People have memory yet like a computer c.p.u. also have live computation or cogitation. Then of course perception inward and outwardly sourced exists. One can think about that with awareness. An example of inward perception is continuous pain that one would like to be unaware of or not think about yet can't. An example of outward perception is a cold rain soaking one and pelting the face with cold drops in driving wind; these are all live thoughts and perceptions rather than memory. One may think about perceptions later, reflectively with memory, yet memory can be fairly useless if cold and starving (i.e. while starving remember having a steak in a warm restaurant five years before).
Memory can be unreliable too, so far as forming judgments go. I saw an FB post where someone put forth their opinion of the all-time best Celtics roster for a team. Bill Russell was named as the starting center while others mentioned Dave Cowens. With a dozen comments no one mentioned Bill Walton who played just one season for the Celtics yet won an N.B.A. championship. Walton was actually the best center to ever play for the Celtics. Even the public forgets in the present. Thoughts relying on memory alone are prone to error while present perception and what one thinks about it (doubling the thought activity in effect, with reflection) is less inaccurate since the complex of compresence is not internally stimulated.
Memory is the store of knowledge, yet knowledge is used in the present. One may use knowledge (memory) to construct new ideas creatively, inventively combining memories intentionally to form the idea of a new widget. One may use memory to construct solutions to present challenges or to form synthetic judgments with some value (as in arranging peace among unwilling belligerents) etc.
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