Cognitive Processes

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Memory and Remembering

The dictionary definition of remember is the activity by which we recall people, events, facts to mind. In the classic sense, we are re-membered, put together again by the process. In other words, it is how we bring to consciousness who we are and our place in the world. The process of remembering under the best conditions allows us to remember where we have been and makes our future direction more secure. It allows us to answer the who, what, when, where and how's of our life. We come to know who we are and whose we are. However, the process of remembering is not perfect in that there are difficulties that can arise in recalling events and it is likely that no two individuals will recall the same event in exactly the same way. The process for acquiring, storing and recalling memories is intensely personal to the individual and done through the lenses of each person's schemas, cognitive processes and stored memories. This is what makes it possible for others and possibly even ourselves to have altered or manufactured memories.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), human brain does not function like a modern digital device with its hard drive or memory card that accurately stores and replays data that has been stored. We can reshape and re-image our memories to best fit our present realities and world/cultural propensities. The three components that effect memory are acquisition, storage, and retrieval of events. Acquisition is the perceptual process (selective) by which we observe and pay attention to events and information in concerning situations and environment. Storage is the process by which the information we have acquired is put away and retrieval refers to the recall process by which we remember or recall data previously stored.

Acquisition and Perception
Several factors are known to affect the acquisition process. The simplest to understand is the proximity of the person to the event, which means that memory reliability goes up as the distance from the event lessons. Another factor is expectation, which says that essentially we see what we want to see in an event and are capable (subconsciously) of editing an event to fit those expectations. Research has also shown that we focus on the primary cause for concern in an event. The degree of arousal affects what and how much we perceive of an event or circumstance. In other words, we are selective about the data present in the environment or event that we are either observing or participating. We pick the details and the factors within the event that we choose to focus on dependent on a variety of internal and maybe external choices (Dudia, 2007). In other words, no two individuals are going to necessarily recall an event or circumstance with the exact same details.

Research Article Summary
Min-Suk Kang, et al., in their 2011 study of perception and visual working memory found causal connections between the contents of visual working memory and the contamination of perception. They hypothesized that there is indirect evidence to suggest that the contents of may be maintained within the same areas of memory. They tested this possibility using randomized quantitative research design that relied on both random sampling and random assignment of the research application (Hung, et al, 2011). ...