genetic memory

[druglessdouglas]

In psychology, genetic memory is a memory present at birth that exists in the absence of sensory experience, and is incorporated into the genome over long spans of time.[13]. It is based on the idea that common experiences of a species become incorporated into its genetic code, not by a Lamarckian process that encodes specific memories but by a much vaguer tendency to encode a readiness to respond in certain ways to certain stimuli. It is invoked to explain the racial memory postulated by Carl Jung, and differentiated from cultural memory, which is the retention of habits, customs, myths, and artifacts of social groups.[14] The latter postdates genetic memory in the evolution of the human species, only coming into being with the development of language, and thus the possibility of the transmission of experience.[15]

[edit]
Genetic memory and language

Language, in the modern view, is considered to be only a partial product of genetic memory. The fact that humans can have languages is a property of the nervous system that is present at birth, and thus phylogenetic in character. However, perception of the particular set of phonemes specific to a native language only develops during ontogeny. There is no genetic predisposition towards the phonemic makeup of any single language. Children in a particular country are not genetically predisposed to speak the languages of that country, adding further weight to the assertion that genetic memory is not Lamarckian.[13]
[wiki.]

how much of who we are is the memories of who we were?

this is something i spend a lot of time thinking about when im away from civilisation. trying to light a fire in wind in rain and sleeping in howfs, rock shelters in the mountains. at the time i often imagine i feel the memories of all the people who did it before me.

 

[Nomada]

What about a causal dimensionality in language's semantics? During a learning phase, early in childhood though not stopping in a any particular age, in which particular simbolic, and hence a world-perception apparatus, is handed all over the place. Culture would no only operate on the phonetic-alphabetic form of language but rather orbiting the semantic weight ascribed to any form and spread through conditioning [staying away from "conditioning"'s negative perception, specially in this forum]. This would explain the recursisve memory like behavior and at the same time stay away from the question if "genetic predisposition towards the phonemic makeup of any single language" since it operates through meaning, not form [I repeated myself...]

How can one differentiate racial memory from cultural memory? [in a context of Jung or any other]

I may have misunderstood somethings you said. point them out if you feel the need please.

EDIT: Curious indeed if epigenetic-human-activity's main function is to significate: art, music, theater, dance, politics, culture. Culture's matrix, i.e. operating complex scenario, could be language in its semantic dimension. The ontology of language and its relationship to human history.

 

[Pariah]

"how much of who we are is the memories of who we were? "

Good question, I've had several interesting conversations about "nature vs. nurture" with a friend of mine, usually concerning personality traits like pessimism (are you born a pessimist or learn to become one).

I think its to difficult to pin down exactly where genes end and life learning begins for everyone, but I would agree that its not just one or the other as I've heard some people try to explain it. I'd say it seems to change from person to person as well - genetic predisposition and personal experience can vary so widely it makes it hard to find a "line" between nature and nurture or.

I can relate to what your saying about being away from civilisation, for me its a switch over from your mind dealing with how to live day to day (in civilisation) changing to a more imediate feeling of "survival" or trying to prevent death: a switch to a more feral side that we grow out of touch with to some extent through our modern lives. Perhaps more hormone related than the actual "wiring" though in my opinion.

When I get the feeling of "animal memory" I'm usually to busy surviving to think about it, but it really hits home when I get back to a warm bed and realise just how good it feels not to shiver yourself to sleep...

 

[FluidDruid]

Great article! Thank you!

Carl Jung is one of my heroes.

I love phonemes! Hello? Herro? Hallo? Heelo?

 

[Nomada]

...not by a Lamarckian process that encodes specific memories but by a much vaguer tendency to encode a readiness to respond in certain ways to certain stimuli

what vaguer tendency? [that, simultaneously, is not Lamarckian]

 

[druglessdouglas]

ive become a bit lasy over the past couple of years, buta couple of years ago i would regularly spend 1-2 weeks in the hills on my own. after a week of seeing no other human i would get into a state of mind that was almost entirely non verbal.
that is you start experiencing reality without giving it any value or meaning. you stop comparing one thing o another. going to get water is just that, no longer a chore that is compared to being more difficult than running a tap. it gets quite deep

when in a situation like the above ive often felt i remember doing it before, but not me doing it before, rather the collective "we" going to get water, lighting a fire, or digging a hole to shit in. at that point feel that i am remembering exactly what it reallyy means to be a human being, stripped of all reason and logic. i always find it difficult to verbalise the non verbal, sorry

what i want to know is if anybody else has felt this

this isnt me:

 

[tryptonaut]

I think genetic memory, or archetypes, go back further in humanity than certain languages. Languages are living "beings", they always evolve and never stay the same. Genetic memory would be more universal, just like the mexican/maya imagery people tend to see on mushrooms. People from all over the world with all different kind of backgrounds can relate to these visions. I can remember as a child when I first saw this picture of a maya calendar depiction with all this trippy imagery - I couldn't stop staring at it because it somehow gripped me.

 

[Meduzz]

I think there is a certain limit to genetic memory as the brain still needs some plasticity to function in different environments. Only a crude basis survival memory is functional here I think.