memory trace, n.Definitions

A Memory trace (n.) may ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠turn out to have no counterpart: people may come to hold that no copy in the nervous system corresponds to a thought, idea or memory.

A Memory trace (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠never wholly lost by the brain, though consciousness constantly discards impressions as a bank destroys old notes; in abnormal states such traces return with photographic fidelity, as when dying servants recited Greek heard in youth.