Memory

The human mind really fascinates me when I think about it. And the fact that I can "think" about my own mind really gets me going. Anyway, I find our memory retrieval process truly remarkable, but also completely mysterious. I have no inkling whatsoever as to how it works. I'll give you an example to help elucidate my train-of-thought.

Today at work I wrote on a sticky-note two items that I wanted to purchase at the drug store at lunch. I wrote them down because I have learned not to trust my short-term memory, especially on trivial matters. As I thought about going to buy these items (toothpaste and coffee-creamer), I had this nagging feeling that there was third item I wanted to get, but I couldn't remember what. However, without looking at my note, the other two items were easy for me to remember, perhaps because I had written them down (a memory tool for me, which is why I take lots of notes at school , but don't always need to refer back to them).

Finally, I remembered the third item. As soon as I did, it was like I opened a trap-door or a gate in my mind, and I could no longer instantly recall the other two items. Finally, after about 60 seconds of effort, I was able to recall them without looking at the note.

But what process did my brain use to search for that particular memory? I didn't use any specific "file search" process, nor did I re-trace my day in hopes of triggering some related memory. I just sat there and concentrated on nothing in particular, and eventually my internal mechanisms retrieved the memory on their own. WOW! That is such a confounding yet fascinating process to me!

As it turns out, I decided to not buy that third item after all, and so I didn't write it down. And since I devoted no further brain power to it, I have since again forgotten what it was, though perhaps if I really concentrated, and maybe re-lived my day in my mind, I might be able to recall it.

And why are scents and music such powerful memory cues? A certain smell can take me back 10 years or more, to a specific time and place, in a mili-second.