SECOND AIDS TO MEMORY: RETENTION, RECALL AND RECOGNITION


Our discussion up to this point has centred around the phase of memory
called impression. We have described some of the conditions favorable
to impression and have seen that certain and accurate memory depends
upon adherence to them. The next phase of memory--Retention--cannot be
described in psychological terms. We know we retain facts after they
are once impressed, but as to their status in the mind we can say
nothing. If you were asked when the Declaration of Independence was
signed, you would reply instantly. When asked, however, where that fact
was five minutes ago, you could not answer. Somewhere in the recesses
of the mind, perhaps, but as to immediate awareness of it, there was
none. We may try to think of retention in terms of nerve cells and say
that at the time when the material was first impressed there was some
modification made in certain nerve cells which persisted. This trait of
nerve modifiability is one factor which accounts for greater retentive
power in some persons than in others. It must not be concluded,
however, that all good memory is due to the inheritance of this trait.
It is due partly to observance of proper conditions of impression, and
much can be done to overcome or offset innate difficulty of
modification by such observance.

We are now ready to examine the third phase of memory--Recall. This is
the stage at which material that has been impressed and retained is
recalled to serve the purpose for which it was memorized. Recall is
thus the goal of memory, and all the devices so far discussed have it
for their object. Can we facilitate recall by any other means than by
faithful and intelligent impressions? For answer let us examine the