Your memories are powerful things. They allow you to store the information you learn and retrieve it at a later date. Thanks to your memories, you are able to fondly recollect moments from your childhood and remember facts and figures for your exams. They are a major component in creating individuality and are essential in carrying out daily activities. But how does memory work and why are people often unable to recall information that they know is stored somewhere in the brain? In this chapter, you'll learn more about some of the basics of how memories are created and stored and well as what happens when this process sometimes goes awry.