IS YOUR BRAIN IN GOOD SHAPE?
by Barbara Basler

Human memory not only stores facts, figures, knowledge—it stores our lives as well. Some psychologists call this “autobiographical memory," the memory of the birth of a child, a first kiss, a cruel slight. In his new book, Why Life Speeds Up as You Get Older (translated by Arnold and Erica Pomerans, Cambridge University Press), Douwe Draaisma, a professor of the history of psychology at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, explores this kind of memory, which he says is tied to the human perception of time.

After age 40 or 50, he writes, a year seems to last but a fraction of the time it did when we were 20 or 30. And yet, while the years seem to go so quickly, the hours and days seem to remain the same length they always were.

Why is that? The 19th-century philosopher Jean-Marie Guyau, Draaisma points out, advanced the theory that memory stores sharp, intense impressions. When young, we are bombarded with fresh experiences that are so novel they are stored in our memory. When a young person looks back over a year, it seems long and significant because it is filled with these firsts. But as we age, we have fewer experiences that are dramatic enough to go into long-term storage. Even though the days may be pleasant, at 40 or 50 or 60 we’ve been there, done that. One week can be much like the next, and they collapse in on themselves, fusing together until we ask, “Where did the year go?”

                Guyau offers this advice to slow down this rush: “If you want to lengthen the perspective of time, then fill it, if you have the chance, with a thousand new things. Go on an exciting journey, rejuvenate yourself by breathing new life into the world around you. When you look back, you will notice that the incidents have heaped up.” And all those memories, he says, will make the year feel like a year used to be—a long stretch of time marked by firsts.