essay questions on memory we lost

KCSE SET BOOKS ESSAY QUESTIONS and ANSWERS

Enjoy free KCSE revision materials on imaginative compositions, essay questions and answers and comprehensive analysis (episodic approach) of the set books including Fathers of Nations by Paul B. Vitta, The Samaritan by John Lara, A Silent Song by Godwin Siundu, An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro and Parliament of Owls by Adipo Sidang'. This blog is useful to Kenyan students preparing for KCSE; and their teachers.

Tuesday 24 December 2019

Memories we lost kcse essay questions and answers, memories we lost essays & answers pdf.

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTIONS-"MEMORIES WE LOST" LIDUDUMALINGANI MQOMBOTHI

Write a composition to show how mental health patients and those around them experience many challenges, citing illustrations from Lidudumalingani Mqombothi's  'Memories we Lost'  (20 Marks) Mental health problems bring along with them a myriad of challenges. The patients and the people around them graple with problems such as injuries, ignorance, misdiagnosis et cetera. We should understand these challenges and help make life comfortable for such people. 

The people's ignorance made it difficult to control the illness. They refer to it as a thing meaning they have no idea what it is. The narrator likens it to a monster with spikes and horns and an oversized head. She wishes she could see it approaching so as to stop it. They resort to naïve ways like involving traditional healers to perform rituals and cleansing ceremonies. The mother takes the patient to many 'sangomas' and church and she's given bottles of medication until she is unresponsive. The needless medication only destroys the patient further. They do not understand that she suffers from Schizophrenia which is an illness without a cure. Her sister is forced to get rid of the  useless medication. The 'sangomas' and pastors promise that she would be healed but the illness keeps recurring. The villagers cursed the illness saying its caused by demons. When her mother plans to take the sister to a 'sangoma' called Nkuzi, who uses brutal 'healing methods',  the narrator is forced to escape with her sick sister from home in a bid to protect her. The incomprehension makes the girl suffer more.  

  The illness makes the patient to run away from home in the middle of the night. The mother and the entire village are abducted from their sleep. Men and boys organized a disoriented search party in small uncoordinated groups. Children are frightened. The entire village searches for her in the darkness facing the risk of plunging down a cliff. They would search and search for  the whole night. The narrator's father also had the same illness. He left on a horse to see distant relatives but never returned. He was spotted in some village twice but did not when someone yelled at him. The narrator has no memory of her father but she hopes he would return.

  The illness makes the patient injure herself and even hurt her sister. She smashes her head on the wall until she bleeds. Her terrified sister grabs her and tries to protect her but all in vain since she becomes quite strong. She cracks the wall open with her hand. At some point she throws hot porridge on the sister scalded her chest. The protective sister protects her by saying she accidentally poured hot water on herself. She had to run for safety when her sister had unconsciously flung the pot with hot porridge across the room.She did not mean to hurt her sister. She did it unconsciously since when she gained consciousness she is shocked and devastated. Had she known what she had done, she would never have forgiven herself.

  Mental illness causes disruption of education for both the patient and her sister. She had to drop out of school. When she's attacked by a bout of schizophrenia,  she swings a desk across the room and smashes a window. She had smashed a chair against a wall and and was screaming incoherent words. Her eyes are red. She only comes to her senses when she spots her sister in the crowd.After this incident, her sister also goes truant. She feigns illness to stay at home with her sister. She tells her “I want to be in the same class with you”. They stay together doing sketches and the patient convinces the sister to go back to school and even coaxes her in a wheedling way. Over the years the girls missed so much school that her younger sister caught up and went two grades higher than her.

  The sisters are forced to run away from home when the narrator eaves drops on the mother planning to have her sister taken to a traditional healer named Nzuki. He lives in a remote village miles away from there home. He is famous for ‘baking’ mentally ill people claiming to cure them. He would make a fire from cow dung and weeds and then tie the ‘demon possessed' person on a zinc roofing and place it on fire. This brutal method resulted in death since the narrator does not know anyone who survived Nzuki's ‘baking’. They flees home at sunset. They wander  far away from their village to a village she thinks is known as Philani. She takes her sister to hospital.

  Sick people and those around them undergo many challenges. We should care for such patients with compassion, love and understanding.

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "HOW MUCH LAND DOES MAN NEED?" LEO TOLSTOY

Unchecked desires result in losses.  write an essay to qualify this statement making reference to leo tolstoy’s  ‘how much land does man need’  (20 marks) p ahom's mind is completely filled with abnormal desire to acquire land. this excessive preoccupation with acquiring a lot of land leads to his downfall when he loses everything and ends up dead. pahom has a large piece of land but he keeps thinking of only one thing how he can have more land. pahom owns 123 acres of land and pasture. he also owns a big house where he lives with his family members. he is, however, not contented with this possession. he desires wider and more fertile land to farm and keep his livestock. he is strongly attracted when a passing dealer tells him about how he acquired 13, 000 acres of land from the bashkirs. this obsession of acquiring more land makes him to buy many presents for the bashkirs and to take a seven day journey to the land of the bashkirs, with a view of acquiring a lot of land. he instead loses everything when he walks for the whole day hoping to get the land for 1, 000 roubles a day. he dies of exhaustion and loses all his property.   pahom is so obsessed with the land that he hopes to get the largest and best land above all the people. he starts to walk towards the meadows, as soon as the sun appeared above the rim. he does not even take breakfast. he even has to the take off his outer coat and shoes. he walks for as long that the hillock is scarcely visible and the people look like black ants. he feels he is in sweat and is thirsty. he only turns when its noon. the heat from the sun does not make him stop. he takes his lunch, bread and water, while standing to save time. eventually he loses everything when he walks for so long, collapses and dies of exhaustion. he loses his newly acquired land and all his old property.   despite the physical and mental exhaustion, pahom does not stop, due to his obsession. after walking for a long time, it was terribly hot and he feels sleepy. the heat makes the air hazy that the people on the hillock can barely be seen. he says it’s better to suffer for an hour and live for a lifetime. he equates the acquisition of land to eternal life. pahom feels serious pain but he pressures on. he walks with difficulty. his bare feet are cut and bruised. his legs begin to fail but due to his obsession he does not rest. he is so exhausted that he throws away his outer coat, shoes, flask and cap. he only keeps his spade to use as a support. his mouth is parched.  his breast works like a blacksmith’s bellows and his heart beats like a hammer. even after he feels like he could die of strain, he does not stop. eventually, he dies of exhaustion and loses everything.   lastly, pahom is so obsessed with acquiring land that he can barely sleep. he lies on his bed but could not sleep. he thinks about walking the whole day in order to mark off a large tract. he lays awake all night and dozes off only before dawn. the next morning his eyes glisten when the chief shows him the land. he could see that it is all virgin soil at a glance. he is told that all he has to do is circumnavigate before the sun sets. due to his obsession, pahom walks the whole day, thus becoming totally exhausted and eventually dying due to exhaustion. he loses all the land he had gained and is buried in a six feet piece of land.   obsession of any kind is dangerous. pahom’s downfall is surely due to his lack of contentment and preoccupation with acquiring a lot of land., memories we lost  kcse essay question "the president" mariatu kamara.

Write a composition on the effects of war, using illustrations from  ‘The President’  by Mariatu Kamara.

  War is a devastating experience. When a country experiences war, the effects are disastrous. In the absence of peace both adults and children suffer. There is displacement and separation of families. Children’s education may be disrupted. People also suffer physical harm.

  As a result of war, children may be recruited as soldiers in the war. Such children are misused by the rebel soldiers. The child soldiers are dehumanized.  They taunt Kamara before chopping her hands off. The leader asks her to go before he calls her back. The other boys train their guns on her. She begs the boys to spare her since they are age mates. She says that they may be friends. “We are not friends,” the boy scowled pulling out his machete. She tells them to kill her instead of chopping her hands. “We’re not going to kill you,” one boy says. They even ask her to choose which hand she wants to lose first and to ask the president for new hands. After chopping off her hands, they laugh callously and give each other high fives .

  Another effect of war is physical mutilation. The citizens are punished by having their hands chopped off. They are asked to go and show the president their stumps and ask him for new hands. This inflicts physical pain on victims such as Kamara, who does not know what a president is. She feels a sharp, darting pain up and down her arms and feels sicker than she has ever been in her life. Her three cousins Ibrahim, Mohammed and Adamsay also have their hands chopped off. They have to use their stumps to feed, wash themselves, and brush their teeth, yet they are wrapped with bandages. In high school Kamara is faced with a challenge of writing without hands. She has to hold a pen or pencil between her arms. She even fails some exams. The effects of war are surely devastating.

  War leads to separation of families. Kamara is forced to live with her father’s sister, Marie, and her husband, Alie, in Magborou village. They later move to Manarma. She is separated from her family during the rebel attack when her cousins Ibrahim and Mohammed are captured and tied up. Her little cousin Adamsay is dragged by her hair. They are later reunited in Freetown, together with her aunt and uncle. Kamara is separated from her family again, when a good Samaritan, Bill, air lifts her to Canada after her sees her photo, holding her son Abdul when he was five months old, in the newspaper. Here, she later lives with a Sierra Leonean couple who takes her to school. Although, she is in Canada she feels that she needs to support her family in Sierra Leone for they depend on her.

  War also leads to disruption of education for school going children. Kamara, like other children, stopped going to school. Kamara is forced to live in the amputee camp after the rebel attack.  She manages to resume her studies after her relocation to Canada to stay with Kadi and Abou Nabe, a Sierra Leonean couple. Kamara tells them that she needs education to better her life. She is, however, scared to go to school, meet strangers and learn without hands. She is forced to learn a new language and how to write without hands. She graduates from her ESL course with a diploma, ten months after arriving in Canada.

  War leads to children without parents/orphans. Kamara discovers she is pregnant when she is in hospital. She becomes a single mother. The father of her child, Salieu, was shot dead in front of her during a rebel attack. Since her birth canal is too small, she is forced to undergo a caesarean operation. She has to beg on the streets in order to fend for herself and Abdul, her son. Unfortunately, he dies due to malnutrition when he was only ten months old. He is buried in the camp’s mosque. Kamara is devastated.

War results in loss of life. Kamara learns that as many as a hundred people were killed on the day she was separated from her cousins.  She and her cousins were lucky to survive. Salieu, the father of her child, is shot dead by the rebels right in front of her. Abdul, Kamara’s child, is thus fatherless.

  Children are forced to beg on the streets in order to survive. Kamara are her cousins are reduced to beggars since they have no one to provide for their basic needs. Kamara hates every moment of it. On a good day they could make as much as 10,000 Leones (just under ₤2) by pooling their money. When she gives birth to Abdul, she earns more money than her cousins combined. One day, a man drops 40,000 Leones (about ₤7.50) in her shopping basket.  

  Victims of war are forced to live in refugee camps when they re displaced from their homes. Kamara and about four hundred amputees are forced to live in a camp the size of a football stadium. About 1600 family members also move there to take care of them. The camp is filthy with litter and smell of rubbish, dirty bodies and cooking food. The conditions are sickening. They do not complain since it is peaceful. Kamara loses her child due to malnutrition. It is a reprieve for her when Bill offers to bring her to Canada.

  War is a torturous experience for the victims. Innocent civilians are subjected to physical and psychological torture. The process of chopping hands is slow and painful. Kamara is taken back and forth before her hands are chopped. She begs for mercy. The rebels refuse to kill her. They ask her to pick a hand to be chopped first. She tells her age mates that they may be friends. The rebels enjoy the torturing process. They laugh and give each other high fives. Salieu, the father of Kamara’s son, is shot dead right in front of her. She is pregnant in hospital with no hands. She is too young to give birth normally. She has to undergo a cesarean operation. This is both physically and emotionally painful.

  In brief, war is not a solution. It brings about suffering to innocent people. Children like Kamara are the most affected.

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "Stones Bounce on Water" Dilman Dila 

Clearly, when we betray others, we stand to lose rather than gain. 

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "Memories we Lost" Lidudulimalingani Mqombothi 

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "The Folded Leaf" Segun Afolabi

Write a composition to show how unscrupulous preachers take advantage of Christians to enrich themselves basing your illustrations on The Folded Leaf by Segun Afolabi.

Some exploitative preachers dupe unsuspecting faithful and cheat them out of their hard-earned money, with a view of enriching themselves. They encourage the congregants to give generously in order to fund their lavish lifestyle while promising to heal or help the gullible flock. In The Folded Leaf , Pastor Adejola Fayemi is one fine con artist that tricks many people and lives opulently.

Pastor Adejola Fayemi has enriched himself at the expense of his credulous followers (p 81). When Reverend Abbe prays, she asks God to allow his messenger – Pastor Fayemi, to heal his children; Bunmi, Samuel, Tunde and Mrs. Kekere. The preacher is famously known Daddy Cool because he owns a helicopter and a Gulfstream jet and has homes in Florida, Switzerland and the Caribbean. He is also frequently featured on TVs, newspapers and magazines. He has a proclivity for wearing dark glasses. When they get to his church, Tunde is interested in seeing his aeroplane or helicopter. He is disappointed to see many wheelchairs instead. Although they have faith when they visit Lagos for healing, eventually the journey turns out to be fruitless when they return the same way they came. This is even after they give a generous donation in church (p 88). When the miracles do not happen, Bunmi notes that Papa must return home to face her mother, Reverend Abbe, Reverend Okulaja and all the congregants and offer an explanation since they have given away all the donation - that took months to raise – in one single collection. They return empty handed (p 92). The unchecked trust they have in the conniving pastor does not pay off. He exploits them for his own benefit.

Secondly, the pastor's sermon is hinged on the gospel of prosperity and healing (p 86). He says that God does not like the poor. He talks of having all the riches of the world right there, right then and that there is more wealth than we can imagine. He urges thousands of church goers to give generously claiming that giving is pleasing the Lord. Papa distributes funds they raised for months at their local church to Tunde, Mrs. Kekere, Sam and Bola. They give all the money to pastor Fayemi hoping to receive miracles and healing in return (p 88). Bunmi can hear a voice different from pastor Fayemi's booming, urging people to give all they can. He cautions them that God sees into their hearts and they should not cheat Him. The man is simply trying to squeeze money out of the hopeful faithful. This money is used to fund the pastor's affluent lifestyle. The church is full of people expecting healing or miracles. The pastors promise that there will be healing. They claim to cure cancer, arthritis and other ailments. However, Bunmi, Sam, Tunde and Mrs. Kekere who are disabled do not receive any miracles even after offering generous church donations.

Mr. and Mrs. Ejiofoh are treated with utmost decorum since they are rich. When they arrive at Pastor Fayemi's church, they are whisked away to the VIP area whereas Sam, Bunmi and Mrs. Kekere are ushered to the back of the arena. The couple's outward demeanour depicts them as opulent so the greedy ushers give them preferential treatment since they expect generous donations from them. Mrs. Ejiofoh's embroidered lace is soft and cost a lot of money. Mr. Ejiofoh is a wealthy  man. He takes his family to Rome for a vacation. They stay in expensive hotels such as Intercontinental while on such sabbaticals. Bimbo, his daughter drives a Volkswagen Passat. Mr. and Mrs. Ejiofoh believe that you give and you receive in abundance. They are famous for their church donations. Unsurprisingly, they are accorded VIP treatment at Pastor Fayemi's church, since imminently they would donate generously to the church. The preacher takes advantage of their faith to fleece them.

Pastor Fayemi and associates use fake miracles to give the congregants false hope, while tricking them into having greater conviction thus easily defrauding them. The church is packed to capacity with disabled people seeking miracles or healing. Tunde exclaims that the place is wheelchair city (p 87). Papa desperately says that they should run when the pastor calls them. They travel from Leke Street all the way to Lagos in pursuit of miracles. Reverend Abbe prays to God to heal Bunmi, Sam, Tunde and Mrs. Kekere, through his messenger - Pastor Adejola Fayemi. The church is full of people to the point that it is stifling. The pastor declares that there will be healing and asks someone to stand up from a wheelchair. Sam tries to stand up in vain. Mrs. Kekere says that she is prepared to receive healing. The pastors claim to cure many ailments including cancer and arthritis. Papa tells Bunmi, his blind daughter, that she will see them tonight after she is healed. An old woman throws her cane down and starts dancing stage (p 89). This gives them false hope that Mrs. Kekere and Sam will receive a miracle and dance too and Tunde's heart will be healed. They are, however, not allowed on stage. They have to return home disappointed after the trip and their efforts prove futile. Papa has to face Rev. Abbe, Rev. Okulaja, Mama and other congregants and tell them how their months worth of donations was given away in one collection only for them to return the same way they went. Pastor Fayemi uses fake miracles to deceive unsuspecting Christians and cheat them out of their money.

The world has good people and evil people. Some people hide behind religion to swindle desperate faithful of their hard-earned money. Such preachers become opulent by exploiting guileless believers. 

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTIONS-"WINDOW SEAT"  BENJAMIN BRANOFF

Developing African countries face many challenges in a quest for urbanisation. Write a composition in support of this statement citing illustrations from Window Seat by Benjamin Branoff.

Many African countries are faced with problems like poor roads, ineffectual public officers, noise and air pollution among others. In Window Seat , Branoff experiences some of the trials bedeviling African countries, while on a bumpy daladala ride in Dar es Salaam.  

