Are We Really Shaped by a Few 'Core Memories'? Here's The Science

What are your earliest memories? Is it possible to lock in a core memory. What do you remember about yourself?

In popular culture, the concept of "core memories" is well-known. According to the movie Inside Out, core memories are the most important memories. The idea is that certain events shape your personality, behavior and sense of self.

Thousands of TikTok users have made "core memory" posts about their childhoods, with more than one billion views. These posts tend to focus on small moments, such as watching Saturday morning cartoons, holding hands with a schoolyard crush, or splashing through the rain.

Do core memories still exist? While we do use memories to construct a sense of self, and these memories support our psychological wellbeing, memory science suggests the idea of a "core memory" is flawed in five key ways.

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1. We don't have just five core memories

There are autobiographical memories in our long term memory. There are no limits to the size or capacity of this memory store.

We are not limited to just 5 life memories. We might bring to mind a different set of self- defining memories on different occasions.

2. Core memories don't drive our personality

Individual memories do not affect our personality.

autobiographical memory has at least three key functions, according to psychologists.

The self function says that we know who we are because of our previous experiences. Memory stories help us to socialize and bond with others. According to the directive function, our memories help us learn from the past and solve problems in the future.

It is possible that some memories are important for our identity. Winning the state volleyball championship could be important for how we view ourselves as athletes. The underlying personality traits are stable.

3. Our childhood memories are not always our strongest

Our most important autobiographical memories are not always from our childhood. We tend to have bad memories from our earliest years. The number of events we remember is low across the primary school years.

Our early adulthood is when most of our important memories tend to coalesce. The phenomenon is called a "reminiscencebump"

Our earliest childhood memories are usually mundane. As a child, what interests us may not be as interesting as an adult would be. Our most formative experiences take place in the late adolescence and early adulthood.

A longing for the past is one of the reasons we develop nostalgia. The core memory trend is picking up.

4. We can't predict what will become a core memory

New core memory is shorthand for highlighting an exciting new experience as soon as it occurs. There could be snowfights, hugs, holidays, and more.

We don't get to choose our memories because emotional events are more easy to remember. It's not possible to predict what events we'll remember later and what we'll forget.

The events that become important to us over the long term might be ones that seemed mundane at the time, and different memories may come to have different meanings at different stages of our lives.

Many of the details we thought important at the time are likely to be forgotten.

5. Core memories are no more accurate than others

Sometimes core memories are depicted as snapshots of the past, like pressing play on a camcorder and watching the event unfold.

There are similar arguments made about flashbulb memories. These are the vivid memories that come to mind when learning about a dramatic event for the first time.

Even when it refers to an important event, every memory is prone to change, forget, and make errors.

The way memory works makes it possible for error. We usually remember the broad gist of the event and some details when we record a memory.

We reconstruct the event when we get back to it. We have to fill in the gaps for any detail that we might have forgotten.

We have the ability to change details, introduce new emotion, and interpret an event's meaning when we recall it. It's possible to have a joyful memory after getting engaged. Negative emotions can be introduced into the memory if that relationship fails.

What core memories get right

The core memory trend is useful in showing how important our memories are.

A window to our former lives can be found in memory. We share parts of ourselves when we reminisce about our experiences with other people.

The Professor in Educational Psychology and the Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow are both from the University of Wollongong.

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