Memory

Memory works in three stages: encoding (getting information in), storage (holding it — from a split-second sensory buffer, to a small short-term/working store, to effectively unlimited long-term memory), and retrieval (getting it back out).^[1] The crucial surprise is the last step: remembering isn't replaying a recording, it's rebuilding the memory from fragments each time — which means it can be quietly edited by expectation, suggestion, or a leading question. That reconstructive nature is why confident eyewitnesses are so often wrong, why two people "remember" the same event differently, and why what we recall tends to drift toward what we already believe.^[2]