Each isonome controls a short-term memory in each of many agencies. For example, suppose we had just been talking about a certain apple, and then I said, "Please put it in this pail." In this case, you would assume that the word "it" refers to the apple. However, if we had been discussing your left shoe, you would assume "it" referred to that shoe. A word like "it" excites an isonome whose signal has no particular significance by itself, but controls what various agencies do with certain recent memories