Disrememberer: meaning, definitions and examples

Etymology

• The word combines 'dis-' meaning 'not' or 'the opposite of' and 'remember,' indicating a state of forgetting.
• While uncommon in everyday language, it emphasizes an active sense of forgetting rather than passive lapse of memory.

Psychology

• Memory can be influenced by emotions; positive feelings often help us remember better, while stress can lead to disremembering.
• There are various types of memory loss, such as amnesia or dementia, which can deeply affect a person's ability to recollect experiences.
• The brain has a mechanism known as 'repression' that can cause the disremembering of traumatic events as a protective measure.

Literature

• In literature, characters who disremember can create powerful narratives around loss and the mysteries of the human mind.
• Plays and novels often explore themes of memory and identity, showcasing how forgetting can shape who we are.

Pop Culture

• Movies like 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' explore the concept of forgetting and the emotional implications of wanting to disremember someone.
• In the realm of comic books, characters with memory-erasing powers engage with the concept of disremembering, often leading to dramatic plot twists.

Science

• Neuroscientists study the brain's hippocampus to understand how memories are formed and why some may be purposefully disremembered.
• Cognitive science explores the fallibility of memory, showing that our recollections can be reconstructed inaccurately over time.