Genetic Memory?

[saint 0]

I have always wondered where the knowledge we are born with comes from. We accumulate knowledge stored in memory as we go through life but what about the knowledge or memory we are born with? May be either of the words - knowledge or memory are not the right words..but there is definitely some ready 'wisdom' that we are unconsciously conscious of when we are born. It is obvious some 'genetic' knowledge is passed on to us - specific to our species. Every born creature has a certain amount of memory "pre-installed". For instance so many egg laying animals leave there eggs before they hatch yet each young once hatched already knows its mission in life. Take the example of the sea turtle. The mother lays her eggs deep in the sand and departs leaving her young to hatch by themselves. When these fragile little things hatch they are buried in sand yet they somehow know that this is wrong. Not only this but when they reach the surface they also realise that that being on land is not right either and so they scurry down the beach into the water and "know" that they should watch out for predators. Is this knowledge somewhere deep in the brain or written to our DNA? How is this knowledge put there? People who believe in the supernatural may suggest that the mother or both parents psychically yet subconsciously teach this knowledge to their young whilst it grows in the womb. The problem I have with this is that one would expect that mothers or parents leading deferent lifestyles, regardless of whether they raise the young themselves or not would cause the young to be predisposed to a similar lifestyle but studies have so far not proven this the case. The more open minded scientists might suggest genetic memory as I do. I believe that somehow certain knowledge is slowly refined as our genetic code is slowly altered through each generation and that this knowledge is also the cause for species adaptation. Maybe this refinement caused one strain of turtle to leave the knowledge for its young to accept being on land and began the species of the tortoise, but now we're getting into evolution. Although evolution is a part of this, my purpose is to draw attention to the influenced decision making capabilities, and indeed the capability to want to make decisions, of new born creatures all over the world.

[truefusion 3]

The way the brain works, science may never know. And evolution will never be able to teach us, cause they cant explain it either, no matter how hard it tries to. Also, i dont think the mother has anything to do with it, but the Father.

[tdktank59 0]

lol... this is fun anyways...we do in a sense have a preloaded brain with natural survival instincts and what we should do in life to survive...we how ever are not born with anything from our parents or at least i dont think so... we just happen to know basic instincts... if we were born with knowledge and memory passed down this would be one sick world... bad sense here lol we would rember our parents bring us into this world... uhg nasty thought... so anyways before i scare my brian of thoughts... pretty much we are born with the will and basic instinct on how to live... and we learn from there

[WindAndWater 0]

Actually, those type of actions are defined as instincts in behavioral biology, and are assumed to be hard-wired from the DNA. As far as I know there isn't any contention over the issue. One of the more interesting/amusing types of instincts are Fixed Action Patterns. A Fixed Action Pattern happens when an animal is provided with a specific stimulis and automatically goes through a preset series of motions. For example, with some types of geese if you place an spherical object near their nest they'll try to roll it back in by sheperding it with their neck. However, if you take the "egg" away from them half the way through, they'll continue rolling empty air until they get to the point where the egg should be back in the nest. Another example is a specific species of bird, which lives in Australia if I remember correctly, where the males have bright red plummage. They have a Fixed Action Pattern to attack other males that enter their territory. Unfortunately, their instinct only checks for the specific color of red, rather than the size of the object. Coincidentally, the mail trucks of that area happened to be that exact color red. These poor birds would fling themselves at the mail trucks until they were completely incompacitated.

