“Reminiscence Bump”

~ Elizabeth
Credit to John Medina

I am unsure where I first heard a reference to the “reminiscence bump,” but I was delighted to find a reason for the very clear memories now available from my life in my late teens and twenties. As you can tell from the above graph(and much more information is available on line) late in life memory retrieval takes a dramatic turn. It’s for the better as I have experienced. While one’s middle age remains a blur, experiences from 10 through 25 or so suddenly seem clearer than they have been in years.

This has been a Godsend for blogging. Some readers have commented on the clarity of some of my memories. I can attribute that clarity to the “bump” that apparently hits at about the time in my late 60’s when I began to write. As I have read up on the phenomenon, it apparently happens to older people around the world. That made me pause and reflect on the value of this quality arriving then.

At 76, my memories of being 16 are very clear. My 16 year old granddaughter has become the recipient of this trove of detail. But for her my tales are 60 years in the past and of real interest to her. I remember benefiting in the same way at 15 from my grandfather’s tales of his childhood. Taken together, my grandfather’s details held by me and shared with her and my own details handed on comprise over a century of stories. This, of course, was traditionally valued as the wisdom of the elders.

While the United States has declared youth a prize and old age a liability, I can see that it is missing one of the true gifts of the “reminiscence bump.” It gives the young perspective and gives the old the satisfaction of sharing wisdom. I had such a moment during the Watergate hearings in 1973. I was 27 visiting my 83 year old grandmother. She said “I don’t know why there is such a fuss. The Tea Pot Dome Scandal was worse.” The country had been there before, she assured me, and life would go on. It helped.

23 thoughts on ““Reminiscence Bump””

  4. Love this post Elizabeth!
    Sadly, your following statement;
    ‘While the United States has declared youth a prize and old age a liability, I can see that it is missing one of the true gifts of the “reminiscence bump,”’ is true across the Western World!
    It’s rare to find young ones who value our life experience & wisdom, rare indeed.

    When my second born daughter took me on a Mother’s Day gift trip to Singapore a few years ago, my daughter, my granddaughter & I were pleasantly surprised at the honouring I got because of my age & white hair! I was put first, served first & given great respect everywhere we went. Such a lovely gift indeed.
    Blessings, Jennifer

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  5. I’m an octogenarian, but I’m unaware of any such “bump” — perhaps because I’m an introvert and there’s never been a time when I haven’t been keenly aware of the journey my life has taken. I think extroverts (of whom there are many more than introverts) live more in the moment and therefore are less reflective,

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  6. I’ve been volunteering by reading to seniors in assisted living for almost a year and a half now. Often something will come up in one of the stories I’m reading to them that will trigger their memories. Remarkably, those memories can still be retrieved after many years.

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  7. I had never heard of this, but it helps to explain why I had such a flood of memories after retiring at 60 and starting a blog. Many blog followers have asked me how I have such clear memories of my childhood and schooldays, now I can tell them why.
    Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. I found myself knowingly nodding as I read through your post. The timeframe of what you remember and how that takes a turn later in life is the same with me. It’s quite wonderful. I would have liked your grandmother, she was right.

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