Importance of Memory in Psychology - Research Paper Example

Memory, to which Carroll (1997) described as “one of the most fundamental properties of the human mind (par.1),” is one of the key issues in understanding human behavior, because observably, almost all human activity involves memory. Even in the individual’s unconscious state, for example in dreaming, memory functions. Even in understanding behavior disorder, memory has its place with a human disorder viewed as indicative of “some ‘mental’, ‘personality’, or ‘nervous’ process … (Staats & Staats, 1963, p.465)." As earlier postulated by the psychoanalytic doctrine, what causes neurotic disorder is a psychological complex deeply seated in the unconscious mind.

(Eysenck, 1960, pp.10-11)A. Defining memory. Memory is a cognitive process that deals with mental processes using the human brain or the human mind. Carroll (2007) defined memory as “the retention of, and ability to recall, information, personal experiences, and procedures (skills and habits) (par.1.).” It is the term used “for a diverse set of cognitive capacities by which humans and perhaps other animals retain information and reconstruct past experiences, usually for present purposes (Sutton, 2004, par.1).” Therefore it is “neither Perception nor Conception, but a state or affection of one of these, conditioned by lapse of time… there is no such thing as a memory of the present … but the object of memory is the past (Aristotle’s, 350 B.C.E., par. 3).

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