It's Not a Video Recording, Part Ⅱ: Mediation and Memory

摘要

Memory is an evolutionary coping tool to help make decisions that efficiently use our limited biolog- ical resources. Memory guides how we react to familiar cues in our environment. We plan and decide by using recognizable signs and patterns to predict future consequences of natural and human behavior. Memory is a history of our experiences. Although useful for recounting past events and to store information, memory has its limitations. Memory is not a single process. It consists of several sub-processes involving different areas of the brain. The senses take in the information that is processed by various operations in the neural system, where the brain changes its form and content in order to store and generate responses. Scientists usually refer to the gathering process as "encoding." The holding of information is "retention," and to recall is "retrieval."