The daladala (van) that the mzungu boards is overloaded and thus quite uncomfortable. Most residents of Dar es Salaam are forced to use this means of transportation. The old Hyatt van is extremely crowded. The van is built to carry about ten people but nearly twenty five people ride in it. The van has three rows packed with 4 people each, 2 half rows of 2 people, a backward facing row which sits on the engine and is thus hot and 2 passengers sit in front with the driver. The van is so brimful that the conductor is forced to stand by the door. It gets worse during the rush hour. Four more people stand with the conductor, bringing the total number of passengers to twenty eight yet the family van is built for eight (p 63). The mzungu tries not to jab the man in front of him. However, he concludes that that the man will not care since this is not his first time in the van, which he humorously calls sardine tin. The mzungu sits in a foetal position with his knees wedged between the abdomen and the front seat since the van is packed to capacity. The seats are too high and some passengers keep hitting the rusty ceiling (p 62). At his stop, the narrator has to squeeze his way out of the unbelievably packed daladala. In the second bus which is equally overloaded, he gives up his seat for an old lady (p 68). When the van stops, he intrudes into people’s personal spaces inadvertently. He grabs a man's shoulder. Overcrowding in public transportation is a common problem in developing African countries.

Many government officials in developing African countries especially police officers are corrupt and ineffective. When the vehicle stops near a policeman, the American narrator is the only one who fails to see apparently obvious problem with the police officer. Everyone else does and smacks their lips in disappro val. The policeman stops the van in an authoritative motion and casually inspects the vehicle. He inspects the blinkers, light and windshield and seemingly everything is in order. The mzungu notices that the driver and conductor are ostensibly annoyed by the policeman. In this happenstance, they lose not only time but also money since the unprincipled policeman is trying to squeeze a bribe out of them. He has something other than civil service on his agenda (p 66). An argument ensues between the officer and the driver. The policeman grabs the car keys despite the spirited objections from the driver and conductor. Only one thing could end the ordeal – the driver bribing the officer. When he does, the corrupt officer waves them away, never mind that the van is overloaded. Corruption is a big challenge in developing African countries.

Most African cities are unbelievably noisy and chaotic. At Mwenge, a man moves around on a mobile music stand with tonnes of CDs and a large stereo system. He blasts some horrible 80s music through the speakers. Conductors shout at the top of their voices, advertising their daladalas. The mzungu is dubious about the whole idea since it seems like they are trying to convince travellers to abandon their original ideas and jump on their daladala. As he heads towards Posta buses, he is barraged with relentless enticing shouts of daladala advertisements. He muses that the persistent offers make him to begin to rethink his route. Maybe he should go to Bagamoyo or Msasani instead of Posta. The noise is undeniably annoying and unnecessary. Noise pollution is a common problem in developing African nations (p 64-65).

African cities are faced with the challenge of overpopulation. The cities are overcrowded making them uncomfortable, unsafe and undesirable. When the bus stops, the narrator sees a million feet shuffle in and out of his window view. He spots a white woman in the crowd but when he alights he can barely find her in a sea of heads; swaying with the currents of human traffic. He drops the idea of foolishly running through the crowd shouting to get her attention. He has to go through a sea of human traffic to get to the Posta buses. When he boards one, they manoeuvre through the human sea, their feet dangerously close to the moving daladala. They return to the road after negotiating the sea that occupies the bus station. Overpopulation is one of the unpleasant problems African cities grapple with (p 64-65).

Another challenge facing developing African nations is poor waste management (p 65). People burn rubbish and dead foliage in piles on the side of the road. The fires burn the surrounding grass also. The mzungu picks up various smells – some are pleasant while others are rancid. The smell drifts in through the cabin, through the front window and out through the narrator's. Watching the heads of the front seat passenger by the window, he pretends to be detective Sherlock Holmes, trying to look for obvious warnings of an intruding aroma. When a rancid smell fills his nose, he wishes he could pass the excess around. It smells of garbage, human filth and decomposition. The waste is managed inefficiently by piling it up and letting it rot or burning it. The foul smell lasts a little longer than a few moments. Surely, many African countries are plagued with the challenge of garbage disposal.

Lastly, poverty in developing countries sometimes results in petty theft. The mzungu narrator meets a beautiful young lady he calls “Kanga”. Her body has been moulded by a lifetime of never ending work and deprivation of luxuries. They smile at each other and exchange greetings. He is besotted with her. Since the bus is packed like sardines, the passengers intrude into each other's personal spaces inadvertently. Mzungu could feel the cold warmth of Kanga's hand on his waist. The grip is firm at first and he notices it loosening, as her other hand slips off his jeans. After a long tiresome journey, the mzungu is awakened from his sleep by the conductor, who demands his bus fare. He realizes that his wallet is missing. He checks his right and left pockets and looks back into the floor of the daladala. He checks his back pocket although he never puts money there. He only finds a note from Kanga – the petty thief who pinched his wallet. Poverty and crime are incessant problems in developing countries.  

Developing African countries grapple with a myriad of challenges.

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTIONS "MISSING OUT" LEILA ABOULEILA. 

Staying overseas can make an individual alienated from their people or cultural practices. Write a composition in support of this statement using illustrations from Missing Out by Leila Abouleila.

When Majdy goes to London to study, he feels homesick and badly wants to return home – Sudan. However, he later feels more at home in London and becomes harshly critical of Sudan. He drops conservative rituals like compulsory prayers and becomes more detached from his people, their way of life and way of thinking.

First, Majdy is no longer loyal and committed to prayers. He quarrels with his wife Samra because he does not own a prayer mat. Furthermore, he does not know where the qibla is since he cannot figure out the direction of the Ka'ba. From Britain, Mecca and Saudi Arabia are south-east but Majdy cannot tell the south-eastern direction from his room. He has been there a whole year without praying! He does not attend the Friday prayers either. This shocks Samra who suggests that he should skip his Friday classes to attend prayers. Majdy prioritises his study and tells Samra that her suggestion is stupid. She is hurt. To make it up to her, he takes her to the Central mosque and buys her a red prayer mat, a compass - which points to the direction of Mecca, and a prayer booklet. On each page was a month with rows showing days and columns showing different prayers. Samra is excited about the prayers but Majdy is aloof and indifferent. He is glad that she says “I” not “we” when talking about the strict prayer schedule. She would pray whether he joined her or not. Samra is hell bent on influencing Majdy to commit to prayers. He remains committed to his course which he says is too hard for him to play truant. Majdy is happy that the trip to the mosque satisfied Samra but he remains disinterested. To her, prayer offers protection, grace and guidance. Majdy is alienated. He is a lazy and half hearted believer who argues that prayer is a distraction, an interruption and an inconvenience especially in the fast-paced civilization of London. He asks Samra to stop nagging him about prayers. He is surely detached from some sacred, compulsory practices of his people.

Majdy is so alienated from Sudan that he feels London is much more civilized. When he returns to London after his summer holiday in Sudan, he enjoys the tranquil quietness away from Khartoum’s perpetual hum that is pleasantly absent. In London, there is continuity of life. When it rains people go about their lives with umbrellas, shelves in supermarkets empty and fill up again and the postman delivers mail everyday. Majdy considers this civilization – security to build ones life and make something out of it. He feels that Samra does not belong in London. Nevertheless, he cannot fathom why she is not excited by the new opportunities in London. She does not admire the way people go about their business with efficiency and decency. Here, the ambulance and fire engines never let anyone down. Furthermore, financial transactions using cheque cards are convenient and pigeons and ducks in the parks are not molested or eaten. Majdy feels that London is a paragon of civility and Sudan is too far behind to catch up. He plans to get a work permit once his student visa expired, and remaining in London after his PhD.

Thirdly, Majdy feels that his home, Sudan, is backwards and uncivilized. When students demonstrate over the planned execution of an opposition leader, Majdy does not have the anger in him to join the demonstration. Back in London, he wants to get a work permit since he does not plan to go back to Sudan after he gets his PhD. Samra wants him to return to Sudan and work as a lecturer. He says if he did, he would not be able to afford an apartment because of the poor pay. Other problems bedevilling Sudan include lack of fuel and unreliable electricity supply. Defrosted fridges are used as cupboards with soggy food rotting inside as a result of frequent power blackouts. Also, most people waste valuable time bickering about politics and job promotion is based on political inclination and not merit. Majdy refers to Sudan as a large crazy country owing to its backwardness. Samra thinks he is disloyal. Due to shortage of public transport vehicles, Majdy's mother is forced to hike a lift from a stranger after waiting in vain for hours. She is forced to make several trips to the central post office in Khartoum and sit for hours on the uncomfortable wooden benches in the stifling heat in order to communicate with her son. Poverty stricken children try to sell hairpins, chewing gum and matches and beggars sit by the mosque. Samra's teacher irks her when she says she must be relieved to be away from war and famine in Sudan. Majdy is alienated because of the fact that Sudan is uncivilized compared to London.

Majdy feels that Samra is stuck in the past by adoring Sudan since she misses out on the present. Instead of enjoying London’s beauty, she broods over how poor her own people are. He finds her homesickness irrational and is baffled by her unwillingness to embrace the new life. This blindness blocks her progress and possible gains. She misses out on so many choices and opportunities. Majdy feels that other Sudanese women in London blossomed in the new surrounding – they wear tight trousers and smoke cigarettes. He does not expect Samra to necessarily ape this but expects her to capture and embrace the spirit. She, however, remains shy and reserved. She insists on wearing her tobe - the traditional Sudanese attire and covering her hair. Despite being far away from home Samra prays faithfully. She acquires a prayer mat, a compass and a prayer book. Majdy wants her to enjoy the lively, civilized London life. She should be grateful to him for rescuing him from the backward Khartoum. She on the other hand wants Majdy to return to Sudan after his studies overseas. She fantasizes about sleeping in the afternoon under a fan, their children playing on the roof, taking mint tea and gossiping with neighbours. Majdy is worried about Samra's aloofness that he enrolls her for word processing classes to keep her busy. She drops out of the school when the teacher talks impertinently about her beloved home country Sudan. He finally capitulates and sends her back to Sudan – much to her delight.

Being away from home can alienate one from his people or their culture .

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "No Need to Lie" Rolf Schmid

Strong will and optimism help one overcome challenges.  Write a composition to validate this statement making reference to Rolf Schmid’s  No Need to Lie .

Diseases like cancer bring along with them many predicaments. Many patients die because they lack hope and despair on life. If treated or well managed, cancer can be defeated. One needs strong willpower and optimism in order to beat cancer. Rolf Schmid’s obstinate refusal to be defeated by cancer is a perfect example of mind over matter tenacity.   

After developing scary health and physical symptoms, Rolf Schmid is fearful about the impending diagnosis. However, when doctor Rupani tells him that he has cancer, he says that his willpower is strong and determined (p 125). What starts as persistent sore throat turns out to be a more grave illness when Rolf's doctor Mrs. Van Enk suggests that he sees a specialist. Fear grips him. He wonders if it is AIDS which he considers a death sentence. He is concerned about the stigma and what his family, friends and guests at his restaurant would say. He even contemplates suicide. He is determined to live and opines that suicide is for cowards. He manages to keep calm but the word AIDS keeps creeping up (p 123). The ghosts of cancer and AIDS haunt Mr. Schmid and he is really scared. His strong willpower and determination to live are evident when he says that his children need him and he wants to see them grow up. “I could not let myself die,” he thinks. Worry robs his wife Asmahan and him of sleep. He thinks of people that die of cancer everywhere and his mind is preoccupied with “cancer, cancer, cancer” (p124). Dr. Rupani finally informs Rolf that he has cancer but tells him that he can battle and win. Rolf thinks of his children, wife, business and future and declares that he is not going to die. He is too young to die. He repeats this message over and over to send it to every cell in his   body (p 125). Before he travels for his operation at Katharinen Krankenhaus in Germany he is trapped in worries. He remembers doctor Meister, who did not make it after an operation, and he was diagnosed with a similar illness as Rolf. He thinks of being buried next to his grandmother in the event that he dies during the operation. However, he remains optimistic that he is not going to die. He tells himself, “You are not ready to die.” (p 132).   Rolf resolutely declares that he is not going to give in to cancer (p124). He battles cancer bravely   and eventually manages to beat it. Surely, strong willpower is important when battling predicaments such as cancer.  

Rolf determinedly endures the unpleasant side effects of treatment bravely because of  his strong willpower. When he goes for radiation treatment, the room is full of patients who have lost their hair and look appalling. The humongous radiation apparatus are intimidating and  threatening (p 125). The radiation treatment continues for a month. Furthermore, Rolf has to undergo four sessions of chemotherapy to kill the cancer in his body. He dreads the word chemotherapy. It makes patients feel sick and brings with it a myriad of miseries e.g. loss of hair. The thought sends shivers down his spine. Nonetheless, he hopes it will cure his cancer. He is still worried that he will lose his hair and be very sick. His friend Alberto tells him to be brave. He tells him that some people get violently sick while others do not and that it all depends on the patient’s mind and physical constitution. Rolf bravely endures an eight hour drip without experiencing nausea or vomiting. The nurse tells him that he is a really strong ndume (man). He even goes to his Polo Club to show everyone how strong he was (p 128). Due to the treatment, he loses half his hair and part of his beard. His tumor shrinks and this is a glimmer of hope. He knows he is not going to die (p 129). After the operation, his head swells twice its size and half of his neck is missing. He faints when he notices this and every time the wound is cleaned. He manages to walk out of the hospital thinking he had beaten cancer. Eventually he returns to Kenya having defeated cancer (p 135). Surely, strong willpower is vital for survival.  

Rolf Schmid resolutely endures the pain that comes with cancer. His mouth is full of ulcers and the skin is peeling. The pain is excruciating. He cannot take it any longer (p 125). Rolf has difficulty in feeding because of the pain. He cooks minced meat and vegetables, celery, leek, carrots and 3 litres of water, cools it down to body temperature and strains it through cloth. The mere thought of the liquid passing through his mouth scares him. The ritual of feeding through a half inch pipe is painful and torturous. He has no option since he needs food and lots of fluids to beat cancer. He struggles to eat determinedly lest Dr. Rupani confines him in a hospital and feeds him intravenously (p 126). If anything touched his raw lips, gums or sore throat he would groan in pain. Despite the   severe agony, he has to continue with this ritual, his only chance of survival. He compares cancer to a rival in a judo match – he is determined to defeat him with a full “ippon” – a knockout   win! He sips his “survival juice” and urges himself to go on and congratulates himself when he succeeds. Sometimes he chokes and coughs and screams in pain – it feels like a ghost is biting and tearing his neck and throat. He is ashamed when his friends find him screaming in pain (p 127). Sometime he feels mental rejection of the food. He realizes that cancer patients die because of lack of hope or because of despairing on life. He has a strong unstoppable desire for health and life. He remains strong for the sake of his wife Asmahan. He wants to continue playing Polo and making sculptures (p 128).

Rolf Schmid suffers weight loss but he remains resolute until he beats cancer. Rolf Schmid is a big athletic man weighing 120kgs. He could bench press 165kgs and squat 240kgs. As a result of the cancer, he looks like a malnourished old man. A friend muses that he looks like a Labrador puppy. He loses 300 grams in one day. He weighs 87.3kgs down from 125kgs. He is a pale shadow of his former brawny self – a powerlifter with a chest of 54 centimetres and very wide biceps. This makes him think of death. However, summoning the faces of his children, he has a reason to live. His ardent personality keeps reminding him not to give up.   “You cannot die now” (p 126). When he goes for his Polo game, he is almost 36kgs lighter than before. His horses must mistake him for someone else (p 129-131). One of his clients is astounded by the change. He has dropped almost 40kgs in 3 months. His face is hollow, hair and beard almost nonexistent (p 132). Nevertheless, Rolf fights stubbornly until he beats cancer.

Rolf manages to beat cancer because of his mind over matter attitude and his stubborn refusal to die. His strong willpower and optimism are admirable.

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "How Much Land Does Man Need" Leo Tolstoy

Greed causes suffering. Write an essay to justify this statement citing illustrations from Leo Tolstoy’s “How Much Land Does Man Need?”

Pahom is filled with intense and selfish desire for land. His irrational avarice makes him to suffer greatly. Due to his lack of contentment, he undergoes intense distress of body and mind and eventually loses his life.

Despite owning 123 acres of land and pasture, Pahom desires to have more land. Pahom is a relatively rich farmer living in the countryside of Russia. Apart from land, he also owns a big house in which he lives with five family members. Furthermore, he keeps cattle whose number keeps increasing. He thinks that his land is not big enough. He wants wider and more fertile lands. He has a desire to farm widely and keep more livestock. All day, he keeps thinking about only one thing: “How can I have more lands?” Despite having all these possessions, Pahom lacks happiness and satisfaction because of his greed.

When a passing dealer tells Pahom about the land the Bashkirs are selling, he is strongly attracted due to his greed. The passing dealer stops to get some feed for his horse. When taking tea, they have a talk. He is returning from the land of the Bashkirs which is very far away. He had bought 13,000 acres of land all for 1000 roubles. Pahom asks whether it is true but says, “There must be a catch.” The dealer shows him his title deed and tells him there is more land than you could cover if you walked a year. The lands are very fertile and the best for farming. Pahom declares that he has to go there and buy land. After inquiring where the Bashkirs are, he buys many presents and takes his servant with him. They take seven days to find the Bashkirs. The chief promises to give him anything he asks for, as a reward for the presents. Pahom says that he would like to have some land for himself. He is mesmerized by the wide fertile lands. The leader tells him that he could have as much as he wanted if he could go round on his feet in a day. However, he must return to the starting point before sunset, otherwise everything would be invalid. Pahom is willing to go to these lengths just to acquire land. His greed causes him distress.

Pahom cannot sleep at night due to the excitement caused by his greed. He is delighted by the Bashkir’s offer. He keeps thinking about the land. He plans to walk the whole day and mark off a large tract. He also plans to make a big pasture in his newly-acquired land and to build a big cottage. Pahom lays awake all night and dozes off just before dawn. In the morning, the chief tells him he could have any part of the land. His eyes glisten with burning desire. It was all virgin soil. The leader puts his fox-fur cap on the ground to mark the starting point. All land Pahom goes round would be his. Because of greed, Pahom could not sleep at night.   Greed is surely a source of distress.

