Your Memory Is You!

You would probably heard many people saying ‘I have a bad memory.’ or ‘It was a long time ago, it’s impossible for me to remember that event.’ Having a bad memory is commonly thought like a characteristic of an individual. However when we consider about these situations, both of them have cognitive reasons. Mainly, forgetting happens when an individual fails to encode or retrieve the information. Three stages are essential for the transfer of the information. These are: sensory memory, working memory and long-term memory. We can think of working memory as the active part in this system. Besides the importance of working memory, attention should be the first step in this process. Individuals have to have a reason and curiosity to learn in order to knowledge become memorable. Also, learning must be meaningful and individuals should be able to make connections with related knowledge already in the long-term memory.

Memory is the ability, which develops in childhood and expands through our experiences. The loss of memory in older age can be painful, however it is a developmental process likewise the fact that we can’t remember our infancy. Language, capitals of countries, types of animals… All the things that you can imagine are learned through our environment. And when you asked something from what you have learned, you try to give an answer to the question, which means, you actually retrieve the information from your long-term memory.

Remembering things feel very simple and you don’t think the process of how you remember. Our memory shapes our identity. From birth and even from mother’s womb, our brain has a remarkable ability. It interacts with our environment and continuously changes by the experiences we have. However, remembering doesn’t begin immediately from birth. Some research have shown that remembering starts with the development of self-concept sense. As individuals become more aware of themselves and effects of their environment on themselves, then they become able to remember. Before the emergence of self, individuals seem themselves just like observers and think that all the events are happening out of their territory. After the emergence of self, individuals starts to get the sense of things are not happening out of their territory, it is happening to them. We can clearly see the signs of this change in the child and mirror test.

Expressing ourselves, speaking, eating, going to work, taking shower… We need memory for every single thing that we do. Our memory contains everything about ourselves. After all, it is still couldn’t fully understand exactly how you remember or what occurs during recall.

References:

[1] How Does Your Memory Work - Biology Psychology Documentary, Lesson created by Nisreen Mohamedali

[2] National Center for Learning Disabilities, What is working memory and why does is matter?, Annie Stuart