Forgetting
In this section visitors experience different kinds of “shortcomings” of
their memories, seeing some of the deeper principles by which
our remembering brains are organized. An important message in
this section is that many of the ways in which memory seems to
fail are illustrations of a robust system that is quite reliable
in most everyday circumstances.
Remembering
Without Thinking
This
section explores implicit memory, which can occur
without any conscious effort or awareness. Exhibits
demonstrate the workings of procedural memory—the
learning of physical skills—and priming,
where words or images previously seen influence
subsequent perceptions.
Personal
Memory
Visitors
consider their own and others’ personal,
autobiographical experiences of remembering.
The focus of this section is memory’s
intimate connection to one’s sense of
identity.
The
Senses
This
section contains an exhibit on each of the five
senses, emphasizing the memory-evocative nature
of sensory experiences. The senses are the primary
input into memory, and remembering is characteristically
initiated and facilitated by sensory cues.
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Shared
Memory
The ways in which communities of people remember reflect and
often parallel the workings of individuals’ memories. In
creating history, for example, people select events that they
think are important, trying to find meaningful links between
events. In the process, elements considered unimportant are left
out, and different groups can have widely divergent stories of
the same event. This section treats the ways in which memories
are preserved and shared collectively.
Remembering
What's Meaningful
Research and common experience reveal that if something is meaningful
and important to a person, they will remember it. In this section
visitors compare the processes of remembering information without
a meaningful context to remembering things they understand and
care about.
Faces
This
section addresses the special case of face recognition
and recall, a crucial kind of memory that has
been researched extensively. Cognitive and social
elements are addressed.
The
Brain
In
the brain section visitors can see some of the
physiological substrates of memory, from the most
basic level of connections of individual cells
to the more complex level of the localization of
function of different memory systems.
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