Pahom declares that he would get the largest and best land above all people, betraying his greedy nature. He starts walking towards the meadow, thinking that he must lose no time. He laments that time goes fast. It grows quite warm so he takes off his outer coat and shoes. He walks until the hillock is scarcely visible. People on it look like black ants. He feels sweaty and thirsty but goes on and on. He begins to grow tired. The grass is high and it is very hot. At noon, he decides to rest. Pahom endures suffering because of his unquenchable greed.

At noon, Pahom thinks, “I must have a rest!” He stops walking to have lunch. To save more time, walk more and get more land, he stands while eating bread and water. At first he walks easily since the food strengthens him. It becomes terribly hot and Pahom feels sleepy. In the face of misery, he thinks: “An hour to suffer, a life-time to live”, and goes on. He is about to turn left but changes his mind when he perceives a damp hollow. He thinks that it would be a pity to leave it out. He thinks that flax would do well there. A desire to get the damp hollow makes him not to turn. The heat makes the air hazy. The hillock seems to be quivering and people on it can scarcely be seen. Pahom suffers as a result of his irrational obsession for land.

Pahom loses track of time because of his excessive desire for land. He feels it is too early to return to the hillock despite having walked for a long time and acquiring a great deal of land. He concludes that it is not the time to go back yet. He steps faster in a bid to get more land. He goes over the plain – walking without thinking. The sun is nearly halfway to the horizon. The leader's words hit Pahom’s head and he’s filled with worry. He starts rushing back to the hillock in a straight line. Worry eats him up. Did he go too far? He is in a lot of distress while walking towards the hillock. He walks with difficulty. He was done up with the heat. His bare feet are cut and bruised. His legs begin to fail. He longs to rest but it is impossible. The sun, waiting for no man, sinks deeper and deeper. Pahom is worried that all his effort and money would be in vain. He suffers greatly because of greed.

Pahom is worried that he may lose everything so he begins running. He is distressed that he may have blundered trying for too much. He is far from his goal and the sun is already near the rim. “What if I am too late?” He feels serious pain but still presses on. He throws away his outer coat, his shoes, his flask and his cap. He keeps the spade for support. His shirt and trousers are soaking with sweat. His mouth is parched. His breast is working like a blacksmith’s bellows. His heart is beating like a hammer. His legs are giving way as if they do not belong to him. Pahom is seized with terror. He could die because of strain. Though afraid of death, he could not stop. His greed fuels his ambition and he suffers in the process.

The last nail on Pahom's coffin is that he actually dies and loses everything. He runs on and on and he can hear the Bashkir's shouting to him. He can see the people on the hillock. He can see the fox-fur cap on the ground so he rushes on with all his remaining strength. He bends his body forward but his legs can hardly follow fast enough to prevent him from falling. When it grows dark, he gives out a distressful cry, “All my labour has been in vain.” The Bashkir's urge him on when he is about to stop. He takes a long breath and runs up the hillock. His legs give way, he falls and reaches the cap with his hands. The leader is mesmerised by Pahom's determination to get much land. He exclaims that he is such a fine fellow. Unfortunately , he had lost all his strength and died. Despite suffering dreadfully and gaining much land, he is buried by his servant in a six foot grave. That’s how much land he needed. Pahom's greed results in his loss, misery and death.

In conclusion, lack of contentment is dangerous. If we do not check our greed, we suffer great losses. Pahom loses everything including his dear life because of his insatiable desire for land.

MEMORIES WE LOST KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "Umbrella man" Siddharta Gigoo

Inmates in asylums experience many challenges. One needs hope in order to survive. Write an essay to show the truth of this assertion basing your  illustrations on Siddartha Gigoo's " Umbrella Man ". 

In the face of trials or challenges, we need to remain positive, confident or hopeful. Number 7 endures the desolate life in confinement with buoyancy. He is finally released.

The inmates are confronted with the challenge of restricted movement. First, they are allowed to go out of their cells only in the evenings. Even then, they can   only stroll within the compound of the asylum. Due to his obedience and calm disposition, Number 7 is the only inmate allowed to saunter out of the gate. Even he can only enjoy limited liberty. He walks along the 90 something yard avenue that ends at the wall. The inmates are restricted within the 120 square metres asylum. Beyond the stone-and-brick wall, there is nothing but vast darkness or oblivion. Their lives ended at the wall (pg. 46). While enjoying his limited freedom, he is alerted by the booming siren to return to his cell (pg. 49). He seems to envy the puny little fellow, who is free to do whatever he wanted to do and roam about without any restrictions (pg. 50). Despite this problem, Number 7 remains hopeful. He walks around with his umbrella hoping it would rain, even though for seven months it has not rained. He waits patiently for the swelling clouds and rain. Despite the restricted freedom, Number 7 clings to hope since he has something to look forward to.  

Secondly, the inmates have no visitors or worldly possessions. Number 7 has not had any visitors for many years. None of the inmates has visitors. They also have no material possessions other than two sets of clothes – woolen and cotton. The umbrella is Number 7’s only companion is his solitary cell. His beautiful umbrella makes him smile. Not many in the asylum know what beauty is. He takes leisurely walks on sunny afternoons, holding it aloft. Despite not having any visitors or belongings, Number 7 is happy and satisfied since he owns the beautiful yellow-and-red stripped umbrella. He keeps hope alive that one day it would surely rain (pg. 48).

Also, the inmates locked up in the asylum endure loneliness. On lonely nights, Number 7 imagines he is not alone in the cell. He would see the image of a child. He would wake up from his nervy sleep to comfort the child. Stroking his hair tenderly, Number 7 would say, "Go back to sleep, I’m by your side".  Number 7 worries about the child and talks to it night after night. As much as he lives a lonesome, desolate life, Number 7 keeps hope alive and offers his imaginary friend companionship. He stays optimistic and hopeful when he prays for the child, hoping for some divine help from the infinite universe. He is a father and mother to the child. He grows old but remains hopeful like a child. It is important to remain hopeful in spite of any challenges we encounter.

Number 7’s chance of freedom is dependent on the decision of other people. They have to put up with unsmiling doctors. On the day of his release, Number 7 receives the news from two attending doctors beaming with smiles. They don’t smile on most days. The doctors claim their effort had yielded fruit and Number 7 is free to go now. This is after they assessed evidence and facts and conducted a careful examination. The committee agreed to their assessment. Number 7 thinks the committee is made up of serious members who never concurred or signed any discharge papers. He knows that their fate was determined by the doctors and the committee. Despite this, number 7 remains sanguine and hopeful until he tastes release and permanent freedom.

Life in incarceration is riddled with a myriad of challenges that can only be overcome if one remains hopeful.

MEMORIES WE LOST KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Write an essay to show how admirable people inspire change, basing your illustrations on The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World.

Magnificent people motivate us to change or improve our lives. Esteban’s arrival in the village makes the villagers aware of their myopic vision and, without uttering a single word, the dead man persuades the villagers to transform their way of life.

Esteban inspires the villagers to build better houses. The village is made up of twenty-odd wooden houses with stone courtyards that are devoid of flowers. The houses are spread about gauntly on the end of a desert-like cape. The women sewing clothes for Esteban think that if this magnificent man lived in the village, his house would have the widest doors, highest ceilings and strongest floors. After Esteban’s arrival, they decide that everything would be different from then on. Their houses would have wider doors, higher ceilings and stronger floors to enable Esteban’s memory to roam without bumping into beams. They also plan to paint the fronts of their houses gay colors to make Esteban’s memory eternal. Indeed, impressive men transform others.

Before Esteban’s arrival, the villagers were unware of their stark streets and dry courtyards. They become aware of these inadequacies   while fighting for the privilege of carrying Esteban along the escarpment. His beauty persuades them to change this. Their courtyards have no flowers but this will change. The women imagine that Esteban could put so much work into his land that springs could burst from among the rocks enabling him to plant flowers on the cliffs. They even dismiss their own men that for all their lives they could not do what Esteban could do in a day. However, after the encounter with Esteban the villagers decide that henceforth they would put great effort into digging for springs among the stones and planting flowers on the cliff. In future, the smell of gardens would awaken passengers on great liners and captains would admire the village and label it “Esteban’s village”. Surely, great men inspire change.

Esteban persuades the villagers to organize a splendid funeral for him. Initially, they would throw the few dead among them off the cliff. The men plan to get rid of Esteban in a similar fashion. They improvise a litter with remains of foremasts and gaffs and plan to sink Esteban into the deepest waves where fish are blind and divers die of nostalgia. They don’t want him to be brought back to the shore by bad currents. However, when they see his face, they are awestricken by his beauty, the truth in his manner and his sincerity. Surprisingly, they fight for the privilege to carry him on their shoulders. They let him go without an anchor so that he could return if he wanted. Surely, Esteban’s greatness inspires the villagers to change the way they treat their dead.

Esteban arrives in the village as a stranger but later he unites the whole village. First, the women unite to make clothes for him. The tallest men's holiday pants would not fit him nor the fattest one’s Sunday shirts. His feet would not fit in the shoes of the men with the biggest feet. Fascinated by his huge size and beauty, the women decide to make him some pants from large pieces of sail and shirt from the bridal Brabant linen so that he could bear his death with dignity. They sit in a circle sewing. Then, the inhabitants in the village are united as kinsmen. This is because they could not let Esteban return to the waters as an orphan. They choose a father and our mother for him from the best people. They also choose aunts and uncles and cousins and he thus unites them as one large happy family. While the women work together to bring many flowers, the men not only make a litter to carry Esteban but also fight for the privilege of carrying him on their shoulders. This point clearly depicts how a great man inspires change.

At first, the men are not as obsessed with Esteban as the women are. When the women learn that he is not from the neighboring village, they jubilate and praise the Lord saying “He's ours.” The men dismiss this excitement as womanish frivolity. Since they’re tired, all they want to do is to get rid of the corpse once and for all. They plan to sink it in the deepest sea to ensure it wouldn’t come back. The men are jealous when they notice that the women are overly excited and passionate about the dead man. With a tinge of mistrust in their liver, they contemptuously refer to him as a drifting corpse, a drowned nobody and a piece of cold Wednesday meat. But when they see his face, they are left breathless too.   They are impressed by his handsomeness and the truth in his manner. They shudder at Esteban’s sincerity. They end up giving him the most splendid funeral they could conceive for an abandoned drowned man. Clearly, magnificent people motivate others to change.

In conclusion, marvelous people like Esteban have the uncanny knack to inspire transformation.

MORE ESSAYS FROM MEMORIES WE LOST AND OTHER STORIES

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "Window Seat" Benjamin Branoff. 

Write a composition entitled: The challenges of urbanization in developing African countries, making reference to Benjamin Branoff’s “ Window Seat ”. 

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "The Umbrella Man" Siddhartha Gigoo

In the face of affliction hope is essential for man's survival. Write an essay to validate this statement in reference to Siddharta Gigoo's  The Umbrella Man . 

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "Hitting Budapest" NoViolet Bulawayo

Children need compassion, guidance and love without which they become delinquents. Write an essay to qualify this assertion citing illustrations from NoViolet Bulawayo's  Hitting Budapest . 

MEMORIES WE LOST  KCSE ESSAY QUESTION "Light" Lesley Nneka Amirah. 

Write a composition on the challenges experienced by a single parent raising a teenager citing illustrations from  ‘Light  by Lesley Nneka Amirah. 

Self acceptance is vital for a meaningful life. Write a composition to validate this statement citing illustrations from  The Folded Leaf

Memories we Lost How Much Land Does Man Need? Light My Father's Head The Umbrella Man Window Seat The Folded Leaf Hitting Budapest Missing Out No Need to Lie  The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World Stones Bounce on Water

Enjoy these essays on  The Pearl ,  A Doll's House and Blossoms of the Savannah . 

55 comments:

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Thanks for the feedback.

This platform has got all that a student may need...I've loved it

Your articles articulate clarity and precision. Good work.

Thanks for the positive feedback.

thanks for the fine details ! They're helpful

You have done an excellent job.

Thanks for the feedback

Hey Wekati. Am a bit confused on your essay introductions. Aren't they supposed to be general?. Another question is are we supposed to mention characters on the introduction part?

Hello, thanks for the question. In introduction, we mark a candidate's understanding of the question. General & specific introduction are terms coined by teachers but we never classify or categorize them. It's okay to mention characters as long as they are relevant to the essay.

Hey wekati am bit confused about the introduction part.please assist me

Please contact me [email protected]

Hello sir am asking if is it a must for someone to have a topic sentence when writing an essay

That's the standard procedure. The main idea in a paragraph is captured in the 1st line. Mention the point before you expound on it.

Everything is just awesome Detailed as needed How I wish you could write a guide book about the stories

Thanks for the feedback. I'll pen one soon.

i want to download essays please help out

How can I download the essays...very helpful

Need to download the essays

I need an essay with illustrations drawn from light on the topic a child need both parents presence and guidance for good upbringing

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I really love and appreciate the work you are doing may you continue inspiring us I find this blog helpful in my essay writing merci

Bienvenue. Thanks for the feedback.

I find this blog post helpful continue with the good work sir I'm sitting my final exams this year and I look forward to passing with flying colors merci beaucoup

I wish you the best

Hey wekati..do you have the answer to the last essay. The one about self acceptance from the story The Folded Leaf

I will publish that soon

I really love your work.This is extremely helpful

This was very helpful I need an easy on The handsomest drowned man in the world

As an avid reader, I havn't yet met and equal to Wekati blog. This is the lexicon any 21st century teacher would use and utilize for rhe indoctrination and edification of leaders. On point, impressive, excellent and precise work. O. W. Ochieng' Ratego.

Please accept my deepest gratitude brother Ochieng'.

Hey how can l get the essay of my father's head about how the power of love is protroyed through actions

How can I download kindly may you help me

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This is a God sent gift for my prayer.....thanks alot but could you please illustrate more on the introduction part.thanks In advance🙂🙃

Thank you. Contact me, please. [email protected]

nicce content

slight discrepancy on "Stones Bounce on Water".Meg is the alcoholic whose relatives believe she is swimming in money, not Winnie...

Thanks for pointing that out. The error has been corrected.

How can I download all of this

Hello Wekati...How can I download the essays?

The blog has no download button. Please enjoy the essays online.

Good answers on the essay questions

Help me to write the essay from the folded leaf;Segun afolabi satirizes churches today discuss

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201 Memory Research Topics & Essay Examples

Memory is a fascinating brain function. Together with abstract thinking and empathy, memory is the thing that makes us human.

❓ Memory Research Questions

🏆 best memory topic ideas & essay examples, 💭 exciting memory research topics, 💫 interesting memory topics for essays, 👍 research topics about memory in psychology, 🕑 learning & memory research topics, 💡 easy memory essay ideas.

In your essay about memory, you might want to compare its short-term and long-term types. Another idea is to discuss the phenomenon of false memories. The connection between memory and the quality of sleep is also exciting to explore.

If you’re looking for memory topics to research & write about, you’re in the right place. In this article, you’ll find 174 memory essay topics, ideas, questions, and sample papers related to the concept of memory.

