An episode from a second-grade music class has remained a vivid memory for over a decade. The incident involved a young girl, Rachel, feeling embarrassed after wetting her pants during class.
I experienced neither of these that I can remember! I have remembered that day so vividly, ever since that day, so I have remembered almost every detail of that story that I believe is true.
Declarative Memory
The type of Declarative memory that I remember is called an episodic memory.
An episodic memory is the memory of personal experiences and specific events that happened at a specific place. This it true, because it was a specific personal experience, not just a fact that I was learning. I learned how to toughen up through experiencing this kind of embarrassment.
I am able to consciously recollect events and facts from that day.
I am able to do so, because I was so embarrassed, that I remember so many details of that day and the horror it brought to me, for years. My family would also tease me able that day, for the next coming years. Reoccurring information makes it so short-term information can turn into long-term information.
Other story fragments
I remember that the girl (her name is Bailey), begged the teacher to help take me to the bathroom, when I could take myself. This made me feel more embarrassed and down on myself, because when you are 8 years old, you want to do things on your own.
When all of the students were laughing at me for wetting my pants, I remember that the teacher stood up for me. She told the class to be kind and to not make fun of me. I appreciated this, and I felt more comfortable returning to the class two days later.
Subtopic
Sensory connections
My haptic memory of this experience, was being able to touch and feel the wetness in my pants and it all soaked into the carpet.
I experienced an echoic memory, from hearing all of the kids around me make fun of me and make me feel embarrassed for wetting my pants.
Cognitive hooks
There was a visual system involved in this memory of me in Music class in 2nd grade.
I visually saw all of the faces of the students, when the class as a whole realized that I had wetted my pants. There was a girl on the other side of me, that announced it to the class with an, "Ewww, Rachel peed her pants!". her saying this made me feel even more embarrassed.
I visually saw my own urine soaking up my clothes and the carpet around me.
This is a sensory memory called an Iconic Memory.
I visually saw the cute boy next to me, whom I had a crush on give me a dirty look as my urine spread closer to him.
The stronger the connection, the stronger you will hold onto that memory. My connection with getting embarrassed and wetting my pants, has stuck in my memory for the past 11 years from that day.
How embarrassment effects the brain
Embarrassment is associated with the activation of the left anterior insula, which is involved in emotional awareness processing and arousal.
Mood-congruent memory
It is less likely to remember experiences, when we are consistent with our typical mood. So if you are feeling emotions of embarrassment, or rare feelings, those stick in your memory longer typically.
I was in my 2nd grade music class and I had a huge crush on a boy names Kody. The teacher told us all to sit in a circle, and I got to sit next to Kody! My teacher would always tell us to not raise our hands when she was talking. I had to go to the bathroom really, really bad and was too scared to raise my hand. I started to urinate in my spot and it started to spread through the carpet, to the people I was sitting next to. This was horrifying, because I was sitting right next to my crush Kody! I will never live down that day, but it is funny to look back on now!
