How do some memories stick forever?

Why do human beings some vivid memories from decades ago yet forget where they left their key-cards? What makes some memories stick while others evaporate? How do they stick?
 Does long-term memory have a structural or chemical basis? I intend to find out .

JSTOR CITATION LIST

1.
Title:  Visual Memory Needs Categories
Author(s):  Henrik Olsson; Leo Poom; Anne Treisman
Source:  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 102, No. 24  (Jun. 14, 2005), pp. 8776-8780
Publisher(s): National Academy of Sciences
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/3375788
2.
Title:  Transactive Memory Systems in Organizations: Matching Tasks, Expertise, and People
Author(s):  David P. Brandon; Andrea B. Hollingshead
Source:  Organization Science, Vol. 15, No. 6  (Nov. - Dec., 2004), pp. 633-644
Publisher(s): INFORMS
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/30034766
 3.
Title:  Neural Bases of Human Working Memory
Author(s):  Edward E. Smith
Source:  Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 9, No. 2  (Apr., 2000), pp. 45-49
Publisher(s): Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of Association for Psychological Science
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/20182621
 4.
Title:  Protein Kinase A Inhibits a Consolidated Form of Memory in Drosophila
Author(s):  Junjiro Horiuchi; Daisuke Yamazaki; Shintaro Naganos; Toshiro Aigaki; Minoru Saitoe
Source:  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 105, No. 52  (Dec. 30, 2008), pp. 20976-20981
Publisher(s): National Academy of Sciences


5.
Title:  A Basic-Systems Approach to Autobiographical Memory
Author(s):  David C. Rubin
Source:  Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 14, No. 2  (Apr., 2005), pp. 79-83
Publisher(s): Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of Association for Psychological Science
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/20182993
6.
Title:  Glucocorticoid Effects on Object Recognition Memory Require Training-Associated Emotional Arousal
Author(s):  Shoki Okuda; Benno Roozendaal; James L. McGaugh
Source:  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 101, No. 3  (Jan. 20, 2004), pp. 853-858
Publisher(s): National Academy of Sciences
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/3148467
7.
Title:  Tricks of Memory
Author(s):  Henry L. Roediger III; Kathleen B. McDermott
Source:  Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 9, No. 4  (Aug., 2000), pp. 123-127
Publisher(s): Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of Association for Psychological Science
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/20182644
8.
Title:  The Effect of Anticipation and the Specificity of Sex Differences for Amygdala and Hippocampus Function in Emotional Memory
Author(s):  Kristen L. Mackiewicz; Issidoros Sarinopoulos; Krystal L. Cleven; Jack B. Nitschke
Source:  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 103, No. 38  (Sep. 19, 2006), pp. 14200-14205
Publisher(s): National Academy of Sciences
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/30052009
9.
Title:  Radical Behaviorism and Exceptional Memory Phenomena
Author(s):  Rajan Mahadevan; John C. Malone; Jon Bailey
Source:  Behavior and Philosophy, Vol. 30,  (2002), pp. 1-13
Publisher(s): Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies (CCBS)
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/27759434
10.
Title:  From Cognitive to Neural Models of Working Memory
Author(s):  Mark D'Esposito
Source:  Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, Vol. 362, No. 1481, Mental Processes in the Human Brain  (May 29, 2007), pp. 761-772
Publisher(s): The Royal Society
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/20209887
11.
Title:  False Remembering in the Aged
Author(s):  Larry L. Jacoby; Matthew G. Rhodes
Source:  Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 15, No. 2  (Apr., 2006), pp. 49-53
Publisher(s): Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of Association for Psychological Science
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/20183075
Stable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/25465018

Memory Formation!?!!!

Memory.
I intend to focus my research on the secrets of my memory. I hope my research will get me to appreciate much more the magic of this gift.And hopefully lead me down a road filled with many more mind boggling questions.Why can I have vivid memories from years ago yet recent statistics lessons just flash before my eyes? What chooses what I remember? Where in my brain are my memories stored?How are they stored?

Why am I taking Scientific Research?

Why am I taking Scientific Research? Because I have questions.Many questions. Questions about the universe, about the earth, about life, about me, about the wind... I don't know if I want answers to my questions. I don't even know if there are answers.What I do know is that I love the journey. The journey of questions, questions leading to questions, then more questions. I think that's why I am taking SR; to find even more questions. To see just a little bit more, what a miracle it is to be alive!