dastardly stem wrote: ↑Mon Aug 02, 2021 6:53 pm
Dr Moore wrote: ↑Mon Aug 02, 2021 5:00 pm
With faded memory is it honest to say things like “I vividly recall…”?
Well yeah...I read in Psychology Today:
In one experiment, researchers showed volunteers images and asked them to imagine other images at the same time. Later, many of the volunteers recalled the imagined images as real. Using fMRI, the researchers were able to determine which parts of the brain formed the false memories and which formed the real ones. “We think parts of the brain used to actually perceive an object and to imagine an object overlap,” says Northwestern University scientist Kenneth Paller. “Thus, the vividly imagined event can leave a memory trace in the brain that’s very similar to that of an experienced event.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... r-happened
Maybe we can apply this type of brain analysis to his story. Maybe he's not lying because it could be that the part of our brain that perceives things is also the part that imagines things. He just happened to syncretize things like movie scenes with past events. He came out as the great example in the story because he sees himself as living the life everyone else should emulate.
I don't know. Maybe.
This is likely the most plausible of all explanations for a "scary" flight becoming the "vivid" subject of Nelson's many subsequent recollections. Why?
1. The "lesson" from this event changed. Initially, he wrote that the flight served to remind him to write his history for his posterity. Only later did the event become a lesson about temple covenant gratitude. You could argue both are related, but they are very different internal motivations (passing on your life story to the living, vs being personally calm with gratitude for eternal after-death blessings). That inconsistency suggests he imprinted his own false memories onto the event much later.
2. Psychologists who study trauma (eg,
Bruce Perry) have extensive research showing that it's basically physically impossible for people to experience the trauma of a near-death experience AND at the same time have full cognitive, logical awareness. This is another aspect of Nelson's story that makes no sense -- he was either aware of imminent death, and therefore his brain function was dominated by instinctual drives, or he was in no danger and was therefore perfectly calm and cognitively attuned to the lady next to him and his temple covenants. He cannot have been both perfectly calm and cognitive while at the same time grappling with the fear and trauma of an uncontrolled fiery spiral death dive. (Highly recommend reading the book above for more detail and references) The inconsistency in Nelson's retelling of his own personal experience also suggests that he was (a) scared of dying and (b) implanted false memories about the event later, which to him must have become the real "vivid" event.
I believe the fear he felt was real, but that almost all of the other details about the event, whether the plane, behavior of other passengers, and his inner bimodal experience of being perfect calm cognition while undergoing the trauma of fearing for his life, are false memories that he found later utility as a story telling tool to underscore the importance of gospel living and temple covenants.
Ironically, the one real thing about Nelson's story -- fear of dying on a plane -- is entirely consistent with the fear-driven lesson he teaches every time he tells this story. Ultimately, Nelson is reminding listeners that we are all potentially seconds away from death and should therefore be ever worthy and vigilant in covenant keeping. It's a story about fear meant to inspire fear.