Throughout our lives, we encounter significant’ life events.’ While every person is unique, certain occurrences will be experienced by nearly everyone – such as forming close relationships, changing jobs, and coming to terms with grief. Reactions to such events can have a major bearing on mental well-being. Research has found that there are widespread similarities in how […]

Hearing plays a special role in remembering because we rely primarily on the spoken word for communicating with each other. Specialized memory systems for sounds have evolved in the brain, enabling us to recognize and respond to different sounds. Sounds such as brass bands, school bells, or the echoing shouts in a swimming pool have

If a picture paints a thousand words, what can we say of the human memory with its remarkable power to store information visually? Most people have the ability to conjure up pictures from memory with extraordinary vividness. We often find that the images endure long after names, dates and circumstantial details have been forgotten. How

It may feel as if our memories are simple records of past events, but all memories are, in fact, reconstructions of what occurred. Like any thoughts, they are influenced by our habits of mind, prejudices, and preconceptions about the way the world is. There are a number of different ways in which people’s minds think

It is something with which we are all familiar – the way that a simple smell can suddenly bring on a rush of intense memories. It has long been recognized by writers and scientists alike that odors and scents are very potent triggers of memory. One of the greatest literary works of the early 20th

When people think of a memory or remember it, what they usually have in mind is conscious recollection. Still, there is another crucial type of memory that governs all our physical and mental skills: this is procedural or ‘how-to’ memory. Most procedural memory is called into action with such little effort or conscious planning that

Past events shape our present thinking and behavior in incalculable ways. Sometimes, we try to recall past episodes, while at other times, we act upon thoughts that seem to have popped into our minds of their own accord. When experiences affect our thinking and behavior unconsciously, this is called implicit memory. Unconscious or ‘ implicit

All the facts that you know, all the things you can do, many of the events of your life to date, plus all the surprising things that you are not even aware of knowing – this huge store of knowledge is what makes up your long-term memory. You can think of your memory as a

We all share with those close to us a pool of collective memories – stories, images, and ideas that we agree upon or at least agree to argue about. Shared memories and records underpin our culture, creating the story of social groups as well as their mythologies and conditions for membership.Our collective memories – whether

Every experience leaves a trace in the brain, and some traces seem to become permanently attached to its tissue. Yet your brain’s event library is highly selective, producing edited highlights rather than a complete recording of your life and experiences to date. More than half a century ago, the Canadian neuroscientist Wilder Penfield presented remarkable