• How does sensory memory work?
• How is short-term memory different from long-term memory?
• What memory-training techniques are the most effective?
• What are the reasons for memory failures?
• Memory and aging: what is the connection?
• What are the key types of memory disorders?
• How to improve memory?
• Memory Chart Stages in Psychology For instance, the brain uses the procedural memory to encode procedural skills and tasks that an individual is involved in. The stages of memory are very complex and often pass unrecognized.
• Computer’s Memory Management Memory management is one of the primary responsibilities of the OS, a role that is achieved by the use of the memory management unit.
• Memory for Designs Test The examination of the functioning of the memory of an individual cannot be limited to only one memory test, and as a result, there are a variety of assessments that target the various features of […]
• Memory Model of Teaching and Its Effectiveness The main objective of the research study was to find out the difference in the effect of the memory model and the traditional method of teaching on students’ performance.
• “The Sorrow of War” by Bao Ninh: Memory as a Central Idea The image of soldier Kien in The Sorrow of War demonstrates the difficulties of the Vietnamese people before, through and after this war.
• Memory Test The two controversies determine the classification of memory depending on the form of information processing that occurs in the brain and the different types of memories in relation to the accessibility.
• Long and Short Term Memory The procedure of conveying information from STM to LTM entails the encoding and consolidation of information: it is not a task of time; the more the data resides in STM it increases the chances of […]
• Review of Wordfast: Strengths and Weaknesses of This Translation Memory Tool Recognizing the variety of benefits of using Wordfast in the translation process, it should be noted that the use of this ACT program can have a number of unintended negative implications for the quality of […]
• Love and Memory From a Psychological Point of View The commonly known love types include affection, passionate love, friendship, infatuation, puppy love, sexual love, platonic love, romantic love and many other terms that could be coined out to basically describe love.
• Free and Serial Memory Recalls in Experiments In the study, the experimenters changed the order in which the items were presented to the participants before each trial to test the ability of the subject to recognize these words it was observed that […]
• Memory Strategies Examples and How They Work A good strategy for memory is the one that improves information encoding, necessitates storage of data in a memorable state and enables the mind to easily retrieve information. Indeed, a malfunction in retrieval of stored […]
• Biopsychology of Learning and Memory The hippocampus is a brain region in the form of a horseshoe that plays an essential role in the transformation of information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory.
• Chauri Chaura Incident in History and Memory The book’s first half was a reconstruction, a narrative in historical view of the burning of the chowki or station and the account of the trial that focused on the testimony of the principal prosecution […]
• The Effect of Sleep Quality and IQ on Memory Therefore, the major aim of sleep is to balance the energies in the body. However, the nature of the activity that an individual is exposed to determines the rate of memory capture.
• Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) The first mentioning of shape memory materials was with the discovery of martensite in 1890, which was the first step for phenomenal discovery of the shape memory effect.
• Community Gatherings and Collective Memory The objective of this paper is to examine some of the gatherings that take place in the community and how these gatherings are related to time.
• Memory Acquisition and Information Processing The problem of disagreeing with memories can be explained by a closer look at the process of memory acquisition. Most part of the sensory information is not encoded due to selective attention.
• Improving Memory and Study Power Study power and memory are important aspects of the learning process and improving them is necessary for success. Working the brain is important in improvement of memory and study power.
• False Memory Syndrome: Is It Real? Freud’s findings bring the idea that some of the memories that are categorized to be false memories that emanates from the unconscious memory.
• Information Processing and Improving Learning and Memory Information processing theory is a method of studying cognitive development that arose from the American experimental psychology tradition.
• Fabricating the Memory: War Museums and Memorial Sites Due to the high international criticism, a very tiny portion of the East Wing is dedicated to explain the context, yet visitors easily overlook the section after the dense display of tragedies after a-bomb in […]
• How Memory and Intelligence Change as We Age The central argument of the paper is that intelligence and memory change considerably across the lifespan, but these alterations are different in the two concepts. The article by Ofen and Shing is a valuable contribution […]
• Concreteness of Words and Free Recall Memory The study hypothesized that the free recall mean of concrete words is not statistically significantly higher than that of abstract words.
• Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test and Cognistat Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test and the Cognistat are the assessment tools employed by the occupational therapists in order to determine the levels of impairment in their mental function that directly impact the individuals’ executive abilities […]
• Brain and Memory Evidence suggests that the amygdala and the hippocampus regions of the brain interact during the formation of verbal and visual memory.
• Amnesia and Long-Term Memory These factors interfere with the function of hippocampus, the section of the human brain that is responsible for the development of memory, storing and organizing information.
• Factors of Learners’ and Adults’ Working Memory An individual’s working memory refers to their ability to access and manipulate bits of data in their mind for a short period.
• Statistics: The Self-Reference Effect and Memory After the distraction part was over, the participants were asked to recall the twelve adjectives they rated from a list of 42 words. This brings the question of whether the results would be different if […]
• Memory Mechanisms: Cognitive Load Theory The teacher’s task is not only to give information but also to explain the principles of learning and to work with it.
• The Self-Reference Effect and Memory Accordingly, the analysis has the following hypotheses: the SRE should enhance recognition of words that participants can relate to themselves, and people should feel more confident about their memory under the SRE.
• Henry Molaison and Memory Lessons The case of Henry Molaison serves as a poignant reminder of the complexity of memory and the importance of understanding its various components.
• Memory and Attention as Aspects of Cognition It has specific definitions, such as “consideration with a view to action,” “a condition of readiness involving a selective narrowing or focusing of consciousness and receptivity,” and “the act or state of applying the mind […]
• Intergenerational Trauma and Traumatic Memory The exploration of interconnected issues of intergenerational trauma and traumatic memory in society with historical data of collective violence across the world sensitizes to the importance of acknowledging trauma.
• The Role of Memory Cells in Cellular Immunity Therefore, when a bacterium gets into the body for a second time, the response is swift because the body has fought it before. Thus, a healthy body can recognize and get rid of chronic microorganisms […]
• Psychological Conditions in Addition to Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory The authors, who have many papers and degrees in the field, have noted the features of the brain structure and the differences between HSAM.
• Cognitive Psychology: The Effects of Memory Conformity The experiment’s control conditions did not allow the witnesses to discuss the event seen in the videos, while in the other condition, the witnesses were encouraged to discuss the event.
• Survival and Memory in Music of the Ghosts by Ratner When it comes to individual memory of Teera’s childhood, the author explains the connection between her memories of her father and musical instruments: “Perhaps it’s because as a child she grew up listening to her […]
• Concept for Teaching Memory in Primary School Students Teaching is one of the most demanding and demanding jobs in the world because it is the job that holds the future generation together.
• ”The Mystery of Memory” Documentary by Gray & Schwarz The documentary examines the brain’s ability to form and retrieve a memory, highlights the importance of neurobiology, and focuses on the problems of PTSD treatment and neuroscience backwardness, concluding that human memory is still a […]
• Draw It or Lose It Memory and Storage Considerations Since the size of the biggest component of this data is known and the additional component can be reasonably estimated, memory for it can be assigned at load time.
• The Multi-Storage Memory Model by Atkinson and Schiffrin The function of the is to track the stimuli in the input register and to provide a place to store the information coming from the LTS.
• Emotions: The Influence on Memory At the same time, the influence of positive and negative feelings on the process of memorization and reproduction is different. In conclusion, it should be said that the process of the influence of emotions on […]
• Civility, Democracy, Memory in Sophocles’ Antigone In Sophocles’ Antigone, the narrative flow makes the audience empathize with the tragic fate of the characters, deepening the emotional involvement of the readers and viewers.
• The Psychological Nature of Memory Using the numerical representation of the participants’ results, the researchers calculated the dependence of the memory and theory of mind in the process of recalling the interlocutors.
• Functioning of Human Memory Schemas Consecutively, the study aimed to identify the relation between the facilitation of prior knowledge schemas and memories and the ability to form new schemas and inferences in older adults.
• Enhancing Individual and Collaborative Eyewitness Memory Considering the positive results of research utilizing category clustering recall and the reported benefits of group memory, a question arises whether the use of category clustering recall might diminish the negative effects of group inhibition.
• Memory: Its Functions, Types, and Stages of Storage First, information is processed in sensory memory, which perceives sensory events for a couple of seconds to determine whether the information is valuable and should be kept for a longer period. As information goes through […]
• The Relationship Between the Working Memory and Non-Conscious Experiences The structure of the proposal follows the logical layout, beginning from the background of the issue through the methodology to problem significance and research innovation.
• Consciousness: The Link Between Working Memory and Unconscious Experience The present study seeks to address the gap in the research regarding the executive function of VWM and consciousness. This study will follow a modified structure of Bergstrom and Eriksson experiment on non-conscious WM to […]
• The Role of Image Color in Association With the Memory Functions Memory is the cornerstone of human cognition that enables all of its profound mechanisms, and the instrument of knowledge acquisition and exchange.
• The Memory Formation Process: Key Issues Hippocampus plays an essential role in the memory formation process because it is the part of the brain where short-term memories become long-term memories.
• Memory Techniques in Learning English Vocabulary ‘Word’ is defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as follows: “1a: something that is said b plural: the text of a vocal musical composition c: a brief remark or conversation 2a: a speech sound or series […]
• Covalent Modification of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Regulates Memory Formation The article by Miller and Sweatt examines the possible role of DNA methylation as an epigenetic mechanism in the regulation of memory in the adult central nervous system.
• Repressed Memory in Childhood Experiences The suffering often affects a child’s psychological coping capacity in any respect, and one of the only ways of dealing with it is to force the memory out of conscious perception.
• Adaptive Memory and Survival Subject Correlation The results of the study have revealed that the participants found it slightly easier to recall the words related to the notion of survival.
• Developmental Differences in Memory Over Lifespan While growth refers to the multiplication of the number of individual units or cells in the body, maturation on the other hand can be defined as the successive progress of the individual’s appendage land organs […]
• Memory, the Working-Memory Impairments, and Impacts on Memory The first important argument for a thorough discussion on how ADHD could affect brain functioning and working memory impairments is the existence of prominent factors that could create a link between the disorder and the […]
• Working Memory in 7 &13 Years Aged Children However, it was hypothesized that children with AgCC will show similar performance improvement in verbal working memory task performance from 7 to 13 years of age as indicated in the study with CVLT.
• Working Memory & Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum However, it was hypothesized that children with AgCC will show similar improvement in performance on verbal working memory task performance from 7 to 13 years of age as indicated in the study with CVLT.
• Lifespan Memory Decline, Memory Lapses and Forgetfulness The purpose of the research by Henson et al.was to deepen the understanding of differential aging of the brain on differential patterns of memory loss.
• Elaborative Process and Memory Performance The process is significant in the study and retention of data. In addition, the application of the concepts in the author’s learning process will be highlighted.
• The Essence of Context Dependent Memory The results ought to show that the context in which eyewitnesses observed an event is important in the recall memory of the participants.
• “Neural Processing Associated With True and False Memory Retrieval” by Yoko The researchers noted that both true and distorted memories activate activities in the left parental and left frontal areas of the brain. Parahippocampal gyrus- Is the area of the brain that is responsible for processing […]
• Dementia and Memory Retention Art therapy is an effective intervention in the management of dementia because it stimulates reminiscence and enhances memory retention among patients with dementia.
• Biological Psychology: Memory By and large, there is a general agreement that molecular events are involved in the storage of information in the nervous system. It is about to differentiate different kinds of memory, one which is short-term […]
• The Memory of Silence and Lucy: A Detailed Analysis From damaging relationships to her hope to come back to the native land, Lucy has all kinds of issues to address, but the bigger issue is that Lucy’s progress is cyclical, and she has to […]
• Two Tutorials on the Virtual Memory Subject: Studytonight and Tutorials Point The explanation of the demand paging term leads to the concept of a page fault. It is a phrase that characterizes an invalid memory reference that occurs as a result of a program addressing a […]
• The Relationship Between Memory and Oblivion The purpose of this essay is to discuss the relationship between memory and oblivion, private and public recollection of events, and the way these concepts are reflected in the works of Walid Raad, Christo, and […]
• Music and Memory: Discussion Future research should focus on addressing the limitations of the study and exploring the effect of other types of music. The findings of the study are consistent with the current body of knowledge about the […]
• Fuzzy-Trace Theory and False Memory The writers set out to show the common ground for all these varied scenarios and convincingly show that false memories are a result of an interaction between memory and the cognitive process of reasoning. The […]
• Individual Differences in Learning and Memory In the following paper, the variety of learning styles will be evaluated in relation to theories of human learning and memory retrieval on the basis of the findings currently made by academic researchers.
• The Difference Between Females and Males Memory The hippocampus is of importance when it comes to memory formation and preservation and is relatively larger in females than males, giving the females advantage in memory cognition.
• The Nature of False Memory Postevent information is one of the reasons that provoke the phenomenon of misinformation. The participants watched a video of a hockey collision and were asked to estimate the speed of the players.
• Organizational Memory and Intellectual Capital The main emphasis here concerns modalities of motivating the retrieval and use of information and experiences in the OM. The source of intellectual capital arises from the managers’ ability to welcome new information and experiences, […]
• Advertising and Memory: Interaction and Effect An advert sticks into one’s memory when it focuses on the characteristic of the material being advertised, other advertisements competing for the same market niche, and the kind of people it targets.
• The Internet and Autobiographical Memory Allie Young’s blog or journal is a perfect illustration of the impact that social sites and blogs have, since for her autobiographic memory; she uses a blog site to write about issues affecting her life.
• Creativity and Memory Effects in Advertising A study was conducted in China to establish the kind of effects agency creativity has on the total outcome of the advertising campaign.
• Memory, Thinking, and Human Intelligence As Kurt exposits, “The effects of both proactive and retroactive inferences while one is studying can be counteracted in order to maximize absorption of all the information into the long-term memory”.
• Psychological Issues: Self-Identity and Sexual Meaning Issues, and Memory Processing Most sex surveys are run by firms dealing in other products and the motives of the surveys are for marketing of their primary products.
• Human Memory as a Biopsychology Area This paper is going to consider the idea that electrical activity measures of the brain of a human being can be utilized as a great means for carrying out the study of the human memory.
• Biopsychology: Learning and Memory Relationship Memorization involves an integral function of the brain which is the storage of information. Memorization is directly linked to learning through the processes of encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.
• Apiculture: Memory in Honeybees They have a sharp memory to recall the previous locations of food, the scent, and the color where they can get the best nectar and pollen.
• Collective Memory as “Time Out”: Repairing the Time-Community Link The essay will first give an account of how time helps to shape a community, various events that have been formulated in order to keep the community together and the effectiveness of these events in […]
• “The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci” by Jonathan D. Spence: Concept of Memory Palaces The information concerning Matteo Ricci’s concept of memory palaces presented in the book is generalized to the extent that it is necessary to search for an explanation and some clarifications in the additional sources; “His […]
• Psychology: Memory, Thinking, and Intelligence Information which serves as the stimuli moves from the sensory memory to the short term memory and finally to the long term memory for permanent storage.
• Working With Working Memory Even if we can only make a connection of something we see with a sound, it is easier to remember something we can speak, because the auditory memory helps the visual memory.
• Operant Conditioning, Memory Cue and Perception Operant conditioning through the use of punishment can be used to prevent or decrease a certain negative behavior, for example, when a child is told that he/she will lose some privileges in case he/she misbehaves, […]
• Human Memory: Serial Learning Experiment The background of the current research was stated in Ebbinghaus’ psychological study, and reveals the fact, that if e series of accidental symbols is offered for memorizing, the human memory will be able to memorize […]
• Hot and Cold Social Cognitions and Memory What is mentioned in biology text books and journals about the human brain is so small and almost insignificant compared to the myriad functions and parts of the brain that are yet to be explored.
• Memory Consolidation and Reconsolidation After Sleep The memory consolidation of the visual skill tasks is related to the REM sleep and the short wave component of the NREM.
• Attention, Perception and Memory Disorders Analysis Teenage is the time for experimentation, with a desire to be independent and try new and forbidden things like drugs or indulge in indiscrete sexual activity.
• Autobiographical Memory and Cognitive Development During this stage important cognitive processes take place and are fundamental towards the development of autobiographical memory in the infants. This help the infants to have important memory cues that form part of the autobiographical […]
• Sensory and Motor Processes, Learning and Memory There are three processes involved in the sensory function of the eyes: the mechanical process, the chemical process, and the electrical process. The mechanical process starts as the stimuli passes through the cornea and […]
• Repressed Memory and Developing Teaching Strategies The author aims to emphasize the “importance, relevance, and potential to inform the lay public as well as our future attorneys, law enforcement officers, therapists, and current or future patients of therapists” with regards to […]
• Hippocampus: Learning and Memory The limbic cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus are considered the processing parts of the limbic system while the output part comprises the septal nuclei and the hypothalamus.
• The Implications of False Memory and Memory Distortion The former refers to the manner of impressing into our minds the memories which we have acquired while the former refers to the manner by which a person reclaims the memories which have been stored […]
• Memory Comprehension Issue Review To sum up, studying with the background of loud music is counterproductive, as it is also an information channel that interferes with the comprehension and memorization of more important information.
• The Interaction of Music and Memory Therefore, the research is of enormous significance for the understanding of individual differences in the connection between memory and music. Therefore, the research contributes to the understanding of the interaction of age with music and […]
• The Effect of Memory, Intelligence and Personality on Employee Performance and Behaviour The present paper will seek to explain the theoretical background on memory, intelligence and personality and evaluate the influence of these factors on work performance and employee behaviours.
• Elderly Dementia: Holistic Approaches to Memory Care The CMAI is a nursing-rated questionnaire that evaluates the recurrence of agitation in residents with dementia. Since the research focuses on agitation, the CMAI was utilized to evaluate the occurrence of agitation at baseline.
• The Conceptual Relationship Between Memory and Imagination In particular, the scholar draws parallels between these processes by addressing the recorded activity of specific brain structures when “remembering the past and imagining the future”.
• “How Reliable Is Your Memory?” by Elizabeth Loftus Regardless of how disturbing and sorrowful it may be, and even when pointed out that this certain memory is false, a person may be unable to let it go.
• Chocolate Consumption and Working Memory in Men and Women In this study, the independent variable was chocolate intake, while the dependent variable was the effect of chocolate on the memory of different genders.
• Varlam Shalamov on Memory and Psychological Resilience The soldiers sent to therapists such as Rivers and Yealland in Regeneration had one problem in common they were unable to forget the traumatic and frightening experiences that had affected them in the past.
• Learning Activity and Memory Improvement The easiest way to explain the difference between implicit and explicit types of learning is to think of the latter as active learning and of the former – as passive one.
• Surrealism and Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory” Of course, The Persistence of Memory is one of the best-known works, which is often regarded as one of the most conspicuous illustrations of the movement.
• Psychology: Short-Term and Working Memory The thing is that the term short-term memory is used to describe the capacity of the mind to hold a small piece of information within a very short period, approximately 20 seconds.
• Dealing With the Limitations of Flash Memory Implanted medical chip technology can help to reduce the amount of medical misdiagnosis that occur in hospitals and can also address the issue of the amount of money that Jones Corp.pays out to its clients […]
• Collective Memory and Patriotic Myth in American History However, to think that colonists and early Americans pursued a general policy of killing or driving out the native Indians is incorrect.
• When the Desire Is Not Enough: Flash Memory As a result, a number of rather uncomfortable proposals were made to the founders of Flash, but the company’s members had to accept certain offers for the financing to continue and the firm not to […]
• Effects of Marijuana on Memory of Long-Term Users The pivotal aim of the proposed study is to evaluate the impact of marijuana use on long-term memory of respondents. The adverse impact of marijuana after the abstinent syndrome refers to significant changes in prefrontal […]
• Amphetamines and Their Effects on Memory The scope of the problem of stimulant abuse is quite important in nowadays medicine since the application of amphetamine is not explored in an in-depth manner.
• Memory Retrieval, Related Processes and Secrets The resulting impression of having experienced what is portrayed in the picture leads to the creation of false memories. The authors of the study make it clear that placing one in specific visual and spatial […]
• Mnemonics for Memory Improvement in Students The selected participants will be split into two groups that will be asked to memorize a set of words from a story with the help of the suggested technique.
• The Public Memory of the Holocaust In addition to his pain, Levi concerns the increasing temporal distance and habitual indifference of hundreds of millions of people towards the Holocaust and the survivors1 It causes the feeling of anxiety that was fuelled […]
• Memory Formation and Maintenance The first similarity between working memory and long term memory is that in both cases, tasks retrieve information from secondary memory, although sometimes working memory tasks retrieve information from the primary memory. After completion of […]
• Working Memory Training and Its Controversies As a result, a range of myths about WM has been addressed and subverted successfully, including the one stating that WM related training cannot be used to improve one’s intellectual abilities and skills.
• Music and Human Memory Connection The effects of music on people vary considerably, and this project should help to understand the peculiar features of the connection between human memory and music.
• Music Role in Memory and Learning Processes As such, the study purposed to test the differences in visuospatial abilities between men and women bearing in mind that the former is perceived to demonstrate greater memory capabilities compared to the latter As such, […]
• Working Memory Training: Benefits and Biases The research results indicate that the effects of stereotyping on the development of WM and the relevant skills are direct and rather drastic.
• Memory, Thoughts, and Motivation in Learning Moreover, using the knowledge acquired from various sources of information, students can interpret the contents of their various environments and apply them to their advantage.
• Working Memory Concept The central executive, as the name implies, is the primary component of the working memory system; every other component is subservient to it.
• False Memory and Emotions Experiment The hypothesis was as follows: a list of associate words creates a false memory by remembering a critical lure when the list is presented to a subject and a recall test done shortly after that.
• Building of Memory: Managing Creativity Through Action It could be important for the team to understand Kornfield’s vision of the project, the main and secondary tasks, the project timeline, and the general outline of it. The third technique is to ensure face-to-face […]
• Stroop Effect on Memory Function The aim of the study was to examine the Stroop effect on memory function of men and women. The aim of the study was to examine Stroop effect on men and women’s cognitive functions.
• Misinformation Effect and Memory Impairment It is important to determine the science behind the misinformation effect, because the implication of the study goes beyond the confines of psychology.
• Memory Distortions Develop Over Time Memory is the ability to recall what happened in the past or the process through which one’s brain stores events and reproduce them in the future. Simpson were put on a scoreboard to analyze the […]
• Working Memory Load and Problem Solving The present research focuses on the way working memory load affects problem solving ability and the impact working memory capacity has on problem solving ability of people.
• Sensory Memory Duration and Stimulus Perception Cognitive psychologists argue that perceived information takes one second in the sensory memory, one minute in the short-term memory and a life-time in the long-term memory.
• Memory Study: Mnemonics Techniques Having carried out two experiments, Oberauer comes to the conclusion that information in working memory is highly organized and has its own structure and understanding of this structure can help to improve the work of […]
• Memory Study: Different Perspectives Having carried out two experiments, Oberauer comes to the conclusion that information in working memory is highly organized and has its own structure and understanding of this structure can help to improve the work of […]
• Working Memory Concept: Psychological Views To begin with, the findings support the use of the Working-Memory Model because it offers a clear distinction between the subordinate memory systems and the “central executive” memory.
• Memory Strategies and Their Effects on the Body Memory problems are a common concern in the society due to the increased rate of memory problems among the individuals. This is a strategy that uses chemicals to suppress the adverse effects of memory problems.
• George Santayana’s Philosophy Views on Historical Memory To Plato, democracy was the worst form of governance because it was the tyranny of the multitude. Furthermore, the effects of the war were hard to take because people lost everything they had.
• Cognitive Stimulation on Patients With Impaired Memory Cognitive stimulation therapy is effective in mitigating the effects of dementia. As a result, the researchers tested cognitive stimulation therapy in clinical trials.
• Memory and Emotions in Personal Experience I tried to convince Sherry that the kind of life she led will not do good to her. I thought that Sherry is a grown-up person who would understand the mistakes she had done and […]
• Face Recognition and Memory Retention It is imperative to mention that cognitive process is very significant in face recognition especially due to its role in storage and retrieval of information from long-term memory.
• False Memory Condition: Experimental Studies It is therefore important to conduct some experiments to see the differences between the correct memory and the false memory. The distracters and words to be identified were the variables that were independent.
• Memory Capacity and Age Correlation Since young adults have high levels of positive emotions and low levels of negative emotions, the positive emotions enable them to enhance their memory capacity for positive information.
• Conflict at Walt Disney Company: A Distant Memory? The conflict between Michael Eisner and the Weinstein brothers, the two board members, and Steve Jobs was related to a dysfunctional form of conflict.
• Eye-Path and Memory-Prediction Framework Online marketing and advertising actively develop nowadays, and modern advertisers need to focus on the customers’ attitudes and behaviours in the context of the effectiveness of the advertisement’s location on the web page.
• Long Term Memory and Retrieval The mode of presenting the items in sequence in the first presentation has great impact on the results and validity of the study.
• Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory by Deborah Lipstadt The book is divided into chapters that focus on the history and methods that are used to distort the truth and the memory of the Holocaust.
• Power, Memory and Spectacle on Saddam Hussein’s Death His rational was that the only way to unite the country was to eliminate the elements of division who in his opinion were the opposition.
• Theoretical Models in Understanding Working Memory The second model for understanding the processes involved in working memory is the Baddeley and Hitch multi-component model which states that working memory operates via a system of “slave systems” and a central controller which […]
• Semantic Memory and Language Production From the foregoing discussions, it can be deduced that the nature and function of semantic memory is closely related to the process of language comprehension. Moreover, lexical retrieval of the semantic memory and phonological facilitation […]
• Basic Functions of Memory and Language The area of semantic memory involves stored information regarding the features and characteristics, which determine the processes of retrieving, using, and producing information in various cognitive processes such as thought and language comprehension/production.
• The Concept of Autobiographical Memory The research findings show that memory phenomenology determined the relationship between attachment avoidance and depression, while the negative affective content of the autobiographical memory determined the link between attachment anxiety and depression. The concept of […]
• Neuroimaging Experiments and Memory Loss Studies This is because it enables the examination of the cognitive and affective processes. This is relative to the effects of alcohol consumption.
• Semantic Memory and Language Production Relationship In the brain, information is arranged both in short-term and long-term memory and this is independent of whether the language in context is first language or a second one.
• Chinese Novellas: The Role of Memory and Perception This is one of the details that attract attention of the readers, and one can say that it is important for understanding the passage and the short story, in general.
• Memory Lane and Morality In the first experiment where participants were expected to remember their childhood experience, those memories aided the experimenter more than they let the participants take control.
• Autonoetic Consciousness in Autobiographical Memory One characteristic of AEM is the mental time travelling on the subjective time in order to connect the past with the current memory status.
• Memory by Analogy: Hiroshima Mon Amour It is quite painful to recall the events that took place in Japan during the Second World War in the aftermath of the atomic bombing of the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
• Film About Hirosima Memory by Analogy She uses her memory of the human tragedy she witnesses in Hiroshima as a means to forget the pain she has felt since the demise of her lover.
• Memory Theories in Developing Marketing Strategies of the iPad The apple’s communication that was used in marketing the iphone and the ipod is the one to be used in marketing the ipad.
• Definition of Storage Locations in Memory This particular experience can be classified as a type of retrieval mechanism which we all use on a daily yet it is surprisingly similar to the way in which people utilize their local library however […]
• Establishing False Memory in Humans The rate at which the observers included nonexistent words in their recollection of the initial study list was explored and represented in the experiment.
• Constructive Nature of Memory Some of the common symptoms of this disease include loss of speech and the ability to classify objects in the immediate environment of an individual.
• Comparison and Contrast Assignment on “Paradoxical Effects of Presentation Modality on False Memory,” Article and “Individual Differences in Learning and Remembering Music.” In the first block, study list were presented audibly as the experimenter sat in front of the computer and read them aloud while the screen was blinded form the participants. In the second experiment, the […]
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101 Memory Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Memory Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Memory is a fascinating and complex aspect of human cognition. From childhood memories to traumatic events, our memories shape who we are and how we perceive the world around us. If you're looking for inspiration for a memory essay, we've compiled a list of 101 topic ideas and examples to help get you started.

