Test your memory

I play the card-game Memory to win, so I had shivers down my spine when I drew near to the end of Rememori, a version created by Christine Wilks (2011). Rememori is “a degenerative memory game and playable poem that grapples with the effects of dementia on an intimate circle of characters.” Try it out, if you're feeling strong.

If your own memory worries you, there are several clinically trialled tests listed at alzheimersreadingroom.com. They are described as self assessment tests, but note that they are not intended for self-diagnosis, and most are designed to be conducted by trained medical practitioners.

Memory's tricks have been given some colourful names: confabulation, cryptomnesia, fugue state, memory illusion, memory distortion, retroactive interference...sounds like a list of retronaut time capsules. The shiftiness and power of memory are discussed by Kotre (1995) in White Gloves: How we create ourselves through memory. 'Transmissive remembering' is used to "pass on to others one's cultural heritage or personal wisdom, or to bear witness to significant historical events" (p. 176). 'Life review therapy' for the elderly can improve health and well-being, even "bring a sense of integrity, coherence, and completion to one's life" (p. 178) but Kotre warns that

There are events in our lives that can never be undone, no matter how we rework them in our minds. There is damage that cannot be repaired, regrets that cannot be assuaged. Opening up what cannot be fixed may result in depression, guilt, anger, panic, and obsessive rumination... (p. 180).

Enough to give this prospective oral historian pause for thought! It seems that aged care professionals and oral historians have quite different agendas when recording senior citizens' reminiscences. Some guidelines for ethical practice are available from the websites of the Oral History Association of Australia and the US Oral History Association.

I grew interested in 'witness literature' as a genre when reading Murakami's Underground: the Tokyo gas attack and the Japanese psyche. That's led me to my current reading, The Studs Terkel reader: my American Century, and I've bookmarked the website of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education for a time when I'm feeling particularly strong. The institute collects testimonies from survivors and witnesses of genocide, and makes them available for educational use in order to "overcome prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry—and the suffering they cause" (sfi.usc.edu, 2007).

References
Alzheimersreadingroom.com (n.d.). Test Your Memory for Alzheimer's (5 Best Tests) | Alzheimer's Reading Room. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/p/test-your-memory-for-alzheimers-5-best.html [Accessed: 5 Dec 2012].

Crissxross.net (2011). crissxross: creative works by digital writer & artist Christine Wilks. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.crissxross.net/ [Accessed: 5 Dec 2012].

Kotre, J. N. (1995). White gloves: How we create ourselves through memory. New York: Free Press.

Murakami, H. (2003). Underground: The Tokyo gas attack and the Japanese psyche. London: Vintage. 

Sfi.usc.edu (2007). About Us | USC Shoah Foundation. [online] Retrieved from: http://sfi.usc.edu/aboutus/ [Accessed: 5 Dec 2012].

Terkel, S. (2007). The Studs Terkel reader: My American century. New York: New Press.