Abstract
Basic memories essential to human cognitive activities can grossly be divided into five types, i. e. working, episodic, prospective, semantic, and procedural memories. Their neuropsychological characteristics are briefly outlined. If we place these memories in temporal perspective according to their roles in our daily life, the episodic, semantic and procedural memories have such functions as to formulate the basis of personal identity, working memory to cope with the present, and prospective memory to bridge between the present and future. Cerebral basis of these 5 types of memories are also discussed.
