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Pattern Completion

This past Diwali, I had a craving for the choddo shak of my childhood. Until now, I was not curious to know what went into that mix. It was just one of those things that was done on the day of Kali puja and not even the most exciting part of it. The fire-crackers, sweet and savory foods came later in the evening. This was served during lunch and set the stage for the festival. My ersatz choddo shak was nothing like the real thing having none of the real ingredients. 

Yet, having recalled a time from the past offered its own kind of satisfaction. During lunch, I found myself trying to remember a similar Diwali from childhood see if something would trigger the memory of taste and nothing did. In effect, I was left with the feeling of a planted and somewhat incomplete memory. Perhaps, I am lacking what it takes to reach "pattern completion" 

When we first experience the event, all these distinct aspects are represented in different regions of the brain, yet we are still able to remember them all later on. It is the hippocampus that is critical to this process, associating all these different aspects so that the entire event can be retrieved."

The researchers showed that associations formed between the different aspects of an event allow one aspect to bring back a wave of memory that includes the other aspects. This process is known as "pattern completion."

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