We often think of memory in a nostalgic or trivial way - such as knowing the capital of the United States or being able to find our car keys - and as somethng relating simply to the past. Yet the reason our brains have remarkabley powerful capacities for memories is that memory is actually for the future. It’s the way we learn about the world so that we’re more competent, more skilled, and more effective the next time we encounter a task. And so while memeory is of the past, it is a tools for the future.
John Gabrieli, Educating the Brain: Lessons from Brain Imaging, 2005, explaining how new neuroimaging techniques offer insights into how the brain learns and remembers.
