Memory - How much do you really remember?

A memory may not be a memory after all. Memory does hold up a particular space inside the brain but can be influenced by many other things that may have something to do with memory but not your own personal memory. Photos are one thing. Yes once you look at a photo you may remember what it was about and what you did. Though that may be the case it is the photo that revokes the memory which you probably would have forgotten if the photo was not there. This can also be done in many ways through, for instance, memories from somebody else, videos and diaries. If you think about it many memories especially from your childhood are told to you by your parents and therefore you are basing your memory on their memory so you do not actually remember the memory itself, if you understand what I mean.

There are two main types of memory and these are short-term memory and long-term memory.

Short-term memory is only the memory from up to a minute before. There it stays in your mind and so you can easily remember it. Things just over that time you will not be able to remember very well, for instance when you wake up suddenly you normally forget about the dream you were having no matter how good or bad it was you just cannot remember it. There are people who have a very good short-term memory however who can remember the random order of a whole deck of cards only a minute or so after it is shown to them

Long-Term memory can store a lot more and bigger amounts of memory, even for a whole life-time of memories. This normally stays in your head through constant repetition of the memory. For instance, short-term memory can remember a phone number for only a few seconds, but through constant repetition of the number you can remember it for a lot longer and it can stick in your head for a very long time. This is a very useful ability to have as it can help you remember for a test or just in general. There have been great examples of long-term memory amongst human beings, for instance, a 40 or so year old man who since getting hit in the head really hard by a baseball at the age off 11 he now remembers the weather on everyday of the year since the accident. It is because he can now access places of his brain that most of us can't contact at all. So if you want to be able to remember a lot - just get a friend to take a swing at your head. (But really don't do that, as I can not afford to be sewed right now).