I wanted to include memory as a basic function of the mind all viewers could relate to. Everyone remembers things throughout their life from information to tasks. However I also wanted to convey information people might not already know about their memory like the fact that when you get better at a task you’re brain is actually just getting better at remembering your mistakes.

Research:
The brain activates in different areas depending on the different types of learning. If you are learning information your brain works differently than it does if you are learning to complete a task. For learning a task using the corresponding system (auditory, motor, etc.) the brain has a similar way of remembering how to perform the task again. First the brain recalls the commands it has previously learned through trial, error and reinforcement. The brain pulls up the first thing it learned about the task it is trying to complete by running through the neural pathways it has previously connected. We used to believe that’s where the process ended however recent study showed the brain also recalls a sort of databank of errors, a memory of what didn’t work in the past. In this way the brain can much faster and more easily figure out how to correctly perform the task correctly, rather than figure out what to do right every time the brain just remembers what not to do wrong. The better the brain gets at repeating a task, the better it is getting at remembering what went wrong the last time (Herzfeld, Vaswani, Marko, Shadmehr, 2014).
Source: David Herzfeld, Pavan Vaswani, Mollie Marko, Reza Shadmehr (September 12, 2014). Science, Vol. 345, Issue 6202, p1349-1353.

Design:
I wanted to create the feeling of remembering a past experience with the design of Memory but I also didn’t want to make the experience too representational so the player could image remembering whatever they were thinking of at the time. This is what there is a sort of fluffy bursting pattern on the thought, I wanted to give the illusion that you might be able to step into the memory as if going through a portal but at the same time keep the shape fuzzy so it was like remembering something that’s just on the tip of your tongue.