Why can’t I remember my accident?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When CrowdScience listener, Grady, crashed violently on his motorbike in the desert, he thought he was going to die. Years later he still can’t remember the dramatic seconds just before the impact. Where did the memory disappear to? Did the hard hit to the head knock his memories out or are they still in his brain somewhere? CrowdScience turns to brain science to find out if those last few seconds are lost for good or if the brain tells a different story.

Under normal circumstances our brains like to hold onto memories that are emotionally important to us. We can remember our wedding day but not yesterday’s breakfast. But scientists have discovered that during near-death experiences, our brains are flooded with chemicals that disrupt our ability to remember. Grady may never recall how he was able to keep his motorbike steady as he drove off the road because – maybe – the memory was never created in the first place.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Melanie Brown and Louisa Field Sound design: Eleni Hassabis

(Image: A biker helmet lies on street near to a motorcycle accident. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of
0:07.0	Happiness Podcast.
0:08.0	For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want
0:14.4	to share that science with you.
0:16.1	And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.
0:19.4	I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that
0:25.5	calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:31.5	I'm Marnie Chesterton and this is crowd science from the BBC World Service.
0:36.0	This week, taking us on a bumpy ride down memory lane is crowd science listener Grady.
0:42.0	I was driving from my home in Salmon, Idaho to Pocatello for final exams at university.
0:50.0	It was quite cold, beautiful blue sky, and on my Yamaha motorcycle doing about 75 miles an hour. The engine was running perfectly.
1:05.0	And I was coming up to a wide sweeping left-hand turn.
1:12.0	Started the bank. sweeping left-hand turn.
1:29.6	Started the bank for the turn and immediately felt and heard a sound below me and looked down and saw the kickstand of the motorcycle and it was down and sparks were shooting off it.
1:37.0	I looked at the speedometer, saw the sparks, and knew that I was going to die within the next few seconds.
2:05.0	It's just a miracle I lived. I started wondering about this accident. There was a gap of maybe three or four seconds from seeing the sparks and knowing I was going to wreck, I was still, you know, conscious in control for some time after that,
2:10.0	and that's, there's a gap that I have tried many times over the years to remember
2:16.8	that and I have never been able to. My question for crowd science is why can't I remember a part of an accident that I should have been able to remember?
2:32.0	Why can't Grady remember his accident? Did the hard hit to the head knock his memories out?
2:38.0	Or are they still in his brain somewhere?
2:41.0	Memory is our personal Wikipedia, the knowledge about the world as we've experienced it,
2:47.0	that each one of us carries around in our heads.
	...

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