According to Wikipedia, memory is "simply described as the process in which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved. Encoding allows information from the outside world to reach the five senses in the forms of chemical and physical stimuli." Ever since I was a little kid, I have always wondered how I could remember falling out of my crib when I was one but never what I had done that same day the year before. I can remember some dreams and not the others. How do you chose what to remember and what to forget? Memory is a weird concept.
In remembering events, you always tend to remember the bad times and forget the good. You remember the day that 9/11 happened and where you were when you heard the news (I don't because I was 4), but you don't remember the apple picking that you enjoyed once as a kid with your family. You remember the features of the doctor that told you that your dog died and the expression on his face, but the facial features of passed relatives tend to fade. Good memories always seem to slip the mind but bad ones always tend to stick.
Memory is also a unique tool to me because everyone has their own way of working theirs. I tend to lose thoughts quickly while others see something once and have it etched into their mind forever. Even kids who obtain autism generally have an amazing retention of information. This uniqueness relates to even the simple terms of studying. One student may read over the chapter and their notes once and remember almost everything they need to know while others need to continuously write something or walk around or listen to a certain type of music to absorb the information they want.
There are even false memories. These are actually very common. This is when an individual can recall an event that actually didn't happen in reality. This can affect someone from just giving them an incorrect recollection to creating a completely false memory. This usually occurs in sexual abuse cases and PTSD victims and is often found to be a common mental illness.
Memory is such a unique tool and it truly amazes me how far we've come in discovering the wonders of memories and how much more there is to learn.
