Why do we remember some life moments but not others?

There is no such thing as "quality time", only "time" (together).

https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762

I am an avid outdoorsman. One thing I have realized is that every wilderness locale has a distinct natural smell. It isn’t just the plants but also the minerals, soil, and bacteria that live in that environment. There are vast regions of the US where I can probably identify the locale with some degree of fidelity by the smell. It is a bit like how an expert sommelier can identify wines. Civilization is more hit and miss but wilderness is almost fingerprinted by its smell.

Humans are clearly capable of sensing it and imprinting based on it. We don’t think about it much but it is there.

You tend to generally remember stuff that you didn't process properly or generated a ton of emotions that are more than the baseline.

I have experienced this too. Recently I was in new place I've never been before and while waiting in line at a shop, I randomly smelled something that instantly gave me déjà vu for my very early childhood, like age 5 or less. It was wild how vivid and fleeting it was - it lasted only for a moment but I remember the sensation.

The subtitle addresses this:

  BU study finds memories of mundane incidents can be 
  strengthened when they get attached to a memory of an 
  emotionally charged event[0]

So doesn't seem that obvious at all.

I remember random mundane events from tons of random days, unconnected to any prominent event (as near as I can determine anyway). And I also remember some random mundane stuff from days something prominent did happen. Whether there's a bias towards days with prominent events is entirely unclear to me.

“I HAVE A STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT BUT I NEED CASH NOW!!

CALL JG WENTWORTH, 877-CASH-NOW!!”

It pops into my head at least once a month, and it sits for 1-3 days on repeat in my brain. I swear it was some MK-Ultra level psyops level writing, whoever came up with those commercials.

It drove me crazy. Absolutely insane. Every day, trapped in this stuffy room, with this insanely hot girl that drove me crazy. I couldn’t think.

On the last day, I asked if she wanted to go to the arcade or movies sometime. I had to take my shot. She said “No” with no emotion or any thinking really.

That is my overwhelming memory of drivers ed. The sexual frustration of my 16 year old body followed by embarrassment and failure.

The driver’s license was great though

I think that's the most we can ever expect from studying a complex system.

On the arbitrariness, I wonder how it goes if a triggering event happens, the circumstances are retroactively prioritized as well, but down the line the event itself gets forgotten/deprioritized.

In computer terms, it's probably not some atomic transaction that will be fully rolled back, and it probably can misfire as well, so there must be a wealth of memories that are attached to the same prioritization principle but in some broken way.

- You can read your favourite books every couple of years and not be bored.

- You can watch your favourite Movies and TV Serials every few years. (almost time for Expanse rewatch..)

- IMO it makes you a better/gentler person. I don't hold grudges because I can't be arsed to remember why exactly I was mad at someone.

It bothers me when he brings events up that he remembers clearly and swears I was there...family get together and birthdays. But I have zero recollection. I only remember the bad things.

I'm in my early 50's and just now beginning to enjoy life and feeling happiness for the first time in my life. I met a great woman that is loving, caring, great cook and has a 160 acre farm with Bortle 3.9 night skies. I have a good reason to drag out my heavy ass 10" telescope out now.

I have a weak memory in general, but I always remember the most mundane things in my life that I had no idea I still contained in my brain, triggered by a specific smell.

Another example is that when I moved to a new street, while crossing one road, I stumbled upon the edge of tram road and almost fell. Two years and counting, my brain always brings this memory up while passing the same point on the road..