Childhood Memories:

• My earliest childhood memory
• A day at the beach with my family
• Playing with my favorite toy as a child
• My first day of school
• Learning to ride a bike
• Family vacations from my childhood
• The first time I lost a tooth
• My favorite birthday party as a child
• A day spent with my grandparents
• The first time I tried a new food

Travel Memories: 11. My first trip abroad 12. A memorable road trip with friends 13. Exploring a new city for the first time 14. Getting lost in a foreign country 15. A cultural experience that changed my perspective 16. Meeting new people while traveling 17. A memorable meal from a trip 18. Overcoming a challenge while traveling 19. A moment of cultural shock while abroad 20. My favorite travel memory

Personal Growth Memories: 21. Overcoming a fear or phobia 22. A moment of self-discovery 23. A mistake that taught me a valuable lesson 24. The importance of failure in my life 25. A time when I had to stand up for myself 26. A moment of personal triumph 27. The impact of a mentor on my life 28. A life-changing experience 29. The role of gratitude in my life 30. Reflecting on my personal growth over the years

Family Memories: 31. A family tradition that is important to me 32. A lesson learned from a family member 33. A family gathering that stands out in my memory 34. My relationship with my siblings 35. The importance of family in my life 36. A family vacation that brought us closer together 37. A memorable holiday celebration with my family 38. My relationship with my parents 39. A difficult family situation that taught me resilience 40. The impact of my family on my values and beliefs

Friendship Memories: 41. A memorable friendship from my childhood 42. A friend who has had a significant impact on my life 43. Overcoming a conflict with a friend 44. A fun day spent with friends 45. The importance of friendship in my life 46. A moment of betrayal in a friendship 47. A time when a friend supported me through a difficult time 48. The qualities I value in a friend 49. A memorable adventure with friends 50. Reflecting on the importance of friendship in my life

Traumatic Memories: 51. A traumatic event that shaped who I am today 52. Overcoming a traumatic experience 53. Dealing with loss and grief 54. A moment of vulnerability and strength 55. The impact of trauma on my mental health 56. Seeking help and support after a traumatic event 57. The process of healing from trauma 58. How trauma has influenced my relationships 59. Finding meaning and growth after a traumatic experience 60. Reflecting on resilience in the face of trauma

Cultural Memories: 61. A cultural tradition that is important to me 62. The impact of my cultural background on my identity 63. A moment of cultural pride 64. Overcoming stereotypes and prejudice 65. The importance of diversity in my life 66. Exploring different cultures and perspectives 67. A cultural celebration that holds significance for me 68. The influence of culture on my values and beliefs 69. Embracing my cultural heritage 70. Reflecting on the richness of diversity in the world

Special Events Memories: 71. A milestone birthday celebration 72. A memorable graduation ceremony 73. A wedding day to remember 74. Celebrating a special anniversary 75. A holiday celebration that stands out in my memory 76. Attending a live concert or performance 77. A memorable sporting event 78. Participating in a charity event or fundraiser 79. A surprise party that left a lasting impression 80. Reflecting on the significance of special events in my life

Nature Memories: 81. A memorable hike or outdoor adventure 82. A day spent at the beach or in the mountains 83. Watching a sunrise or sunset that moved me 84. Connecting with nature and the environment 85. A moment of awe and wonder in nature 86. The healing power of nature 87. Overcoming a fear of the outdoors 88. The importance of conservation and environmental awareness 89. A camping trip that stands out in my memory 90. Reflecting on the beauty and majesty of the natural world

Career Memories: 91. A memorable job interview experience 92. Overcoming challenges in my career 93. A moment of professional growth and development 94. The impact of a mentor or role model on my career 95. Dealing with work-related stress and burnout 96. A significant achievement in my career 97. Balancing work and personal life 98. Reflecting on my career goals and aspirations 99. The importance of finding fulfillment in my work 100. A memorable moment in my professional journey 101. Reflecting on the lessons learned from my career experiences

These memory essay topic ideas and examples are just a starting point for exploring the rich tapestry of memories that shape our lives. Whether you choose to reflect on childhood memories, travel experiences, personal growth, family dynamics, friendship, trauma, cultural influences, special events, nature, or career milestones, there are endless possibilities for exploring the power of memory in shaping who we are and how we navigate the world around us. Happy writing!

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Memories we Lost and Other Stories Study Guide Notes (15)

This category contains summarized guides to the short stories collected in the book, Memories We Lost and Other Stories. These stories include

• MEMORIES WE LOST by Lidudumalingani Mqombofhi
• HOW MUCH LAND DOES MAN NEED by Leo Tolstoy
• LIGHT By Lesley Nneka Arimah
• MY FATHER'S HEAD By Okwiri Oduor
• THE UMBRELLA MAN by Sipphar Thagigoo
• THE PRESIDENT By Mariatu Kamara
• WINDOW SEAT By Benjamin Branoff
• ALMOST HOME By MCKilney
• THE FOLDED LEAF by Segun Afolabi
• HITTING BUDAPEST By NoViolet Bulawayo
• MISSING OUT  By Leila Aboulela
• NO NEED TO LIE By Rolf Schmid
• THE HANDSOMEST DROWNED MAN IN THE WORLD By Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• STONES BOUNCE ON WATER By Dilman dila

Memories We Lost and Other Stories - Essays and Answers

Each story, as can be seen above, is written by a different author, contains different themes, plots, settings, and language, and the styles used in story narration are also different. 

Dowload the Memories we Lost and Other Stories Guide on Easy Elimu Today!

The best thing about short stories is that they are short. There are fewer characters, a shorter plot, and fewer stylistic devices than in longer-running books.

For this purpose, they are easier to remember and answer during exams. Also, the stories in the book "Memories We Lost and Other Stories" are very interesting and fun to read—sure to be remembered and enjoyed.

You can get access to the guide to any of these stories on the Easy elimu Study App here .

MEMORIES WE LOST by Lidudumalingani Mqombofhi - Memories we Lost and Other Stories Study Guide

How much land does man need by leo tolstoy - memories we lost and other stories study guide, light by lesley nneka arimah - memories we lost and other stories study guide, my father's head by okwiri oduor - memories we lost and other stories study guide, the umbrella man by sipphar thagigoo - memories we lost and other stories study guide, the president by mariatu kamara - memories we lost and other stories study guide, window seat by benjamin branoff - memories we lost and other stories study guide, almost home by mckilney - memories we lost and other stories study guide, the folded leaf by segun afolabi - memories we lost and other stories study guide, hitting budapest by noviolet bulawayo - memories we lost and other stories study guide, missing out: by leila aboulela - memories we lost and other stories study guide, no need to lie by rolf schmid - memories we lost and other stories study guide, the handsomest drowned man in the world by gabriel garcia marquez - memories we lost and other stories study guide, stones bounce on water by: dilman dila - memories we lost and other stories study guide.

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A Guide to Memories We Lost and other stories

This guide provides a detailed analysis of the anthology of Memories we lost and other stories compiled by Chris Wanjala.The analysis is aimed at preparing KCSE candidates for both the excerpt as well as the compulsory essay questions in the examination.Furthermore, the guide is written in a manner that both the candidates and teachers will immensely benefit from it.

Description

This guide provides a detailed analysis of the anthology of Memories we lost and other stories compiled by Chris Wanjala.

The guide covers the following:

Introduction to short stories

A Brief History of the Author

The setting

The relevance of the title.

Chapter summaries & analysis

Character and characterization

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Memories Essay – Prompts And Examples To Get You Covered!

What would life be without memories? I guess it wouldn’t even exist, right? Both happy and worse are memories to keep. There is always a lesson to pick up from any memory that you have.

Guess what?

The brain, as small as it may seem, accumulates thousands and thousands of memories. Imagine the big servers stored in a data center – that is nothing compared to your brain.

A childhood memories essay is one most student enjoys when presented with to write. They quickly rush to recounting some of their experiences but forget one crucial aspect. When the deal is too good, then think twice.

Now let’s get down to some writing prompts.

30 Great Memories Essay Writing Prompts

My Childhood Memories Essay

• What was your favorite game with your siblings
• Can you recall a scary childhood memory?
• How was your first walking experience like
• Describe your first day in school experience
• What was your best childhood snack?
• Do you recall your first childhood friend? How did you meet?
• Describe your first toy
• What was your best childhood color?
• Do you remember your first pet?
• Describe your first school bag

My High School Memories Essay

• What life lessons did you learn in high school?
• How was your first experience in high school? Did you find it amusing?
• What new things did you discover and learn in high school?
• Did you send letters to your crush from other schools?
• How was it like attending classes? Did you cut some lessons with your friends?
• What did you feel about high school field trips?
• How or what was your high school farewell song? Do you miss it?
• What capabilities and talents were you able to discover in high school?
• How was it like staying up late to study for exams?
• How did high school change your perception of people and life in general?

Episodic Memories Essay

• Describe your first job experience
• How did you feel when you first visited the beach during summer
• How was your first plane experience? Did you enjoy it?
• Where did you first visit for your valentine’s date with your spouse?
• How did you feel when you first participated in an election?
• Where were you when the tragic September attack took place?
• The movie you saw on your first laptop
• Who was your first roommate on campus?
• Which was your first country to visit overseas?
• How did you feel the first time you moved in all by yourself?

Such memories can be a good start to writing a memories essay of your own. If you think you may not have all the details, don’t torment yourself. You can always ask around from your parents, old friends, teachers, and even neighbors.

An essay on memories should be handled with a lot of caution. Why may you ask? Such an article should be free from biases. It should be objective. And that is where the problem lies.

Luckily, the solution is simple. Learn more.

Structure of a Memories Essay

As of other essays, an essay on memories also has the same structure:

• Introduction,
• Conclusion.

Let’s briefly look at each of these sections.

The Introduction

It is the doorway to your essay. You start by establishing the context of your memories essay, which will act as a hook to your readers. A quote can do well in this case.

For example, “Cakes are special. Every birthday, every celebration ends with something sweet, a cake, and people remember. It’s all about the memories.” Buddy Valastro.

The quote above creates an interest in the reader’s mind and provokes them to poke further into the essay. An introduction ends with a thesis statement.

Example: “memories are truly add meaning to life.”

