[ In MotioN ]

A very good morning to the panel of judges, ladies and gentlemen. I’m sure you’ve heard these statements before.

“I forgot to do my homework last night!”

“Where did I put my keys again?”

These very familiar statements both have one thing in common - memory work. As students, we have probably endured parental lectures that start with “You never remember what I tell you to do” and end with “But you never forget when your friends want to go out with you.” Why is it that we can remember what happened when we were children, but can’t seem to remember that very important phone number? Memory can be a very mysterious subject.

National Geographic magazine once featured an article that had to do with two contrasting individuals, both on opposite ends of the spectrum. One is a 41-year-old woman who remembers almost every single day of her life since age 11. All you have to do is name a date and a year, and she can tell you exactly what happened on that day. Wow. The other is an 85-year-old man who remembers only his most recent thought due to a virus that struck him 15 years ago. The interviewers had to remind him who they were constantly.

Fortunately for us, average people are caught somewhere between these two extremes. There are six types of memories, namely reading comprehension, visual memory, numeric memory, spatial memory, object-oriented memory, and delayed-recall memory. We possess them all in varying degrees. Some people can remember your face, but never your name; some cannot, for the life of them, remember where they put their keys but are exceptionally good at spitting out facts and details from the morning newspaper.

Ever wondered how some people can remember whole plots from books they’ve read a few years ago? These people have an excellent reading comprehension, which is a form of memory that allows you to read a passage and store the general sense of its meaning for later use. As we all know, a powerful reading comprehension is very useful for coping with the Malaysian Education System. History, moral education, physics, biology and chemistry would be a piece of cake!

Moving on, there’s visual memory. People who possess a good visual memory are usually referred to as having a photographic memory. Between remembering faces and names, they tend to remember faces. Personally, I’m better at remembering names than faces.

What about numeric memory? A powerful numeric memory allows you to recall phone numbers, birthdates, and addresses off the top of your head without having to refer to the phonebook. Your friends would probably wonder how you manage to memorize mathematical formulas with such ease.

Your spatial memory helps you in remembering how to get around town, recalling where you've put things, and being able to visualize the layout of a room. People with a good road sense are probably rich in spatial memory.

Object-oriented memory deals with geometrical objects. This type of memory is used in various sports, as well as in everyday activities like packing a tight suitcase or organizing a closet full of various sized objects. People who are good in this type of memory are usually very organized and tidy.

Delayed recall memory allows you to remember short-term information several minutes, hours, days, or even years after first learning it.

So, what creates a good memory? Research indicates that the strength of your memory is dependent on your hereditary genes. Yes, we all know that certain student who never seems to study, but scores a string of straight A’s through mere last minute studying! Emotional content is another important factor in enhancing one’s memory. Maybe we just don’t care as much for Newton and his laws of physics as compared to the death of a loved one. Sometimes we’d rather forget, don’t we?