

So memory and the act of remembering adds layers of extra meaning to the situation and effectively this results in a “memory” that looks different to differnt people even if they were all present and trying to remember the very same event.

Actually even trying to describe some of this is not so easy. That is one of the other key points about Daniel Levitin’s book.

Researchers and academics often describe the very same things with wildly conflicting viewpoints. Some of this is semantics and some of it is lack of meaningful collaboration.