Some thoughts on memory.

Douglas Hofstadter has some interesting bits about how we don't store memories like movies, but store "symbols" of the relevant things and when we remember we sort of combine those representations into a composite image that feels like a movie. It would be easy for an unscrupulous or even well-meaning but sloppy therapist to influence you you combine these in ways that didn't happen. One's mind surely contains representations of "parent" and "abuse." It wouldn't be too hard to someone to get you to combine them in a way that didn't really happen.

Bsky search isn't working at the moment but when I was reading the Hofstadter I wrote a thread analyzing one such memory. I had an old girlfriend that I saw completely naked just once, hot tubbing after we'd broken up. Despite more than 30 years passing I thought I had a clear memory of her.

 I realized it was more likely that I combined the concept "seeing her naked" with a memory of her general proportions and general images of what a woman's body looks like. As far as details go, I could think I remember her pubic hair (which I only saw that once) but "black triangle" is easy enough to refine into a realistic pseudo-memory. I might well remember that scene more vividly than many others because of its emotional charge. But is the image truly detailed or are semi-linguistic symbols like "Leslie naked" just stored in a bolder font than others? 

 Now I'm picturing a word cloud. I'm also picturing a sort of set theory Venn diagram. People (and other images) that occupy the intersection of two sets are bolder, as it were. To continue the theme I've started (clearly a bold face theme in my mind) I've known a number of people personally and seen a number of people naked. The people who belong to both sets will be represented more boldly.  

And the funny thing is, now you have some simple mental image of Leslie, who you have never met, presumably. This is based on your idea of what women look like and perhaps other Leslies you have known.

I just started a novel and there was this:

"That face will be built by what isn’t seen, built from an amalgam of other faces, faces of people we know and people we’ve seen on television and movies and within crowds. Perhaps we’ll imagine a kind face when it is more likely he has a face, to our enduring shame, that does not inspire our kindness."

—Paul Tremblay, Horror Movie: A Novel