It carries the significant weight of the essay with supporting examples, facts, and even statistics. It is made up of body paragraphs directly relating to your memories essay thesis statement. The standard paragraph structure of a topic sentence, explanation, examples, and illustrations are followed.

Here is an example of a well-defined body paragraph:

“Those high school outings are my most treasured memories. I recall the moments we boarded the school bus and visit interesting places. I remember how amazing it was putting on my best shirt, set aside for that special occasion. Memories of how we would buy goodies in the mall before heading back to school still linger in my mind. That’s the best part of my school life. It never gave me a frown.”

The Conclusion

Here, you restate the thesis statement and make a summary statement of the memories discussed in the body. You can choose to also conclude with a quote such as the one below.

“Childhood is like being drunk. Everyone remembers what you did except you” Noor. H.

Memories Essay – You Need Help With That?

For you to write one of the best childhood memories essay, ensure that you include the most exciting events. Events, where you did funny or creepy things, are easy to recall. Go for such, and you will have a free course of ideas.

Can you recall a childhood memory and write a memory essay now?

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How memories form and how we lose them

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How your brain copes with grief, and why it takes time to heal

Berly McCoy

Grief is tied to all sorts of different brain functions, says researcher and author Mary-Frances O'Connor. That can range from being able to recall memories to taking the perspective of another person, to even things like regulating our heart rate and the experience of pain and suffering. Adam Lister/Getty Images hide caption

Grief is tied to all sorts of different brain functions, says researcher and author Mary-Frances O'Connor. That can range from being able to recall memories to taking the perspective of another person, to even things like regulating our heart rate and the experience of pain and suffering.

Holidays are never quite the same after someone we love dies. Even small aspects of a birthday or a Christmas celebration — an empty seat at the dinner table, one less gift to buy or make — can serve as jarring reminders of how our lives have been forever changed. Although these realizations are hard to face, clinical psychologist Mary-Frances O'Connor says we shouldn't avoid them or try to hide our feelings.

"Grief is a universal experience," she notes, "and when we can connect, it is better."

O'Connor, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, studies what happens in our brains when we experience grief. She says grieving is a form of learning — one that teaches us how to be in the world without someone we love in it. "The background is running all the time for people who are grieving, thinking about new habits and how they interact now."

Shots - Health News

Coronavirus has upended our world. it's ok to grieve.

After The Loss Of A Loved One, Your Holiday Traditions Change But Hope Endures

Adjusting to the fact that we'll never again spend time with our loved ones can be painful. It takes time — and involves changes in the brain. "What we see in science is, if you have a grief experience and you have support so that you have a little bit of time to learn, and confidence from the people around you, that you will in fact adapt."

O'Connor's upcoming book, The Grieving Brain , explores what scientists know about how our minds grapple with the loss of a loved one.

Interview highlights

On the grieving process

When we have the experience of being in a relationship, the sense of who we are is bound up with that other person. The word sibling, the word spouse implies two people. And so when the other person is gone, we suddenly have to learn a totally new set of rules to operate in the world. The "we" is as important as the "you" and "me," and the brain, interestingly, really does encode it that way. So when people say "I feel like I've lost part of myself," that is for a good reason. The brain also feels that way, as it were, and codes the "we" as much as the "you" and the "I."

A Thanksgiving Feast With Space At The Table For Grief

On the difference between grief and grieving

Grief is that emotional state that just knocks you off your feet and comes over you like a wave. Grieving necessarily has a time component to it. Grieving is what happens as we adapt to the fact that our loved one is gone, that we're carrying the absence of them with us. And the reason that this distinction makes sense is, grief is a natural response to loss — so we'll feel grief forever. A woman who lost her mother as a young person is going to experience that grief on her wedding day because it's a new moment where she's having a response to loss.

But "grieving" means that our relationship to that grief changes over time. So the first time, maybe even the first 100 times, you're knocked off your feet with grief, it feels terrible and awful and unfamiliar. But maybe the 101st time, you think to yourself, "I hate this, I don't want this to be true. But I do recognize it, and I do know that I will get through the wave."

On the emotions involved in grieving

The range of emotions that someone experiences when they're grieving is as long a list as the range of emotions we have in any relationship. Commonly there's panic, there's anxiety, there's sadness, there's yearning. But what we sometimes forget is that there's also difficulty concentrating and confusion about what happens next.

When COVID Deaths Are Dismissed Or Stigmatized, Grief Is Mixed With Shame And Anger

I am often struck by the intensity of the emotions. Grief is like someone turned up the volume dial all of a sudden. The emotion that I think often interferes with our relationships and friendships when we're grieving is anger, because the anger feels so intense. You have someone blow up at a dinner party and you think, "What's happening with them?" And then to try and remember, "Oh, they're grieving and everything is amped up a little bit."

On what is happening in our brains

We have neuroimaging studies basically of grief, of the momentary reaction where you have that emotional yearning experience. There are less than a handful of studies looking at more than one moment in the same person across time — so looking at their grieving trajectory. What we know right now in these early days of the neurobiology of grief is really coming from snapshots.

Having said that, one of the things that we know is that grief is tied to all sorts of different brain functions we have, from being able to recall memories to taking the perspective of another person, to even things like regulating our heart rate and the experience of pain and suffering. So lots of different parts of the brain are orchestrating this experience that we have when we feel grief.

On prolonged grief

When you're knocked over by that wave of grief, you want to know, "When will this end?" From a research perspective, there is a very small proportion of people who might have what we now call prolonged grief disorder, something we start looking for after six months or a year [after a death or loss]. ... And what we are seeing, [in such cases], is that this person has not been able to function day to day the way that they wish that they could. They're not getting out the door to work or getting dinner on the table for their kids or they're not able to, say, listen to music because it's just too upsetting. So these types of concerns ... suggest it would be helpful to intervene and get them back on the healing trajectory where they will still feel grief, but they will adapt to it differently.

The older term that we were using for a long time was "complicated grief." And although prolonged grief disorder is the term we've settled on, there's a reason that I like the term complicated — because it makes you think of complications.

As an example, one of those is the grief-related rumination that people sometimes experience. The better term for that that people will recognize is the "would've, should've, could've" thoughts. And they just roll through your head over and over again. The problem with these thoughts — we sometimes call "counterfactuals" — is that they all end in this virtual scenario where the person doesn't die. And that's just not reality. And so, by spinning in these thoughts, not only is there no answer — there are an infinite number of possibilities with no actual answer of what would have happened — but it also isn't necessarily helping us to adapt to the painful reality that they did die. And so our virtual version is not really helping us to learn how to be in the world now.

It's less than 10% of people who experience prolonged grief disorder. And what that means is 90% of people experience difficult grief and suffering, but don't have a disorder after losing a loved one. I think it's so important to remember that ... because we don't want to hide grief away ... in a psychiatrist's office or a counselor's office, except in indications where that would be helpful to get people back on track.

On how to support grieving people in your life

I think when you care for someone who is going through this terrible process of losing someone, it really is more about listening to them and seeing where they're at in their learning than it is about trying to make them feel better. The point is not to cheer them up. The point is to be with them and let them know that you will be with them and that you can imagine a future for them where they're not constantly being knocked over by the waves of grief.

On losing people to the pandemic

One of the topics I think is not much in the national conversation is that so many of the deaths of our loved ones happened in hospitals, emergency rooms and ICUs — and we weren't there to see it. And that is for a very good reason, because we were trying to stop the spread of COVID. So having family members in hospitals did not make sense.

But it means that people are without these memories of watching their loved one become more ill and watching those changes that happen in their body that prepare our mind for the possibility that they might die. To go through that process without those memories makes it much harder to learn what has happened. So many people feel it hasn't really sunk in yet that they're gone.

When A Beloved Life Ends, Virtual Hugs Can't Replace Human Touch

COVID deaths leave thousands of U.S. kids grieving parents or primary caregivers

What I don't hear very often is the fact that with COVID, the loved ones that are left behind made the sacrifice of not being with their loved ones in the hospital in order to stop the spread. And that sacrifice needs to be recognized, I think. In part to help people heal, so that it's understood why they're having such a difficult time. And to elevate the understanding that they did something for the greater good — and they gave up something while they did it.

An excerpted audio version of this interview first appeared in a recent episode of NPR's daily science podcast, Short Wave , hosted by Emily Kwong and produced by Berly McCoy.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Life Experiences — Memories

Essays on Memories

Exploring the depths of memory through essays.

Writing about memories offers a unique opportunity to delve into the personal and the universal, connecting individual experiences with broader themes. Whether reflecting on moments of joy, lessons learned through struggle, or the intricate dance of relationships, memories essays allow writers to explore the fabric of their lives. An important aspect of crafting these essays is not just recounting events but weaving these recollections into narratives that resonate with insight, emotion, and universality.

Choosing the right topic is just the beginning. To truly bring your memories essay to life, consider drawing from a diverse range of experiences and emotions. For those seeking inspiration or examples of how to craft a compelling narrative, we've gathered a collection of memoir examples crafted for college students : these examples can provide valuable insights into structuring your essay, developing your voice, and connecting with your audience.

Top 10 Memories Essay Topics in 2024

• The Moment That Changed Everything: A Reflection on Transformation
• Lessons from the Dinner Table: Family Dynamics and Personal Growth
• Lost and Found: The Journey of Rediscovering Self
• Between the Lines: What My Favorite Book Taught Me About Life
• The Art of Resilience: Overcoming Personal Adversity
• Crossroads of Culture: How My Heritage Shapes My Identity
• The Language of Music: How Melodies Define Moments
• Friendship in the Digital Age: Navigating Bonds and Boundaries
• Unearthing Passions: The Quest for Personal Fulfillment
• The Echoes of Laughter: Finding Joy in Simplicity

Memories of Happiness and Accomplishments in My Life

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Memories: The Only Real Treasure in One’s Head

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The Creation of Our Memories

Effect of good and bad memories on attitude and emotion, worst thing i have ever done, my trip to miami shores, florida, how a driving accident affected on my life, necessity and importance of memories for growth, the most memorable moments of fifa world cup 2018, making memories count: kids photography, post-memory and layered memories of vietnamese americans, art and memory, a theme of memories in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, the process of recollection of memories in nabokov's speak, memory, a hometown acceptance at different periods of life, the effects of the memories of the civil war and the reconstruction on americans, discussion if there any worth of possibility to erase bad memories, the use of own memories in the poems of sylvia plath and ted hughes, the possible ways to strengthen lost memories, a long way gone: uncovering the true fiction behind ishmael beah’s recount of his life story, my emotions from my third first day of school, talking about your life: my move to another continent, relevant topics.

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A Neurologist’s Tips to Protect Your Memory

A new book by a renowned brain expert says there are a few simple things we can do to prevent memory decline as we age.

By Hope Reese

Listen to This Article

As we age, our memory declines. This is an ingrained assumption for many of us; however, according to neuroscientist Dr. Richard Restak, a neurologist and clinical professor at George Washington Hospital University School of Medicine and Health, decline is not inevitable.

The author of more than 20 books on the mind, Dr. Restak has decades’ worth of experience in guiding patients with memory problems. “The Complete Guide to Memory: The Science of Strengthening Your Mind,” Dr. Restak’s latest book, includes tools such as mental exercises, sleep habits and diet that can help boost memory.

Yet Dr. Restak ventures beyond this familiar territory, considering every facet of memory — how memory is connected to creative thinking, technology’s impact on memory, how memory shapes identity. “The point of the book is to overcome the everyday problems of memory,” Dr. Restak said.

Especially working memory, which falls between immediate recall and long-term memory, and is tied to intelligence , concentration and achievement. According to Dr. Restak, this is the most critical type of memory, and exercises to strengthen it should be practiced daily. But bolstering all memory skills, he added, is key to warding off later memory issues.

Memory decline is not inevitable with aging, Dr. Restak argues in the book. Instead, he points to 10 “sins,” or “stumbling blocks that can lead to lost or distorted memories.” Seven were first described by the psychologist and memory specialist Daniel Lawrence Schacter — “sins of omission,” such as absent-mindedness, and “sins of commission,” such as distorted memories. To those Dr. Restak added three of his own: technological distortion, technological distraction and depression.

Ultimately, “we are what we can remember,” he said. Here are some of Dr. Restak’s tips for developing and maintaining a healthy memory.

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The Psychology of Forgetting and Why Memory Fails

• Time's Role in Forgetting

How Forgetting is Measured

Theories about forgetting, frequently asked questions.

Forgetting is an all too common part of daily life. Sometimes these memory slips are simple and fairly innocuous, such as forgetting to return a phone call. Other times, forgetting can be much more dire and even have serious consequences, such as an eyewitness forgetting important details about a crime.

Memory failures are an almost daily occurrence. Forgetting is so common that you probably rely on numerous methods to help you remember important information, such as jotting down notes in a daily planner or scheduling important events on your phone's calendar.

As you are frantically searching for your missing car keys, it may seem that the information about where you left them is permanently gone from your memory. However, forgetting is generally not about actually losing or erasing this information from your long-term memory.  

Forgetting typically involves a failure in memory retrieval . While the information is somewhere in your long-term memory, you are not able to actually retrieve and remember it.

Why Time Plays a Key Role in Forgetting

Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus was one of the first to scientifically study forgetting. In experiments where he used himself as the subject, Ebbinghaus tested his memory using three-letter nonsense syllables. He relied on such nonsense words because using previously known words would have involved drawing on his existing knowledge and associations in his memory.

In order to test for new information, Ebbinghaus tested his memory for periods of time ranging from 20 minutes to 31 days. He then published his findings in 1885 in Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology.

His results, plotted in what is known as the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, revealed a relationship between forgetting and time. Initially, information is often lost very quickly after it is learned. Factors such as how the information was learned and how frequently it was rehearsed play a role in how quickly these memories are lost. Information stored in long-term memory is surprisingly stable.

The forgetting curve also showed that forgetting does not continue to decline until all of the information is lost. At a certain point, the amount of forgetting levels off.

Sometimes it might seem that information has been forgotten, but even a subtle cue can help trigger the memory. Imagine the last time you took an exam for school. While you might have initially felt forgetful and unprepared, seeing the information presented on the test probably helped cue the retrieval of information you might not have known you even remembered.

So how do we know when something has been forgotten? There are a few different ways to measure this:  

• Recall : People who have been asked to memorize something, such as a list of terms, might be asked to recall the list from memory. By seeing how many items are remembered, researchers are able to identify how much information has been forgotten. This method might involve the use of free recall (recalling items without hints) or prompted recall (utilizing hints to trigger memories).
• Recognition : This method involves identifying information that was previously learned. On a test, for example, students might have to recognize which terms they learned about in a chapter of their assigned reading.

Of course, many factors can contribute to forgetting. Sometimes you might be distracted when you learn new information, which might mean that you never truly retain the information long enough to remember it later. Well-known memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus has proposed four key explanations for why forgetting occurs . These have led to some major theories of forgetting.

Interference Theory

What did you have for dinner Tuesday night of last week? Is that difficult to recall? If someone had asked you that question Wednesday morning, you probably would have had no problem recalling what you had for dinner the night before.

But as intervening days pass, the memories of all the other meals you have eaten since then start to interfere with your memory of that one particular meal. This is a good example of what psychologists call the interference theory of forgetting.  

According to interference theory, forgetting is the result of different memories interfering with one another. The more similar two or more events are to one another, the more likely interference will occur.

It is difficult to remember what happened on an average school day two months ago because so many other days have occurred since then. Unique and distinctive events, however, are less likely to suffer from interference. Your high school graduation, wedding, and the birth of your first child are much more likely to be recalled because they are singular events—days like no other.

Interference also plays a role in what is known as the serial position effect , or the tendency to recall the first and last items of a list.   For example, imagine that you wrote down a shopping list but forgot to take it with you to the store. In all likelihood, you will probably be able to easily recall the first and last items on your list, but you might forget many of the items that were in the middle.

The first thing you wrote down and the last thing you wrote down stand out as being more distinct, while the fourth item and seventh item might seem so similar that they interfere with each other. There are two basic types of interference that can occur:  

• Retroactive interference happens when newly acquired information interferes with old memories. For example, a teacher learning the names of her new class of students at the start of a school year might find it more difficult to recall the names of the students in her class last year. The new information interferes with the old information.
• Proactive interference occurs when previously learned information makes it more difficult to form new memories. Learning a new phone number or locker combination might be more difficult, for example, because your memories of your old phone number and combination interfere with the new information.

Eliminating interference altogether is impossible, but there are a few things you can do to minimize its effects. One of the best things you can do is rehearse new information in order to better commit it to memory. In fact, many experts recommend overlearning important information, which involves rehearsing the material over and over again until it can be reproduced perfectly with no errors.  

Another tactic to fight interference is to switch up your routine and avoid studying similar material back to back. For example, don't try to study vocabulary terms for your Spanish language class right after studying terms for your German class. Break up the material and switch to a completely different subject each study session.

Sleep also plays an essential role in memory formation. Researchers suggest that  sleeping after you learn something new is one of the best ways to turn new memories into lasting ones.  

Decay Theory of Forgetting

According to the trace theory of memory, physical and chemical changes in the brain results in a memory "trace." Information in short-term memory lasts several seconds and if it is not rehearsed, the neurochemical memory trace quickly fades.   According to the trace decay theory of forgetting, the events that happen between the formation of a memory and the recall of the memory have no impact on recall.  

Trace theory proposes that the length of time between the memory and recalling that information determines whether the information will be retained or forgotten. If the time interval is short, more information will be recalled. If a longer period of time passes, more information will be forgotten and memory will be poorer.

The idea that memories fade over time is hardly new. The Greek philosopher Plato suggested such a thing more than 2,500 years ago. Later, experimental research by psychologists such as Ebbinghaus bolstered this theory.  

