Encoding

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As soon as an event occurs and is sensorially and emotionally processed, the hippocampus encodes the memory. Because the brain can only hold onto so much information before the system is overwhelmed, not all memories can be encoded. Instead, the brain notes all pertinent information and shifts through the memory to decide which connections can be weakened. For this process, Mark et al. (1996, p. 124) present a “descriptions theory,” suggesting that memory encoding involves the categorization of fragments of personal memories so that these fragments could be later used as an index to access the greater details of the memory rather than encoding the entire memory itself. A study conducted by Avni-Babad & Ritov (2003) provides a neurocognitive prediction for which events would be better encoded and therefore have a greater effect on the autobiographical time of an individual. There are two sides. First, time is encoded by the quantity and quality of event markers. The more novel events there are, the more the brain wants to remember, hence lengthening the perceived time. Second, the attention given to time in the moment warps the perception of time later on. Intentional attention laid aside for the temporal element of an event will give greater importance to the passing of time. These two factors, though, are not mutually exclusive; event markers and time attention play together to ultimately decide how well a memory is encoded. The brain thus weighs events differently from the start of the memory process; those that are not encoded will never be a part of the autobiographical process, and all chronological time dedicated to such happenings are not included in autobiographical time.