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Memory

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Memory is an important cognitive process, which helps us to record the past so that we can refer to it later, as and when required. Without memory, there would be no past, but only the present. We would not be able to execute all the psychological processes that depend on our past experiences. We would be perpetual beginners for every activity that we perform everyday. If we do not retain information over time, and retrieve it for present use, we would not be able to recall names, recognize faces, and understand the concept of time.

Even the present would not be our own, because there would be no concept of self-identity. An individual would wake up every morning, and doubt that he is, and would have to rediscover his identity every day, every hour, every second, and even every millisecond. The identity of the individual would be lost, and the whole world including himself would appear to him as a booming buzzing confusion. The feeling of personal identity is based on a continuous stream of memories that link our yesterdays to today.

Since memory is an important cognitive phenomenon, psychologists have devoted considerable time and effort to understand the process of memory, and the strategies to improve memory. Memory is the retention of information over time. It has to be retrieved from its store for present use.

Psychologists and philosophers have opined differently at different times on the concept of memory. But the contemporary cognitive psychologists are of the belief that the raw physical energy that impinges upon the sense organs is transformed, and passes through various stages consisting of sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. Here the basic or initial information is successfully modified and reduced.

Hermann Ebbinghaus published a book titled 'On Memory' in the year 1885. This book opened the avenues for further research on

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