Instinct or Inherited Memory?

Never knew cherry blossom had much of a smell.
This epigenetics stuff is pretty weird and new.

Heights?

It is weird JessM but could go some way in explaining odd reactions to things and help treat people with phobias.

Galen - maybe a grandfather or grandmother fell from a ladder or tumbled downstairs?

I wonder if humanity will ever reach the stage when everything can be explained and will we miss the mystery of life!

I've not considered it for fears or phobias (probably because I don't have any bad ones) but I have thought about an inherited memory in relation to place. It is the only way to explain the coincidences in the family history and the sense of knowing a place that we've never visited before that some of us have experienced. I'd certainly like it to be proven.

I don't want to believe this as it sort of implies that I could be like one of my parents and that is not a pleasant thought.

Holly that is fascinating.

I remember years ago reading a book called (I think) The Memory of Water and it was to do with 'cell memory'.

I wonder if this applies to dogs. My parents had a yellow labrador whose father had been the champion gun dog of Scotland. Our dog had never been out with the guns, in fact she was thrown out of obedience classes. However, when a friend of Dad's 'borrowed' her for a day's shooting, she knew exactly how to retrieve and behaved impeccably. Heredity, or just being a labrador.

Mollie I agree I'd like inherited memory proven so many times when the feeling of deja vu is overwhelming and you can't quite pinpoint the reason.
I think dogs have this ability of inherited memory annodomini don't they. Did I read they can literally 'sniff' the history of an area or carpet etc. and recall heredity experiences. Scarey stuff.
Hollydaze how interesting the possibility of inherited memories are.

I wonder if that is where I have heard of it before, Grannyknot? I haven't read that book but perhaps read a review of it.

Flies, bees etc don't worry me, but fluttery things, such as butterflies, moths, crane flies do, despite having tried to overcome my fear over the years.

Mollie - it seems pretty certain that experiences are passed on as the study has shown. Like you, I do wonder about memories, or reactions, to certain places or situations; if memories of fear are passed on, why not others?

Grannknot - I'm pleased you enjoyed reading it. There are still so many things we don't understand but you can't help getting the feeling that the surface is definitely being scratched!

annodomini - dogs do behave in what can seem a peculiar or puzzling manner can't they. I adopted a dog on the Isle of Man (she was born on the Island and lived here all of her life) but I took her to Birmingham with me to visit relatives. Whilst walking her, we came to the front of a house (well, the garden gate) and she flipped out and pulled like mad on the lead; very out of character for her and we both ended up on the roadside near the kerb - that's how much she took me by surprise. She wouldn't get back on the pavement until we were well past that house. I tried her there another couple of times and each time, she refused to walk anywhere near the property. What caused it I have no idea but some smell or sight triggered off something.

nanos8 - pleased you enjoyed reading about it

Fascinating stuff isn't it. I suspect we find it easier to accept that dogs inherit either characteristics, or some breed memory, than we do about people. What is exciting, is that humanity continues to find out more, about well, humanity

Some breeds of dogs used for particular tasks seem to develop the instincts needed for the tasks. Border Collies for example seem to have an instinct for sheep herding that other dogs do not have. This has presumably come down a genetic line.

So these actual behaviour patterns are somehow inscribed on the "chemistry" of a gene. All very interesting.

My ruddy English Springer certainly has inherited instincts. Anything that moves when we're out is a pheasant in disguise in her mind. Today she tried to 'flush' a heron. The heron won.

Read an article years ago that suggested deja-vu experiences, where you feel you have been somewhere before , were simply down to inherited memory. Nobody believed me so glad to read about this study

My ruddy English Springer certainly has inherited instincts. Anything that moves when we're out is a pheasant in disguise in her mind. Today she tried to 'flush' a heron. The heron won.



I have a Springer Spaniel (adopted) whose first 3 years of life was as a gun dog and he will also try to chase things down and a loud bang and he's off running - with me being dragged behind ; I've worked on him though over the last 4 years and he's calmed down a lot but still, as you have said, Dragonfly, still tries to retrieve things.

seasider - it's strange isn't it how some ideas that were once disregarded end up getting some credence later on; maybe those old wives knew what they were talking about

holly perhaps there was a car scarer in in that garden that your dog was reacting to.

HollyDaze, maybe they did, maybe there is indeed ancient wisdom if only we'd listen to it. I have two cross breeds, both from gun dog and poodle stock. Their genetic/inherited personality types are just there. They flush birds, retrieve from water, the one with hunting standard type poodle in her family tree was born to hunt and it's taken a lot of work to persuade her that leaping 4 foot walls to pursue deer etc is not a Good Thing.Both of them greet any visitor, including me, by bringing a gift, carried softly in their mouths. On a more human front, my nephew is in his mid 30's and has become increasingly like his maternal great uncle in both personality type, mannerisms, general approach to life and relationships. Physically, he looks so like his ancestor as well. The two never met, and the uncle had died many years before my nephew was born.

I couldn't see anything in the front garden of the house Aka and no-one was about (this was about 15 years ago so not sure if cat scarers were around then or not but it could explain it if they were). Very strange though. I found I'd walk past that house looking very sceptically at it

The only real phobia I have is seeing birds in cages,I can't go into the area of a pet shop where they keep budgies etc as just the sight of them frighten me and I would never be able to get near one if my life depended on it,but I spend lots of time watching the birds nest & hatch out in the tree's in our garden & ajoining pathways.