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Since an approach that attempts to integrate the enigmatic faculty of
memory into the even more enigmatic processes of cognition veers off
under a considerable angle from well established modes of thinking about
this problem, it may be profitable to develop the argument carefully step
by step, first exposing and circumventing some of the semantic traps that
have become visible in the course of this study, and then showing that even
at the possible risk of losing track of some operational details a conceptual
frame work is gained which, hopefully, allows the various bits and pieces to
fall smoothly into place.
At this moment it appears to me that this objective may be best achieved
by delivering the argument in four short “chapters”. I shall open the dis-
cussion with an attempt to clarify some of the most frequently used terms
in discussing memory and related mental functions. In the second chapter
I shall state my thesis which is central to the whole argument, and I shall
develop this thesis in details that are commensurate with the scope of this
paper in Chapter III. Finally, I shall venture to present a conjecture regard-
ing the possibility of computing recursive function on the molecular level.
Throughout this paper I shall be using examples and metaphors as
explanatory tools, rather than the frightful machinery of mathematical and
logical calculi. I am aware of the dangers of misrepresentation and misun-
derstanding that are inherent in these explanatory devices, and I shall try to
be as unambiguous as my descriptive powers permit me to be. For those who
wish to become acquainted with a more rigorous treatment of this subject
matter I must refer to the widely scattered technical literature as much—or
as little—as there exists such literature today.
2-10
I. Clarification of Terminology
There are two pairs of terms that occur and re-occur with considerable fre-
quency in discussions of memory and related topics. They are (i) “storage and
retrieval” and (ii) “recognition and recall”. Unfortunately—in my opinion—
they are used freely and interchangeably as if they were to refer to the s\ame
processes. Permit me, therefore to restore their distinctive features:
(i) Storage and Retrieval
I wish to associate with these terms a certain
invariance of quality
of that
which is stored at one time and then retrieved at a later time.
Example: Consider Mrs. X who wishes to store her mink coat during the
hot months in summer, takes this coat to her furrier for storage in his vault
in spring and returns in the fall for retrieving it in time for the opening night
at the opera.
Please note that Mrs. X is counting on getting precisely her mink coat
back and not any other coat, not to speak of a token of this coat. It is up
to everybody's imagination to predict what would happen if in the fall her
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