Time is like a spring

Interesting.

The thing is memory has to do with content and context, we build webs of associated recall. 'Anniversaries' (which a birthday is) already has a 'context' to make it more memorable: Whatever it is an anniversary of...birth, marriage, divorce, catastrophe, death. So if you ask for that distant recall on a day that has meaning to a person...yes a year ago may be clearer than 6 months ago or even last Tuesday. There are so many things we do routinely (brush teeth, turn off stove, lock doors)
that we would be hard pressed to state with confidence if we did them on a specific day because we have this ingrained memory of all the times we did it. (This is why we sometimes have to go back and double check the stove or the door--am i remembering just doing it...or all the times i've done it???). That's why attorneys so often ask why someone is sure they saw the defendant in proximity to crime scene on the crucial day (not the one before or after), it helps a jury accept there's no mistake if the witness can say: Well I had just been fired, or I was on my way to some event, fixed in time (party, meeting).

But any random day can suddenly become one of those 'landmarks' either for public events/reasons or private. i first learned of my father's terminal illness on the same day as the Oklahoma City bombing so that one's a double whammy for me. My daughter had a great 18th birthday, then awoke 9/11/01 the next day.

For me the significance of a year passing has always been somehow connected to survival, to recovery. When a traumatic event is at least a year in the past...i find it easier to let go. (Tho some things take a few years.) Memorials help remind us we've circled the sun completely since whatever happened. And if you start thinking about the solar system's movement round the galaxy and the galaxy's movement thru the universe...well, we are actually in another place aren't we, distant from the painful or joyous there/then.

I do agree with the concept of context and associated recall, but I was just thinking, pondering if you will, the possibility that when we are exactly one year or exactly a multiple of years from a certain event, that the proximity, the closeness, might have an additional effect on memory, not so much unlike the moon's effect on tides. My idea is that the proximity is not spatial in reality, but spatial in concept in order for us to talk about it. My idea is over-simplified as well, again in order to facilitate a discussion or visualization.

Maybe context and association are tidbits that are left behind that create a gravitational like pull on the associations still with us, and as we become closer to those left behind, the pull is stronger and hence the memory is more vivid.

I would propose a method of testing this theory, albeit one that is again over-simplified. The subject, a person preferably, would need to have a memory of an event that can be verified by outside sources. It would be best to zero in on one aspect of that memory or one item of the event -- for example, if the event were a birthday party, then zero in on the inscription on the birthday cake as the item or piece of the memory to look at, or the color of the lettering, or some other minute detail that has no relevance other than having been a piece of the memory at one time. Now, if there was a way to quantify the clarity of that item at different times throughout the year, and throughout the person's life, then we could begin to see if the proximity to the anniversary date has any effect on the clarity. Other factors would have to be taken into account, other associations would have to be eliminated, other contexts would have to be identified, much like the example of double-checking to see if the stove or the lights were turned off. The task would be to separate the memory of looking at the cake from the memory of "remembering" looking at the cake.

If a test could be devised, I believe we'd see that proximity, as I've been calling it, would prove to have a very specific and quantifiable effect on the memory of an event, with the event coming into focus with much more clarity as we get closer to the anniversary.

Just more random thoughts, nothing scientific, obviously.

I think the what you describe- feeling 'close' to a past event- be it positive or negative- that transpired exactly one year ago is due to our inborn sense of 'time'. Time as we know it now- is not how our earliest ancestors made note of events. They noted a season, or attached another event such as a birth or death to deepen the memory.

I also believe that there are folk who are more in tune with the process of making and keeping internal memories refreshed and maintained. We all know folk that literally can't remember what they ate for supper the night before, nor any event that has significance to them- birthday, wedding anniversary, passing of a loved one, etc. We all know folk that have crystal clear recall of even the most minute event in their lives- be it a month or six months, or years ago. Perhaps there is some sort real 'time loop' or 'spring' as you say, with events folding back upon themselves at precisely measured quantities- i.e. days, months, weeks, years, etc of time - a cosmic 'reminder' service, lest we forget.

A great topic!

This is an interesting theory, Mike. We know that there are some events that get burned into our memories and are with us in detail no matter when we try to recall them.

I can see that the memory may be clearer say for birthdays on the birthday. But is this because the same time of year (weather, smells, or some other trigger) helps evoke those memories? Are they reinforced by the focus of others on the event?

If you pick just a random, normal day like say, March 11, most of us cannot recall what we were doing on last March 11 although being in the season or the month may bring last year's memories back within a range of dates.

It would be nice to be able to test the theory. I think that you would find as SherrieAnne says above that there are great differences in people's memories. I don't really remember many of my birthdays - only ones that were quite special in some way. So I don't think I would test well. But for those who do catalog each event in their minds it would be interesting to see if it was stronger on the anniversary dates. Thought provoking! Thanks.