[anwiii 17]

what you're talking about specifically is called natural instincts which some animals are born with. it's funny you gave the examples of animals other than humans because it's true that there has been a long fought over debate if humans are born with natural instincts and what actually defines a natural instinct....like is breathing a natural instinct? since before you are born you are breathing through liquid. or crying...is that a natural instict. is anything that is not learned through experience a natural instict. long ong debated over and the arguement still continues among the so-called experts and their professional theories

what most have concluded is this. a natural instinct is based on something that you carry out the rest of your life and is a part of your life that doesn't change and not influenced by anything forced. and happens naturally without thinking. this is why it's hard to come up with a natural instict for human being ender this definition. so maybe this defination is true and human beings don't need any natural instincts for survival. i had to argue this point with a teacher of mine. i have my own beliefs until the experts can agree on something

I have always wondered where the knowledge we are born with comes from. We accumulate knowledge stored in memory as we go through life but what about the knowledge or memory we are born with? May be either of the words - knowledge or memory are not the right words..but there is definitely some ready 'wisdom' that we are unconsciously conscious of when we are born. It is obvious some 'genetic' knowledge is passed on to us - specific to our species.
Every born creature has a certain amount of memory "pre-installed". For instance so many egg laying animals leave there eggs before they hatch yet each young once hatched already knows its mission in life. Take the example of the sea turtle. The mother lays her eggs deep in the sand and departs leaving her young to hatch by themselves. When these fragile little things hatch they are buried in sand yet they somehow know that this is wrong. Not only this but when they reach the surface they also realise that that being on land is not right either and so they scurry down the beach into the water and "know" that they should watch out for predators.

Is this knowledge somewhere deep in the brain or written to our DNA? How is this knowledge put there?

People who believe in the supernatural may suggest that the mother or both parents psychically yet subconsciously teach this knowledge to their young whilst it grows in the womb. The problem I have with this is that one would expect that mothers or parents leading deferent lifestyles, regardless of whether they raise the young themselves or not would cause the young to be predisposed to a similar lifestyle but studies have so far not proven this the case.

The more open minded scientists might suggest genetic memory as I do. I believe that somehow certain knowledge is slowly refined as our genetic code is slowly altered through each generation and that this knowledge is also the cause for species adaptation. Maybe this refinement caused one strain of turtle to leave the knowledge for its young to accept being on land and began the species of the tortoise, but now we're getting into evolution.

Although evolution is a part of this, my purpose is to draw attention to the influenced decision making capabilities, and indeed the capability to want to make decisions, of new born creatures all over the world.

i d believe the brain is partially preloaded. but i believe it's preloaded due to reincarnation and multiple lives and remembering past lives. but i also believe this is different than natural instincts for survival....but heck...maybe i'm wrong and it's all the same or maybe i am wrong all together.....but those are my beliefs. ones you wont hear from the experts because things just don't exist unless it's proven to exsist. blah blah blah.

[Joe2Chance 0]

Hi allOur sistem nervous it's a wonderfull "tecnology" that we have. but, to be really good, we could keep just the good memories and not the bads one's. we shoud choose the memories that we wanna keep. if that happen, we would be happier and less people would cry out. Well, it's just my opinion, i now it's not possible, but it's a beatiful dream i think!!

[gaea 0]

Those examples (as a few others have pointed out) are much closer to the realm of instincts, than genetic memory. A better example would be birds that migrate to the same exact place every year--even if they have never been there before. Or fish like salmon which go to a specific area to breed. Very interesting questions indeed, doubly so when applied to humanity.

[mozzer 0]

The memory you are talking about is less memory and more instinct. They are similar but not different. If you put that into context it is like saying that everytime you see a snake/tiger you run away because you've nearly been killed before and remember it rather than because you are scare witless. Genetic memory could exist but it would be instigated in a different way to seeing where the sea is and where to go.

[iGuest 3]

I do believe that there is some sort of genetic memory but I see it more as something created by evolution and passed on to humanity millions of years ago. At the same time I also believe in a collective consciousness created by society and memes.

[bounda 0]

think of it as a computer when Windows XP is pre installed on us, we evolved from those generic ones to plain windows then 95 then 98 then ME then us.. its just like a computer with XP, theres always problems and sometimes or most of the time we run pretty slow unless you upgrade.. wow this was pointless wasnt it, just plz dont count it as spam..