Memory is essential to human beings. It’s not only the brain’s main function, but is also used everyday without us noticing: we acquire new information, store it, retain it and might retrieve it if needed. It’s thanks to memory and its three main stages: encoding, storage and retrieval, that humans can operate and recall events and information on a daily basis with no difficulty or effort whatsoever. In 1960, it was claimed that there was more than one memory system. Researchers Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) suggested ‘the multistore model’, consisting of the three key types of memory stores: the sensory store, the short-term store (STS) and the long-term store (LTS). In order for memory to move from sensory to short-term, attention was needed, for short-term to long-term, rehearsal was needed, and to access long-term memory, retrieval was required.
Furthermore, scientists have been able to map out the many different structures of long-term memory. LTM is firstly divided into two different systems: explicit memory- consisting of fact-based information, which can be recovered, and implicit memory- consisting of memories that we aren’t consciously aware of. Explicit memory is further divided into two ‘subsystems’: semantic memory- used for general knowledge, and episodic memory- memory of personal experiences and events. In contrast, implicit memory can be divided into numerous ‘subsystems’. These include procedural memories- consisting of how to do things, and emotional memories- consisting of memory of how emotional states.
Scientifically speaking, the temporal lobe is where memory is stored. This is where the brain stores everything one remembers. The hippocampus is also responsible for a part of memory. This is where the process of new memories is introduced into long-term storage. If the hippocampus is damaged or absent, one would not remember what is happening in the present, but only