There are, broadly speaking, two types of memory within the brain; Entity Memories are "memories" of the world, an awareness of the interconnections that exist between all Entities, which is perceived through Interpretation of Entities of sense and action, and there are Declarative Memories which are the thoughts we can recall of specific events and information. The first is an intrinsic part of the function of Interpretation, and latent in every other process discussed in this model. The second is a separate system which we shall here address. Declarative Memories are situated in the temporal lobe, in the region at the front of the lobe called the entorhinal cortex. This form of memory makes reciprocal cortical connections to many parts of the brain, and so can build a hybrid image consisting of many modalities; sight, sound, bodily position, Potentiality-for-Being, speech etc. It functions as a passive ledger, recording all that is perceived within the brain, for short and long term recall, but equally presents what it stores for use in Interpretation. Within the data it stores, there are two further divisions in Memory type; the Now-that-was and Shocked Memory. Now-that-was This is, as per the original diagram, simply a state of Being of Dasein as it just Was. The evolutionary function is to provide a context of the World for Interpretation beyond what is intrinsically apparent within the Entities. The World is dynamic and presents dangers to Dasein that are temporal in nature, to be aware of what has just befallen as one Interprets the present can only help to improve the quality of the Anticipation, of all modalities, and so ensure Dasein acts upon well formed Potentialities. The Entities of Interpretation are themselves pliable, but largely in the formative stages of development in humans. The Now-that-was of Memory has two distinguishing features that specialises its function; rather than being prescriptive for Interpretation as the Entities are it is descriptive and acts as a blank slate, accommodating of all Entities, and further it combines many modalities to provide a more complete representation of the whole state of Dasein. Shocked Memory Sometimes called "declarative memory", this is the memory of events, recent to long past states of Dasein's Being. Any Now-that-was may become a Shocked memory, they share the same "blank" qualities and store the same kind of information. But whereas the Now-that-was continually receives and sends information, Shocked memories have a definite formation and recall. As the name implies, this class of memory generally occurs when Dasein encounters Shock; when a Making-Present reveals an unfulfilled Potentiality-for-Being. From an evolutionary perspective, such a situation may well be dangerous and potentially fatal. So accompanying the sense of Shock is the complimentary effect of storing away the result of that cortical Interpretation so that should the Interpretation of the Entity at hand arise again, this new memory may be recalled to support the accuracy of the Potentiality. Unlike the Now-that-was which acts in a more universal and persistent manner, Shocked Memories are recalled selectively and specifically. As a pattern of pattern of Entities become a Now-that-was, the Shocked Memories may be interrogated through Interpretation to find correlates, which in turn may be passed back to their respective cortical modalities where the faded "experience" of that event may be perceived. Learning The mechanism for Shocked Memory formation is also the basic process of learning. One cannot learn what one already knows, so what is learnt is that which is new; what is presented before Dasein as an unexpected reality, an unfulfilled Potentiality-for-Being, is stored and learnt. Now this is true of both Entity Memory and Shocked Memory, the former being dominant in early life in humans, the latter later. As we saw before, Dasein begins life by aligning its Entity based Interpretations with the World around it; in the beginning it makes many incorrect Anticipations, but these soon become congruent with the general behaviour of its environment. This is possible because, within the brain, neurons have a property termed "plasticity" whereby they make connections to other neurons, but the strength, number and position of these connections are changeable within the life of the replicator, becoming gradually less able to change as the replicator ages. Neural plasticity has a distinct purpose in each type of Memory. For Entity Memory, it must, as determined by evolution, change slowly, and maintain neural connections indefinitely. Our way of Interpreting the World should, once lain down, not be subject to much change for the World itself is highly stable in this regard. Were we to change our sense Interpretations everytime a new experience was encountered we would quickly be confused ..... ..... Created 29th October 2008 Last revised 30th October 2008 |