Research designs seek to minimize the effect of this kind of white noise. The CP theorist seeks out exactly the kind of information that traditional memory research avoids. The CP theorist wants to maximize the role of personality in memory functioning and come to know it for what it is. For we understand that memory, however it is conceptualized, is not like an operating camera or a computer hard drive.
Some people have excellent memories, some poor.
Some are visually oriented in their recollecting, others auditory. Some are oriented toward the large picture, others toward details. The CP theorist is specifically interested in understanding how it is that people have such different recollections of their lives, even individuals who have grown up in the same family. CP theory is concerned with memory differences that involve personality, as opposed to biology. For instance, attention deficit disorder in most cases likely originates with neurological deficits or quirks, allergic problems, and other biological variables that cause problems with attending although there are also some instances in which emotional problems can cause attentional difficulties.