* Complex mental function having four distinct phases: (1) memorizing or learning, (2) retention, (3) recall, and (4) recognition. Clinically, it is usually subdivided into immediate, recent, and remote memory. (MSH) * Memory; the power of retaining and recalling past experience, something that is remembered. (NCI) * The activities involved in the mental information processing system that receives (registers), modifies, stores, and retrieves informational stimuli. The main stages involved in the formation and retrieval of memory are encoding (processing of received information by acquisition), storage (building a permanent record of received information as a result of consolidation) and retrieval (calling back the stored information and use it in a suitable way to execute a given task). [http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/, http://www.onelook.com/, ISBN:0582227089] (GO) * mental function underlying learning; one model specifies 4 phases: acquisition, retention, recall, and recognition. (CSP)|The cognitive process of encoding, storing and retrieving past experience