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Fascinating Fact:
It is quit striking to see how many
memories go back to our childhood. Approximately 65% of the
volunteers preferred to relive a moment they originally experienced before the
age of 12. How come? Were we happier as a child?
Prof. Hamilton
assumes that we simply create more memories during our
childhood. As a child, we experience a lot of moments and emotions
for the first time. The excitements of those moments are just more appealing to us
and we love to remember them.
Early childhood on the other hand, contains fewer
memories. The methods we use to analyze and compare memories aren’t
fully functional before the age of four. The storage of memories is most probably
related to our linguistic skills.
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Braintec
laboratory during the Dutch Film Festival in Utrecht
From 25 September till 1 October 2004 Braintec had a
temporary laboratory in Utrecht (The Netherlands) during Re:visie at
the NFF. This year’s subject was ‘new ways of storytelling’. At this
location, Rosanne van Klaveren collected single memories from volunteers on a
daily basis.
Memories are stories in the most essential way, says
Rosanne van Klaveren. They create our identity and mentality. Collective
memories are the core of our society.
Stories or memories are not static. They are talked
through over and over again and during every rehearsal, sometimes in the
mind alone, they are subject to change. This way they grow along us and can
survive for centuries. If a story or memory is not repeated from time to
time, it is in serious danger. We might probably forget its existence.
Therefore it is very important to keep in touch with our precious moments,
the ones we would like to remember.
During Re:visie volunteers could choose one of their favourite
memories. Under the professional supervision of Van Klaveren, these
memories were copied out of the brain and stored in so called
M-Stores. These volunteers took a seat in the medical chair and a
cap was placed on their head for the registration of their
brainwaves and the connection to the server. Van Klaveren helped the
volunteers to relax and guided them to their chosen memory. When the
brain activity in the surroundings of the amygdale and the
hypothalamus -where we relive our memories- was optimal, Van
Klaveren started the Braintec Upload Program. The external extractor
copied the active MEMES temporarily onto the server, after which
they were stored in M-Stores.
These memories are now waiting to be used in the next
series of MSI-tests. A team of test subjects at the Braintec Research Center
in Portland will then be able to relive these chosen moments.
Van Klaveren is born in the Netherlands. She started
her career at Braintec as one of our first test subjects of the MESI-program.
Dude to her involvement and interest in the procedures she got appointed as
senior consultant. Van Klaveren has become a valuable member of our crew and
an indispensable force in our contacts oversees.
Click on these files to enlarge
The Braintec Upload Program is developed in
cooperation with Arts & Bits and with the financial support of the NBKS and
the city of Breda.
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