we think of memory as the ability to
recall something a skill a name a moment
but memory is actually the result of a
number of processes imagine memory is a
film real short-term memory is a bit of
film projected on a screen at any given
moment
long-term memory occurs when the reel is
put into storage in between the
short-term memory is converted into
long-term memory through a memory
hardening process called consolidation
one big difference in the brain memories
are stored almost everywhere what we
think of as a single memory is actually
a collection of individual pieces of
memory stored in different parts of the
brain also we have two very different
kind of memories declarative memories
generally for facts and procedural
memories usually for skills memory
problems types of amnesia can be caused
by injury or malfunction of the brain in
an era great amnesia the person cannot
form new declarative memories as well as
they normally good the problem can range
from mild to severe they can remember
information immediately the film and the
projector but have problems storing
those memories long-term the film and
the kraits
memories of events that occurred before
the injury may be spared but events that
occurred since the injury may be lost
because they were never stored
retrograde amnesia refers to a problem
with memories that were learned before
the brain injury or malfunction this can
be a temporary problem just the blocking
and getting at those memories or
permanent one either the process of
putting the memories and storage was
interrupted or the memories themselves
were destroyed