The cognitive neuroscience of long-term memory is ingrained with the assumptions that a particular task measures a single cognitive process and that each cognitive process is mediated by a single brain region. However, these assumptions are simplistic and currently hindering progress toward understanding the true mechanisms of memory. This special issue of Cognitive Neuroscience presents five empirical papers and two theoretical discussion papers with peer commentaries on the spatial and/or temporal mechanisms of memory. These papers embrace more complex cognitive and neural processes, and thus will provide a framework for future studies to investigate the true mechanisms of memory.