One of the problems with this theory is that it is difficult to demonstrate that time alone is responsible for declines in recall. In real-world situations, many things happen between the formation of a memory and the recall of that information. A student who learns something in class, for example, might have hundreds of unique and individual experiences between learning that information and having to recall it on an exam.

Was forgetting the date that the American Revolutionary War began due to the length of time between learning the date in your American History class and being tested on it? Or did the multitude of information acquired during that interval of time play a role? Testing this can be exceedingly difficult. It is nearly impossible to eliminate all the information that might have an influence on the creation of the memory and the recall of the memory.

Another problem with decay theory is it does not account for why some memories fade quickly while others linger. Novelty is one factor that plays a role. For example, you are more likely to remember your very first day of college than all of the intervening days between it and graduation. That first day was new and exciting, but all the following days probably seem quite similar to each other.

Retrieval Failure Theory

Sometimes the memories are there, but we just can't seem to access them. Two of the basic reasons for this failure in memory retrieval are related to encoding failures and lack of retrieval cues.

A common reason why we don't remember information is because it never made it into long-term memory in the first place.

Try this well-known demonstration first used by researchers Nickerson and Adams.   From memory, try to draw the back side of a penny. Once you are done, compare your drawing to an actual penny.

Are you surprised by how poorly you recalled what the back of a penny looks like? While you probably had a good idea about the overall shape and color, the actual details were probably pretty fuzzy. Why?

Since you don't actually need to know what the back of a penny looks like to differentiate it from other coins, you only really focus on the information you do need—the overall size, shape, and color of the coin. You aren't able to recall what the back of a penny really looks like because that information was never really encoded into memory in the first place.

Cue-Dependent Theory of Forgetting

Other researchers have suggested that sometimes information is actually present in memory, but that it cannot be recalled unless retrieval cues are present.   These cues are elements that were present at the time that the actual memory was encoded.

For example, remembering the details of your first date with your spouse might be easier if you smell the same scent that your partner was wearing on that first date. The retrieval cue (the scent) was present when that memory was created, so smelling it again can trigger the retrieval of those memories.

A Word From Verywell

Forgetting is simply a part of life. Numerous theories explain how and why we forget. In many situations, several of these explanations might account for why we cannot remember. The passage of time can make memories more difficult to access, while the abundance of information vying for our attention can create competition between old and new memories. Still, we can work to become better at recalling information .

In addition to experiencing some type of memory retrieval failure, forgetting can also be caused by trauma to the head, the use of alcohol or drugs, diseases such as dementia or multiple sclerosis , stroke, and more.

According to these psychological theories, the four types of forgetting are interference, decay, retrieval failure, and cue dependence.

While a normal part of aging, forgetting can be a symptom of depression, Alzheimer's disease, or some type of infection. If you're concerned about your forgetfulness, your healthcare provider can perform tests to determine its cause.

Psychology professionals sometimes refer to forgetting as amnesia, memory loss, or disremembering.

Aronowitz S. Retrieval is central to the distinctive function of episodic memory .  Behav Brain Sci . 2018;41:e2. doi:10.1017/S0140525X17001248

Murre JM, Dros J. Replication and analysis of Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve .  PLoS One . 2015;10(7):e0120644. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0120644

Chubala CM, Neath I, Surprenant AM. A comparison of immediate serial recall and immediate serial recognition .  Can J Exp Psychol . 2019;73(1):5–27. doi:10.1037/cep0000158

Darby KP, Sloutsky VM. The cost of learning: Interference effects in memory development .  J Exp Psychol. 2015;144(2):410–431. doi:10.1037/xge0000051

Troyer A.K. Serial position effect . In: Kreutzer JS, DeLuca J, Caplan B, eds. Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology . Springer, 2011. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3

Shibata K, Sasaki Y, Bang J. et al .   Overlearning hyperstabilizes a skill by rapidly making neurochemical processing inhibitory-dominant .  Nat Neurosci. 2017 ; 20:470-475. doi:10.1038/nn.4490

Rasch B, Born J. About sleep's role in memory .  Physiol Rev . 2013;93(2):681-766. doi:10.1152/physrev.00032.2012

McKeown D, Mercer T, Bugajska K, Duffy P, Barker E. The visual nonverbal memory trace is fragile when actively maintained, but endures passively for tens of seconds .  Mem Cognit . 2019. doi:10.3758/s13421-019-01003-6

Ricker TJ, Vergauwe E, Cowan N. Decay theory of immediate memory: From Brown (1958) to today (2014) .  Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) . 2016;69(10):1969-1995. doi:10.1080/17470218.2014.914546

Nickerson RS, Adams MJ. Long-term memory for a common object .  Cog Psychol. 1979 ;11 (3), 287–307. doi:10.1016/0010-0285(79)90013-6

Jonker TR, Seli P, Macleod CM. Less we forget: retrieval cues and release from retrieval-induced forgetting .  Mem Cognit . 2012;40(8):1236–1245. doi:10.3758/s13421-012-0224-2

Penn Medicine. Memory loss .

National Institute on Aging. Memory, forgetfulness, and aging: What's normal and what's not?

Hunt RR, Worthen JB. Distinctiveness and Memory . Oxford University Press; 2006.

Tulving E. Cue-dependent forgetting . American Scientist. 1974;62(1):74-82.

Willingham DT. Cognition: The Thinking Animal (3rd ed.). Pearson/Prentice Hall; 2007.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

What Happens When We Remember

Retrieving memories helps us function. doing so can also change the memories..

Posted November 1, 2021 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

• Memory can assist planning for the future.
• Retrieving a memory can strengthen its representation, making it easier to recall in the future.
• Retrieving a memory can make it difficult to retrieve other related memories.

We value memory for its ability to transport us back to a prior event and provide us with the opportunity to re-experience the past, vividly and emotionally. Reflecting back on these events can be inherently pleasurable, and this ability serves important functions in our day-to-day lives (Pillemer, 1992).

Memories of our past help us to understand ourselves better. When asked about who we are, or about our strengths and weaknesses, we often think about the obstacles we have encountered and the moments that brought us joy; by knowing what we have been through, we are able to formulate our personal identity . Recalling past events not only helps us know ourselves better, but it can also help us to connect with others. Finding common ground in similar past experiences can instantly create a bond. It is through the sharing of joyous or challenging anecdotes that people begin to trust one another.

Memories can also serve the important function of helping us plan for the future. Sometimes, just remembering the gist of an event can be quite helpful for this function of memory. We might plan to bring a lunch to work because we remember that the cafeteria gets crowded. Or we might remember our appreciation when an old friend wrote to us and therefore decide to write to someone with whom we have lost touch.

Other times, the specifics can be helpful: Being able to clearly remember a particular action may also make it easier to envision doing it again in the future. For example, people who better remember times when they helped others are more likely to engage in similar helping behaviors in the future (Gaesser & Schacter, 2014).

What Happens When We Remember Repeatedly

In all of these ways, remembering the past helps us to interact with the world around us. However, the act of remembering is more than pulling up a record of the past and using the information in the moment. Remembering is an active process that can actually change a memory every time it is brought to mind. Recalling a past event can strengthen the representation of that memory, making it easier to retrieve in the future (Rowland, 2014). This is why memories that we discuss repeatedly often feel easier to recall.

It might seem obvious that remembering something one day will make it easier to remember the next. But less intuitively, retrieving a memory can actually alter its contents, making it slightly different the next time we bring it to mind.

We often talk about memory as re-experiencing a past event, but a memory is not an exact replication of what originally happened. Whenever a memory is brought to mind, it becomes susceptible to changes. New information learned since the original event, whether true or false, can be incorporated into the memory, so that it is later remembered as part of that event (Elsey et al., 2018). In this way, remembering an event is less like a rerun of an old show, and more like following a screenplay: There is a plot that stays generally consistent, but the exact dialogue and the way scenes are portrayed may change from one production to the next.

Bugs in the System?

Remembering a particular piece of information not only makes it more vulnerable to change, but also makes it harder to remember other, related information that has not been recalled.

For example, say we have a list of items that we need to pick up on our way home from work: five fruits from the farm stand (apples, oranges, bananas, blueberries, and strawberries), and five items from the pharmacy (tissues, cold medicine, a thermometer, cough drops, and hand sanitizer). On the drive, we hear a commercial for a pie stand, which reminds us that we want to make sure to get apples and blueberries, but we aren’t reminded of the other fruits.

When it’s time to remember our list, it’s easy to see why we would be more likely to remember apples and blueberries compared to any of the other items. However, we are also less likely to remember oranges, bananas, and strawberries compared to any of the pharmacy items. The act of remembering a subset of our fruit list made the unremembered items even harder to remember later (see Anderson, 2003). The same process can happen when remembering details of an event: Remembering some of the details of a particular event can strengthen their memory, but makes other details that were not remembered less likely to be remembered in the future.

It may seem maladaptive to have a memory system in which the memories that we trust so completely are easily and unintentionally altered. However, it is this system that allows us to learn from past events and to see the silver linings of an otherwise negative experience. By reframing a past event with new context that we can grow along with these memories and use them to maintain our personal identity, strengthen our relationships, and direct our future.

Anderson, M.C. (2003). Rethinking interference theory: Executive control and the mechanisms of forgetting. J. Mem. Lang, 47, 415-445.

Elsey, J.W.B., Van Ast, V.A., & Kindt, M. (2018). Human memory reconsolidation: A guiding framework and critical review of the evidence. Psychol. Bull, 144, 797-848.

Gaesser, B. & Schacter, D.L. (2014). Episodic simulation and episodic memory can increase intentions to help others. PNAS, 111, 4415-4420.

Pillemer, D.B. (1992). Remembering personal circumstances: A functional analysis. In Affect and Accuracy in Recall: Studies of “Flashbulb” Memories, ed. E. Winograd, U. Neisser, pp. 236-264. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Rowland, C.A. (2014). The effect of testing versus restudy on retention: A meta-analytic review of the testing effect. Psychol. Bull, 140, 1432-1463.

Ryan Daley is a Ph.D. candidate in Psychology, Jaclyn Ford, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor of Psychology and Elizabeth Kensinger, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology, at Boston College.

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September 15, 2023

Forgotten Memories May Remain Intact in the Brain

Everyday lapses in memory can be a part of learning

By Daisy Yuhas

Jorg Greuel/Getty Images

Forgetting is a fact of life—one that many people find frustrating. But mounting evidence pushes back at the notion that a slip or lapse in our recollection is inherently bad. Indeed, forgetting can sometimes help people cope psychologically or let go of useless knowledge . In a new study, neuroscientist Tomás Ryan of Trinity College Dublin and his colleagues have examined the fundamental biology underlying a form of forgetting we experience every day . Their work suggests that when we can’t recall an old phone number or a high school teacher’s name, those details are not necessarily lost. As Ryan explained to Mind Matters editor Daisy Yuhas, forgetting may be an active process that the brain uses to support learning. He also discussed how dementia may ultimately reflect disordered forgetting more than lost memories.

[ An edited transcript of the interview follows .]

You study an idea that some people may find counterintuitive: forgetting can be part of learning . How so?

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We often think of forgetting as a deficit of the brain or a limitation. Memory loss from dementia or brain trauma, for example, can be devastating.

But we also experience “everyday forgetting” as we go about our lives—because there’s just so much going on. We’re expected to learn and retain many things in order to function in modern society. Some are quite arbitrary, such as having to memorize facts you'll never need again for school exams. Others are not so arbitrary but are still quite demanding, such as the knowledge you build to become a practicing doctor.

Although we may think of forgetting as a nuisance, and it often is, it could be a feature of the brain rather than a bug. A growing body of research in neuroscience is beginning to examine the idea that forgetting is adaptive rather than limiting.

So forgetting comes in many forms?

There are different kinds that people generally consider distinct. We may use the word amnesia for a kind of forgetting that most people would agree is neither adaptive nor beneficial. Some forms of amnesia make it difficult to form new memories. Others make it difficult to recall memories formed before an injury.

But everyday forgetting is different. If you forget where you parked your car, nobody calls that amnesia. Or if you don’t do very well on your finals, you don’t get to tell your professor, “Oh, sorry, I had amnesia that day.” These cases represent a form of forgetting where you don’t have a ready grasp of desired memories for that context.

In your new study, you examine everyday forgetting in rodents. What did these mice have to learn?

Mice are very curious creatures. We trained them to associate an object with a room or an environment. So we presented the mice with objects—such as a tube or a cone—that they had never seen before in a given context.

Then, the next day or a week later, we asked the mice to inspect two objects: one that had been associated with that context and another that had not. Usually the animals would inspect the novel object for a given context. But if they had forgotten the association, both objects seemed new, and the mice explored both equally.

We also studied fear conditioning, where the animals received a very mild electric shock—it did them no harm—for a few seconds in a particular context. They later showed a freezing behavior in that same environment, provided that they remembered it. If the mice froze less in that context, they had forgotten the association.

How did you encourage them to forget?

Natural forgetting is believed to occur for many reasons . Memories may simply fade over time. But forgetting can also be caused by “retroactive interference,” which is when you experience two events that are quite similar close in time. The memory of one interferes with the other.

This is a very well-studied effect and one we can control in our own experiments, which is why we used this approach with the mice. So for example, after presenting mice with objects in context A, they were placed in context B with identical objects. That second experience made it harder for them to remember associations from context A.

You also monitored memory formation in the brain. How, exactly, did you do so?

The brain is different before and after learning information. That difference is accounted for by physical or chemical changes in the brain’s structure. We call a brain change that occurs during learning and that is required for memory an engram.

In the past 10 years, the ability to label and manipulate specific engrams in the rodent brain has really transformed the memory field—and, by extension, the forgetting field. Identifying where an engram is located is like looking for a needle in a very, very large haystack. The human brain, for example, has billions of neurons and trillions of synapses, and there is change going on all the time. Some of it has nothing to do with memory.

To find an engram, we use genetic techniques to hijack what are called immediate early genes, which express themselves only when a particular neuron is active. The result is that we can genetically label those cells in a permanent way. By doing this, we essentially tag cells that we know are active in a given time window—such as when the brain is forming a memory.

[ Read more about the search for engrams ]

By putting these methods together, you had a way to both watch as mice learned or forgot associations and observe the brain cells linked to memories. What did that reveal?

We were able to show that in cases of retroactive interference, memories survived this type of forgetting and could be reexpressed. Nothing was wrong with those original memories, even though the mice had failed to recall them. Not only were the engrams there, but they were also healthy and functional.

In addition to tagging engram cells, we labeled cells with optogenetic receptors, which are ion channels that are activated by light. This combination allowed us to turn specific memory engrams on and off. When we did that, we found we could get mice to recall forgotten memories just by stimulating these engram cells.

We also found that if we optogenetically blocked the engram cells at the same time that we put mice in situations that would interfere with memory formation, the mice did not forget. In other words, you need activity in engram cells for forgetting to occur.

Does that mean our brain is suppressing a memory to help us learn?

Forgetting may be caused by competition between different memories. Therefore, you could say that forgetting is a form of learning and decision-making. The animal’s brain creates a competing engram, and then the brain must decide which engram to express in a given environment and moment.

How does this fit into studies of memory loss linked to trauma or dementia?

When I was a postdoc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, my colleagues and I did one of the first studies that integrated optogenetics and engram labeling. We studied amnesia both with drugs that impair memory consolidation and with genetically altered mice that serve as models of early Alzheimer’s disease. There, too, we found we could optogenetically stimulate the engrams for forgotten memories—and the memories were recalled .

Since then, other research groups have found the same thing for models of Alzheimer’s, age-related memory loss, stress-related memory loss and sleep-deprivation-induced amnesia. In every case, the engram survives—but the memory can only be retrieved with optogenetic activation.

In the recent study done in my lab in Dublin, we looked at natural forgetting using engram manipulation for the first time. In addition, we found that a short reminder training session, for example, could help animals reaccess those same engram cells.

You can’t do that in the Alzheimer’s mouse model. If you retrain those mice on the same behavior, they can learn it, but they make a new engram for it.

Could your new study inform how we look at dementia?

Even though our study did not involve people with Alzheimer’s or any disease model, it may open up some interesting doors. What might be happening in diseases such as Alzheimer’s is that natural forgetting processes—including retroactive interference—may be misactivated. As a result, engrams are surviving but not being expressed in the right way.

In other words, instead of the disease causing memory loss because it has somehow degraded the engrams, it may be triggering a very natural process of forgetting but for maladaptive reasons. If so, some of that memory loss may even be reversible because the engrams are intact. That would be a very different way of thinking about pathological memory loss, and it’s something that we hope to test in the future.

Are you a scientist who specializes in neuroscience, cognitive science or psychology? And have you read a recent peer-reviewed paper that you would like to write about for Mind Matters? Please send suggestions to  Scientific American ’s   Mind Matters editor Daisy Yuhas at  [email protected] .

This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the   author or authors are not necessarily those of  Scientific American.

Psychology Discussion

Essay on memory: (meaning and types).

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Read this Comprehensive Essay on Memory: Meaning, Nature and Types of Memory !

Meaning and Nature :

Memory is one of the important cognitive processes. Memory involves remembering and forgetting.

These are like two faces of a coin. Though these two are opposed to each other by nature, they play an important role in the life of an individual.

Remembering the pleasant experiences makes living happy, and on the other hand remembering unpleasant experiences makes living unhappy and miserable. So here forgetting helps individual to forget unwanted and unpleasant experiences and memories and keeps him happy.

In this way, remembering the pleasant and forgetting the- unpleasant both are essential for normal living. In the case of learners, remembering is very important, because without memory there would be no learning.

If learning has to progress, remembering of what is already learnt is indispensable, otherwise every time the learner has to start from the beginning.

The memory is defined as ‘the power to store experiences and to bring them into the field of consciousness sometime after the experience has occurred’. Our mind has the power of conserving experiences and mentally receiving them whenever such an activity helps the onward progress of the life cycle.

