The Basics of Memories

The memory is an important part of human cognition, providing individuals a framework through which they can understand and make sense of the world around them. It also allows them to draw on past experiences to inform their understanding of the present and future. However, the way that humans remember and forget information is complex, and there are a number of factors that can influence whether or not an individual can recall an event or piece of information.

The three main processes that characterize a memory are encoding, storage, and retrieval (or recall). During the encoding process, information is encoded into short-term memory. This memory is then either retrieved or lost over time, depending on the type of memory and how much attention was focused on it. A common cause of memory failure is distraction. Likewise, many experiments that investigate the memory can seem artificial and irrelevant to real life, such as asking participants to memorize a list of unconnected words that they are unlikely to encounter in their everyday lives.

The most fundamental attribute of a memory is that it can be retrieved at some point in the future. This is what distinguishes it from a simple fact or a concept that can be learned and forgotten at will. The process of converting short-term memory into long-term memory is called consolidation. It is thought that this process involves a protein synthesis process in the medial temporal lobe, and requires multiple epochs for consolidation to occur.