THE COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE OF MEMORY

What is memory? It is often associated with the “thinking of again” or “recalling to the mind” of something learned at an earlier time. Descriptions of this sort imply a conscious awareness in the rememberer that they are recollecting something of the past. For example, we might remember our first day of school or some general knowledge such as who the prime minister is. On closer reflection, this is only really the tip of the iceberg when we look at the full range of human memory capabilities.
Much of our memory is submerged from conscious view (e.g., skills such as driving or typewriting). Performance on complex tasks such as playing a musical instrument can even be disrupted when conscious awareness intrudes. We learn and remember how to use language often without having to be conscious of its grammatical rules. A better description of memory could be ‘the ability to retain and utilize acquired information or knowledge’.
Memory is an integral part of our existence, yet it is only vaguely understood.
Through empirical studies on people, the methods of cognitive psychology have lead to some useful descriptions, distinctions and theoretical advances in our understanding of different types of memory. These approaches have paid little attention to the biological substrate of memory – the brain. This is probably partly because, until recently, the tremendous complexity of the brain has hampered our ability to gain useful insights into memory from it. But now, our understanding of the brain is beginning to reach a level of sophistication that may allow this. Tentative links between brain processes and cognitive theories are beginning to emerge in our quest to understand memory.

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This essay is about some of these tentative links between brain and mind, and how they are may set the stage for some