The human brain is a complex organ, capable of many incredible feats, including creating and storing memories. Memories are stored via connections between neurons in the brain. According to National Geographic, the human brain contains over 100 billion neurons, capable of creating trillions of pathways. These complicated and unique connections are the building blocks of our consciousness that make each of us who we are.
Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory, also called working memory, is essential to our functionality. For example, we use short-term memory while driving to keep track of where the other cars are in relation to our car, notes the National Institutes of Health. As the brain takes in sensory information from your eyes, ears, nose and touch sensors, your cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain, processes and stores information in your short-term memory. The short-term memory can't hold very much information, and short-term memories evaporate quickly, says USA Today.
Nondeclarative Memory
Scientists have found another type of memory, called nondeclarative memory, that is controlled by a completely different part of your brain. Nondeclarative memory controls unconscious physical abilities, such as learning to keep your balance while riding a bike and other activities requiring motor skills, says National Geographic. The basal ganglia and the cerebellum control and store non-declarative memories for use by the motor cortex.
Long-Term Memory
Memories that the brain decides are important enough to store permanently are sent to the hippocampus to be categorized, sorted and prepared for storage. However, the memories are not stored in the hippocampus, but in the neocortex, which is the distinctively wrinkled, outer layer of the brain, notes National Geographic.
How Memories are Stored
Your brain stores memories by creating a packet of sensory information via the links between neurons, related to the event. This information is sent to the hippocampus for long-term storage. The hippocampus strengthens the pathways between the neurons by running the information through these pathways numerous times, says the Canadian Institutes of Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Addiction. "The strengthened memory paths, enhanced with environment connections, become a part of long-term memory," says USA Today.
How Brain Damage Affects Memory
Certain types of brain damage, whether due to injury or disease can cause your brain to be unable to store memories. For example, severe injuries to the hippocampus can make the victim unable to make new long-term memories, although memories stored before the injury may be completely intact, notes National Geographic. Alzheimer's is a degenerative brain disease that usually starts at the hippocampus and temporal lobes, affecting both short and long-term memory. As the disease progresses throughout the brain, more basic memories, such as language and object recognition are affected, eventually destroying all functionality.
Member Comments