The memory process we undergo can be described as the mental operation whereby our brains retrieve information that we already know or have acquired in the past at the present time.
Memory is considered one of the essential processes occurring in the brain's memory center, alongside encoding and storing information. This happens in five fundamental stages:
1. **Sensation**: The beginning of the memory-making process involves exposure to surrounding sights and situations, including the various sights and sounds that your senses capture and feel.
2. **Encoding**: When sensory information is transmitted to the brain, its volume and complexity are often too great to be processed simultaneously. Thus, our brains selectively choose which aspects to process, paying close attention to unusual events, while the likelihood of later retrieving encoded everyday events from memory diminishes. This means the brain picks out important things for us to recall later while encoding or discarding secondary items that hold little significance.
3. **Consolidation**: To deepen these memories in the brain, it is essential to consolidate the information. By putting together parts of the encoded memory or experience into a stable, long-term memory, this process strengthens the signals between the neurons in the brain required to remember the entire situation when you need to recall it in the future.
4. **Storage**: After integrating the information into memory, the brain stores it in a manner that allows for easy access. However, not all memories filled with events are stored in detail; rather, significant and sensitive events are stored to serve as cues for retrieval. This compels our brains to reconstruct events as we experienced them with as much accuracy as possible using the specific aspects encoded in our brains.
5. **Retrieval**: Thousands of events can be stored as memory fragments, but they are useless if they cannot be retrieved. While most memories may never be utilized, some can be summoned using brain retrieval cues. For example, a song you heard can activate a particular part of your memory, or visiting a location can prompt you to recall a memory or incident associated with that place or smell.
