Answer
Memory proper is part of our process of information management. The other components are learning -- the acquiring of new information--, and forgetting-- the process of separating trivial from important information.
Different parts of the brain are concerned with these different aspects of information management :
The hippocampus--part of the limbic system, is concerned with memory formation and not with storage of information. It organizes sensory information and cognitive experiences into the form of long-term memory . However the hippocampus does not retain this memory but passes it on to the cortex ( teaches the cortex) where it is stored. This is the process of memory consolidation. The cerebral cortex is orderly in its storage of long term memory. Thus vocabulary and memory for familiar faces and familiar objects are stored in the superior temporal lobe while the prefrontal cortex hols memories of one's plans and social roles.
The cerebellum, the amygdala are also involved in memory processes. The cerebellum is involved in the learning of motor skills and the amygdala is concerned with emotional memory
Work Step by Step
Information retrieval and forgetting of trivial information are important processes in information management. Amnesia is a defect in declarative memory, such as the ability to describe past events.
There are two main types of amnesia that a patient may suffer as a consequence of brain injury or brain pathology. In anterograde amnesia the brain-injured person is unable to store new information , that is, information to which he/she is exposed after a brain injury or the onset of a brain disease. People who develop retrograde amnesia are unable to recall information they knew before the injury to their brains.
If a person evinces signs of both these types of amnesia he/she is said to have global or total amnesia. Psychogenic amnesia , which is usually due to psychological factors, results in loss of knowledge about one's self,
