Human beings are superior of all the creatures present on this planet earth, this is because of the fact that human beings have the most advanced brain out of all the creatures on earth, and that is why we human beings dominate the entire planet and are on top of the food table. The most important function of our brain which helps us in achieving such great intelligence is MEMORY, i.e., the process by which people retrieve, store and encode information.

Memory consists of three parts, namely

• Encoding
• Retrieval
  
• Storage

What is Encoding

Encoding refers to the initial perception of things; this is the way that we believe things to be according to our beliefs, although their true meaning may be different than what we intercept it to be.

What is Storage

Storage involves retaining the encoded information over time.

What is Retrieval

Retrieval involves the processes involved in using up the stored information.

Whenever someone successfully recalls a past experience or object learned in the past, he/she must have encoded, stored, and retrieved that particular information regarding that experience or object. Alternatively, memory failure, for example, forgetting an important point, signals a potential breakdown in any one or more than one of these stages of memory.

Memory is a critical function for human beings. The main daily activities that one performs which  uses memory are

• Talking
• Understanding
• Reading
• Socializing
• Eating
• Sleeping
• drinking
• Playing
  

These activities are depend on one’s ability to learn and store that information about our environment and our surroundings. Memory allows us to

• Retrieve events from our brain which have occurred moments ago or long time ago.
• helps in learning new skills and to adopt new habits with ease.
• Without having the ability to access and retrieve past experiences or information, we would not be able to understand and comprehend language, recognize our friends and family, or even how to play your favorite game.

Learning and Memory

Learning and memory, both are closely related, and both these terms are roughly used to define the same process. The term learning is often referred as the process involved in the initial acquisition or encoding of information, whereas the term memory describes the later storage and retrieval of information part of memory. But, this distinction made between the two terms is not hard and fast, it is variable. Thus, psychologists and scholars often describe the learning/memory process as a means to incorporate all parts of encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Scholars, psychologists, writers, philosophers and other thinkers have been fascinated by memory, for a very long time. Among the questions that they ask are;

1. How the brain stores memories?
   
2. Why some people remember some bits of information but not other people?
   
3. Can memory be improved?
   
4. What capacity does memory has?
   

Memory has been a subject of controversy because of the questions about its accuracy. Memory of a person, who saw a crime being committed, can play a very crucial role in determining whether the accused is guilty or not. However, many psychologists agree to the fact that people do not always recall events as they actually occurred, and many a times people recall events that never happened, mistakenly.

“A liar should have a good memory.” Roman rhetorician, Quintilian , once said.