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James F.
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The Science Behind Memory
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“The human brain has 100 billion neurons, each neuron connected to 10 thousand other neurons. Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe. It starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public.”
The cerebral cortex, the largest part of the human brain, associated with higher brain function such as thought and action, is divided into four sections, called lobes. Frontal Lobe - associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving. Parietal Lobe - associated with movement, orientation, recognition, perception of stimuli. Occipital Lobe - associated with visual processing. Temporal Lobe - associated with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory, and speech.
How do we form memories? The first stage of encoding new memories occurs when you select and focus your attention on something to be remembered. Tangible things are easier to encode than abstract concepts. This is because we use words to express our thoughts but we think in pictures. Visual Encoding - placing emphasis on physical characteristics such as size, shape, and colour. Auditory Encoding - placing emphasis on the sound of words, names, or the sounds associated with things.
How do we retain memories? A memory is formed by biochemical changes that occur at the synapses of our brain cells. Consensus holds that your short-term memory lasts on average between 20 to 30 seconds and has a capacity of between 5 to 9 items. Most memory retrieval errors are the result of ineffectual initial encoding. Because there is no need for us to maintain everything in our brain, the different stages of human memory function as a sort of filter that helps to protect us from the flood of information that we're confronted with on a daily basis.
How do we recall memories? Each element of a memory (sights, sounds, words, emotions) is encoded in the same part of the brain that originally created that fragment (visual cortex, motor cortex, language area, etc), and recall of a memory effectively reactivates the neural patterns generated during the original encoding.
The cerebral cortex, the largest part of the human brain, associated with higher brain function such as thought and action, is divided into four sections, called lobes. Frontal Lobe - associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving. Parietal Lobe - associated with movement, orientation, recognition, perception of stimuli. Occipital Lobe - associated with visual processing. Temporal Lobe - associated with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory, and speech.
How do we form memories? The first stage of encoding new memories occurs when you select and focus your attention on something to be remembered. Tangible things are easier to encode than abstract concepts. This is because we use words to express our thoughts but we think in pictures. Visual Encoding - placing emphasis on physical characteristics such as size, shape, and colour. Auditory Encoding - placing emphasis on the sound of words, names, or the sounds associated with things.
How do we retain memories? A memory is formed by biochemical changes that occur at the synapses of our brain cells. Consensus holds that your short-term memory lasts on average between 20 to 30 seconds and has a capacity of between 5 to 9 items. Most memory retrieval errors are the result of ineffectual initial encoding. Because there is no need for us to maintain everything in our brain, the different stages of human memory function as a sort of filter that helps to protect us from the flood of information that we're confronted with on a daily basis.
How do we recall memories? Each element of a memory (sights, sounds, words, emotions) is encoded in the same part of the brain that originally created that fragment (visual cortex, motor cortex, language area, etc), and recall of a memory effectively reactivates the neural patterns generated during the original encoding.