Memory is defined, by the words of Mr. Wede, to be the persistence of learning through different mechanisms. Those mechanisms are encoding, storage and retrieval. Encoding is the process of interpreting an event and getting into your memory. This is the first step in a three step memory process. Second comes storage. This is vital because this stowing away the information. Memory is stored using sensory memory, which has a limit of only a few seconds, short term memory, with a limit of about 30 seconds and long term memory which is somewhat permanent. Each of these play a factor in keeping a tab of everything that we see and do during the course of 24 hours. Lastly, there is retrieval. This is probably one of the most important steps in the process because it involves accessing the memories that you have locked away. Think about it, what is the point of being able to hold something if you can’t use it for your benefit later?

Memory is an extremely powerful tool. It is the basis for our thinking, decision making, the way we interpret things, etc. When you think about it, memory plays a role in almost every aspect of your life. Even when doing something as mindless as playing video games or watching television, we are storing bits and pieces to our long term memory and almost instantaneously processing all that we see and relating it to past events or images that are similar(retrieval cues). The thing is that some people have better memory than others. I am in a constant battle with memory when it comes to my involvement with music. I am a singer and so I perform at many different venues around Penn State and around New Jersey, when I head home for breaks. Different performances mean different songs and different songs mean different lyrics and as you can predict, each set of lyrics for every song has to be memorized by the time of each performance. As you can imagine, that is not the simplest task in the world but because I love what I do and as time goes on, it becomes easier and easier.

If I didn’t have a strong long term memory, I wouldn’t be able to have a music “career” because I would forget everything that I studied so hard to remember. It would last as long as sensory memory does and fall out of my head right after. Retrieval plays a large role because I need to be able to quickly access information while I am performing. If this process had a time lapse or if I had a problem with my ability to retrieve memories, again, I wouldn’t really make it too far in the music industry but thank God I do not have to deal with that. Our memories are from our experiences and our experiences shape us. So I am grateful for memory, because I wouldn’t be Paul without them.