views about the struture of memory have gone through many differnt phases throughout the history of the study of memory, which can be traced back to the early Greek philosophers. however,one characteristic of memory structure that is now commonly accepted is that a part of memory is oriented toward events that have just occurred whil a part. this is not a new idea. in fact, in 1890, William James wrote of an "elementary" or "primary" memory that makes us aware of the "just past." he distinguished this from a "secondary memory" that is for "properly recollected objects." to primary memory, Jame allocated items that are lost and never brought back into consciouness;