The conserved experience has a unity, an organisation of its own and it colours our present experience.

However, as stated above we have a notion that memory is a single process, but an analysis of it reveals involvement of three different activities- learning, retention and remembering.

This is the first stage of memory. Learning may be by any of the methods like imitation, verbal, motor, conceptual, trial and error, insight, etc. Hence, whatever may be the type of learning; we must pay our attention to retain what is learnt. A good learning is necessary for better retention.

Retention is the process of retaining in mind what is learnt or experienced in the past. The learnt material must be retained in order to make progress in our learning. Psychologists are of the opinion that the learnt material will be retained in the brain in the form of neural traces called ‘memory traces’, or ‘engrams’, or ‘neurograms’.

When good learning takes place –clear engrams are formed, so that they remain for long time and can be remembered by activation of these traces whenever necessary.

Remembering:

It is the process of bringing back the stored or retained information to the conscious level. This may be understood by activities such as recalling, recognising, relearning and reconstruction.

Recalling is the process of reproducing the past experiences that are not present. For example, recalling answers in the examination hall.

Recognising:

It is to recognise a person seen earlier, or the original items seen earlier, from among the items of the same class or category which they are mixed-up.

Relearning:

Relearning is also known as saving method. Because we measure retention in terms of saving in the number of repetition or the time required to relearn the assignment. The difference between the amount of time or trials required for original learning and the one required for relearning indicates the amount of retention.

Reconstruction:

Reconstruction is otherwise called rearrangement. Here the material to learn will be presented in a particular order and then the items will be jumbled up or shuffled thoroughly and presented to the individual to rearrange them in the original order in which it was presented.

Types of Memory :

There are five kinds of memory. These are classified on the basis of rates of decay of the information.

a. Sensory memory:

In this kind of memory, the information received by the sense organs will remain there for a very short period like few seconds. For example, the image on the screen of a TV may appear to be in our eyes for a fraction of time even when it is switched off, or the voice of a person will be tingling in our ears even after the voice is ceased.

b. Short-term memory (STM):

According to many studies, in STM the memory remains in our conscious and pre-conscious level for less than 30 seconds. Later on this will be transferred to long-term memory.

c. Long-term memory (LTM):

LTM has the unlimited capacity to store information which may remain for days, months, years or lifetime.

d. Eidetic memory:

It is otherwise called photographic memory in which the individual can remember a scene or an event in a photographic detail.

e. Episodic memory:

This is otherwise called semantic memory which is connected with episodes of events. The events are stored in the form of episodes and recalled fully in the manner of a sequence.

Related Articles:

• 11 Factors that Influence Memory Process in Humans
• 7 Main Factors that Influence Retention Power | Memory | Psychology
• Essay on Forgetting: Causes and Theories
• Memory Types: 3 Main Types of Memory | Remembering | Psychology

Theories of Forgetting in Psychology

Saul McLeod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

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The Psychology of Forgetting and Why Memory Fails

Why do we forget?  There are two simple answers to this question.

First, the memory has disappeared – it is no longer available.  Second, the memory is still stored in the memory system but, for some reason, it cannot be retrieved.

These two answers summaries the main theories of forgetting developed by psychologists.  The first answer is more likely to be applied to forgetting in short-term memory, the second to forgetting in long term memory.

• Forgetting information from short term memory (STM) can be explained using the theories of trace decay and displacement.
• Forgetting from long term memory (LTM) can be explained using the theories of interference , retrieval failure and lack of consolidation.

Trace Decay Theory of Forgetting

This explanation of forgetting in short-term memory assumes that memories leave a trace in the brain . A trace is some form of physical and/or chemical change in the nervous system.

Trace decay theory states that forgetting occurs as a result of the automatic decay or fading of the memory trace. Trace decay theory focuses on time and the limited duration of short-term memory.

This theory suggests short-term memory can only hold information for between 15 and 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed.  After this time the information / trace decays and fades away.

No one disputes the fact that memory tends to get worse the longer the delay between learning and recall, but there is disagreement about the explanation for this effect.

According to the trace decay theory of forgetting, the events between learning and recall have no affect whatsoever on recall.  It is the length of time the information has to be retained that is important. The longer the time, the more the memory trace decays and as a consequence more information is forgotten.

There are a number of methodological problems confronting researchers trying to investigate the trace decay theory.  One of the major problems is controlling for the events that occur between learning and recall.

Clearly, in any real-life situation, the time between learning something and recalling it will be filled with all kinds of different events.  This makes it very difficult to be sure that any forgetting which takes place is the result of decay rather than a consequence of the intervening events.

Support for the idea that forgetting from short-term memory might be the result of decay over time came from research carried out by Brown (1958) in the United Kingdom, and Peterson and Peterson (1959) in the United States. The technique they developed has become known as the Brown-Peterson task.

There is very little direct support for decay theory as an explanation for the loss of information from short-term and long-term memory.  One of the problems with decay theory is that it is more or less impossible to test it.

In practice, it is not possible to create a situation in which there is a blank period of time between the presentation of material and recall.  Having presented information participants will rehearse it.  If you prevent rehearsal by introducing a distracter task, it results in interference.

Decay theory has difficulty explaining the observation that many people can remember events that happened several years previously with great clarity, even though they haven”t thought about them during the intervening period.

If our memories gradually decayed over time, then people should not have clear memories of distant events which have lain dormant for several years.  However, there is evidence to suggest that information is lost from sensory memory through the process of decay (Sperling, 1960).

Displacement from STM

Displacement seeks to explain forgetting in short-term memory, and suggests it’s due to a lack of availability.

Displacement theory provides a very simple explanation of forgetting.  Because of its limited capacity, suggested by Miller to be 7+/- 2 items, STM can only hold small amounts of information.

When STM is “full”, new information displaces or “pushes out’ old information and takes its place .  The old information which is displaced is forgotten in STM.

It was also assumed that the information that had been in the short-term store for the longest was the first to be displaced by new information, similar to the way in which boxes might fail off the end of a conveyor belt – as new boxes are put on one end, the boxes which have been on the conveyor belt the longest drop off the end.

Support for the view that displacement was responsible for the loss of information from short-term memory came from studies using the “free-recall” method.

A typical study would use the following procedure: participants listen to a list of words read out a steady rate, usually two seconds per word; they are then asked to recall as many of words as possible. They are free to recall the words in any order, hence the term “free recall”.

The findings from studies using free recall are fairly reliable and they produce similar results on each occasion.  If you take each item in the list and calculate the probability of participants recalling it (by averaging recall of the word over all participants) and plot this against the item’s position in the list, it results in the serial position curve (Figure 1).

Fig 1 . Simplified representation of the serial position curve for immediate recall

Good recall of items at the beginning of the list is referred to as the primacy effect and good recall if items at the end of the list are referred to as the recency effect . The displacement theory of forgetting from short-term memory can explain the recency effect quite easily. The last few words that were presented in the list have not yet been displaced from short-term memory and so are available for recall.

The primacy effect can be explained using Atkinson & Shiffrin’s (1968) multi-store model which proposes that information is transferred into long-term memory by means of rehearsal.

The first words in the list are rehearsed more frequently because at the time they are presented they do not have to compete with other words for the limited capacity of the short-term store.  This means that words early in the list are more likely to be transferred to long-term memory.

So the primacy effect reflects items that are available for recall from long-term memory. However, words in the middle of the list used to be in short term memory until they were pushed out – or displaced by the words at the end of the list.

Displacement theory provided a good account of how forgetting might take place in Atkinson & Shiffrin’s (1968) model of short-term memory.  However, it became clear that the short-term memory store is much more complex than proposed in Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model (re: working memory).

Murdock’s (1962) serial position experiment supports the idea of forgetting due to displacement from short-term memory, although it could be due to decay.  Forgetting from short-term memory can occur due to displacement or due to decay, but it is often very difficult to tell which one it is.

Interference Theory

If you had asked psychologists during the 1930s, 1940s, or 1950s what caused forgetting you would probably have received the answer “ Interference “.

It was assumed that memory can be disrupted or interfered with by what we have previously learned or by what we will learn in the future.  This idea suggests that information in long term memory may become confused or combined with other information during encoding thus distorting or disrupting memories.

Interference theory states that forgetting occurs because memories interfere with and disrupt one another, in other words forgetting occurs because of interference from other memories (Baddeley, 1999).  There are two ways in which interference can cause forgetting:

• Proactive interference (pro=forward) occurs when you cannot learn a new task because of an old task that had been learned.  When what we already know interferes with what we are currently learning – where old memories disrupt new memories.
• Retroactive interference (retro=backward) occurs when you forget a previously learned task due to the learning of a new task. In other words, later learning interferes with earlier learning – where new memories disrupt old memories.

Proactive and retroactive Interference is thought to be more likely to occur where the memories are similar, for example: confusing old and new telephone numbers.  Chandler (1989) stated that students who study similar subjects at the same time often experience interference.

Previous learning can sometimes interfere with new learning (e.g. difficulties we have with foreign currency when traveling abroad).  Also, new learning can sometimes cause confusion with previous learning. (Starting French may affect our memory of previously learned Spanish vocabulary).

In the short term memory interference can occur in the form of distractions so that we don’t get the chance to process the information properly in the first place. (e.g. someone using a loud drill just outside the door of the classroom.)

Key study: Postman (1960)

Aim : To investigate how retroactive interference affects learning.  In other words, to investigate whether information you have recently received interferes with the ability to recall something you learned earlier.

Method : A lab experiment was used. Participants were split into two groups.  Both groups had to remember a list of paired words – e.g. cat – tree, jelly – moss, book – tractor.  The experimental group also had to learn another list of words where the second paired word if different – e.g. cat – glass, jelly- time, book – revolver.  The control group were not given the second list. All participants were asked to recall the words on the first list.

Results : The recall of the control group was more accurate than that of the experimental group.

Conclusion : This suggests that learning items in the second list interfered with participants’ ability to recall the list.  This is an example of retroactive interference.

Although proactive and retroactive interference are reliable and robust effects, there are a number of problems with interference theory as an explanation of forgetting.

First, interference theory tells us little about the cognitive processes involved in forgetting.  Secondly, the majority of research into the role of interference in forgetting has been carried out in a laboratory using lists of words, a situation which is likely to occur fairly infrequently in everyday life (i.e. low ecological validity).  As a result, it may not be possible to generalize from the findings.

Baddeley (1990) states that the tasks given to subjects are too close to each other and, in real life; these kinds of events are more spaced out.  Nevertheless, recent research has attempted to address this by investigating “real-life” events and has provided support for interference theory.

However, there is no doubt that interference plays a role in forgetting, but how much forgetting can be attributed to interference remains unclear (Anderson, 2000).

Lack of Consolidation

The previous accounts of forgetting have focused primarily on psychological evidence, but memory also relies on biological processes.  For example, we can define a memory trace as:

Some permanent alteration of the brain substrate in order to represent some aspect of a past experience”.

When we take in new information, a certain amount of time is necessary for changes to the nervous system to take place – the consolidation process – so that it is properly recorded. During this period information is moved from short-term memory to the more permanent long-term memory.

The brain consists of a vast number of cells called neurons , connected to each other by synapses. Synapses enable chemicals to be passed from one neuron to another . These chemicals, called neurotransmitters , can either inhibit or stimulate the performance of neurons.

So if you can imagine a network of neurons all connected via synapses, there will be a pattern of stimulation and inhibition.  It has been suggested that this pattern of inhibition and stimulation can be used as a basis for storing information.  This process of modifying neurons in order form new permanent memories is referred to as consolidation (Parkin, 1993).

There is evidence that the consolidation process is impaired if there is damage to the hippocampus (a region of the brain). In 1953, HM had brain surgery to treat his epilepsy, which had become extremely severe.

The surgery removed parts of his brain and destroyed the hippocampus, and although it relieved his epilepsy, it left him with a range of memory problems.  Although his STM functioned well, he was unable to process information into LTM.

The main problem experienced by HM is his inability to remember and learn new things. This inability to form new memories is referred to as anterograde amnesia. However, of interest in our understanding of the duration of the process of consolidation is HM’s memory for events before his surgery.

In general, his memory for events before the surgery remains intact, but he does have some memory loss for events which occurred in the two years leading up to surgery.

Pinel (1993) suggests that this challenges Hebb’s (1949) idea that the process of consolidation takes approximately 30 minutes.  The fact that HM’s memory is disrupted for the two-year period leading up to the surgery indicates that the process of consolidation continues for a number of years.

Finally, aging can also impair our ability to consolidate information.

The research into the processes involved in consolidation reminds us that memory relies on biological processes, although the exact manner by which neurons are altered during the formation of new memories has not yet been fully explained.

However, there is no doubt that investigating the role of neurons and neurotransmitters will provide new and important insights into memory and forgetting.

Retrieval Failure Theory

Retrieval failure is where the information is in long-term memory, but cannot be accessed.  Such information is said to be available (i.e. it is still stored) but not accessible (i.e. it cannot be retrieved). It cannot be accessed because the retrieval cues are not present.

When we store a new memory we also store information about the situation and these are known as retrieval cues.  When we come into the same situation again, these retrieval cues can trigger the memory of the situation. Retrieval cues can be:

• External / Context – in the environment, e.g. smell, place etc.
• Internal / State – inside of us, e.g. physical, emotional, mood, drunk etc

There is considerable evidence that information is more likely to be retrieved from long-term memory if appropriate retrieval cues are present.  This evidence comes from both laboratory experiments and everyday experience.  A retrieval cue is a hint or clue that can help retrieval.

Tulving (1974) argued that information would be more readily retrieved if the cues present when the information was encoded were also present when its retrieval is required. For example, if you proposed to your partner when a certain song was playing on the radio, you will be more likely to remember the details of the proposal when you hear the same song again.  The song is a retrieval cue – it was present when the information was encoded and retrieved.

Tulving suggested that information about the physical surroundings ( external context ) and about the physical or psychological state of the learner ( internal context ) is stored at the same time as information is learned.

Reinstating the state or context makes recall easier by providing relevant information, while retrieval failure occurs when appropriate cues are not present. For example, when we are in a different context (i.e. situation) or state.

Context (external) Cues

Retrieval cues may be based on context-the setting or situation in which information is encoded and retrieved. Examples include a particular room, driving along a motorway, a certain group of people, a rainy day and so on.

Context also refers to the way information is presented.  For example, words may be printed, spoken or sung, they may be presented in meaningful groups – in categories such as lists of animals or furniture – or as a random collection without any link between them. Evidence indicates that retrieval is more likely when the context at encoding matches the context at retrieval.

You may have experienced the effect of context on memory if you have ever visited a place where you once lived (or an old school).  Often such as visit helps people recall lots of experiences about the time they spent there which they did not realize were stored in their memory.

A number of experiments have indicated the importance of context-based cues for retrieval. An experiment conducted by Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) asked participants to learn lists of words belonging to different categories, for example names of animals, clothing and sports.

Participants were then asked to recall the words. Those who were given the category names recalled substantially more words than those who were not. The categories provided a context, and naming the categories provided retrieval cues.

Tulving and Pearlstone argued that cue-dependent forgetting explains the difference between the two groups of participants. Those who recalled fewer words lacked appropriate retrieval cues.

An interesting experiment conducted by Baddeley (1975) indicates the importance of setting for retrieval. Baddeley (1975 ) asked deep-sea divers to memorize a list of words.  One group did this on the beach and the other group underwater. When they were asked to remember the words half of the beach learners remained on the beach, the rest had to recall underwater.

Half of the underwater group remained there and the others had to recall on the beach.  The results show that those who had recalled in the same environment (i.e. context) which that had learned recalled 40% more words than those recalling in a different environment. This suggests that the retrieval of information is improved if it occurs in the context in which it was learned.

State (internal) Dependent Cues

The basic idea behind state-dependent retrieval is that memory will be best when a person’s physical or psychological state is similar at encoding and retrieval.

For example, if someone tells you a joke on Saturday night after a few drinks, you”ll be more likely to remember it when you”re in a similar state – at a later date after a few more drinks.  Stone cold sober on Monday morning, you”ll be more likely to forget the joke.

State retrieval clues may be based on state-the physical or psychological state of the person when information is encoded and retrieved.  For example, a person may be alert, tired, happy, sad, drunk or sober when the information was encoded.  They will be more likely to retrieve the information when they are in a similar state.

Tulving and Pearlstone’s (1966) study involved external cues (e.g. presenting category names). However, cue-dependent forgetting has also been shown with internal cues (e.g. mood state). Information about current mood state is often stored in the memory trace, and there is more forgetting if the mood state at the time of retrieval is different. The notion that there should be less forgetting when the mood state at learning and at retrieval is the same is generally known as mood-state-dependent memory .

A study by Goodwin et al. (1969) investigated the effect of alcohol on state-dependent retrieval. They found that when people encoded information when drunk, they were more likely to recall it in the same state. For example, when they hid money and alcohol when drunk, they were unlikely to find them when sober.

However, when they were drunk again, they often discovered the hiding place. Other studies found similar state-dependent effects when participants were given drugs such as marijuana.

People tend to remember material better when there is a match between their mood at learning and at retrieval. The effects are stronger when the participants are in a positive mood than a negative mood. They are also greater when people try to remember events having personal relevance.

According to retrieval-failure theory, forgetting occurs when information is available in LTM but is not accessible.  Accessibility depends in large part on retrieval cues.  Forgetting is greatest when context and state are very different at encoding and retrieval.  In this situation, retrieval cues are absent and the likely result is cue-dependent forgetting.

There is considerable evidence to support this theory of forgetting from laboratory experiments. The ecological validity of these experiments can be questioned, but their findings are supported by evidence from outside the laboratory.

For example, many people say they can”t remember much about their childhood or their school days.  But returning to the house in which they spent their childhood or attending a school reunion often provides retrieval cues which trigger a flood of memories.

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