This story originally ran in February 2003

How your memories shape your life

Can you remember something important from five years ago? How do you remember the smell of your favorite food? Where does your brain store these memories?

Many found answers to these questions and others about memory at the Missouri History Museum in a fun "Memory" traveling exhibit in 2003.

There were all sorts of hands-on activities. And there was a special mini-exhibit that focused specifically on memories about St. Louis and Missouri.

In one hands-on activity, a police sketch artist tested how well you can describe how your friend looks. Can your memory produce a recognizable sketch of your friend?

Visitors also got a chance to draw or write personal memories on a large canvas wall. The graffiti-decorated wall was displayed during the whole time the exhibit is in St. Louis.

The "Memory" exhibit helped visitors understand why they know what they know. They also saw how personal memories shape history.

The Museum said, "Personal memories of people, places and events become shared memories and bind us together as St. Louisans." The same is true of shared memories that bind us together as the United States.

There's also quite a bit of science connected to this study of memory.

Saint Louis University arranged a special video-conference for St. Louis school kids showing the dissection of a sheep's brain. That helped kids understand where memories are stored in the brain.

Your brain has all sorts of memories and they're stored in different parts of the brain. There are automatic memories that tell your heat how to pump and lungs how to breath.

But, your memory of tomorrow's school lessons is in other parts of the brain. And your long-term memory of what the world is like is somewhere else.

Sometimes, the same memory can be stored in different places. So, if one part of your brain gets damaged, you'll still be able to remember and function.

The brain's role in memory has been a mystery for all of human history. This exhibit gave kids a chance to find out the latest in the science and history of memory.

Many of the theories on memory are very complex. But, the hands-on part of this exhibit could be understood and enjoyed for kids and adults of all ages.

In the main exhibit, there was a "Jukebox Memories" display with music of the last 40 years. There was also a "tactile guessing" game that challenges you to recognize common household objects by feel only.

Then there was the "Hoop Nightmares" game that temporarily alters your body's memory of how to throw a ball and shoot a basket.

In the Missouri mini-exhibit, there were both displays and hands-on activities.

In the music category, there were items from the St. Louis' musical present and past. Visitors sawartifacts from Nelly, the currently famous rap artist. There also were items from Gas Light Square, a famous jazz district years ago.

There was sports memorabilia from both the baseball Cardinals and football Rams. There was a memorial for Jack Buck, the famed Cardinal broadcaster.

Visitors could hear interviews with St. Louisans who took part in historic events. One interview was with a St. Louisan who survived the Pentagon attack on Sept. 11, 2001.