Processing
The brain is a complex system that stores memories in areas to handle short-term and long-term memory. From frontal lobe activity detected through MRI scanning, it's believed that the brain has separate areas to store language and mental images, according to the Canadian Institute of Neurosciences. Certain areas of the brain are activated when processing sounds or visual images to put them in chronological order for short-term memories. There may be sub-regions of the prefrontal cortex, near the brain's outer layer, that are activated to handle information that's more difficult than usual for a person to memorize. A central processor may be involved in coordinating all this photographic, linguistic and complex information at the same time.
Long-term Memory
With long-term memory, the brain needs help creating episodic scenes instead of just a collection of separate memories stored for short-term memory. The hippocampus, located in the left and right hemispheres of the brain, plays a role in playing these scenes back days or years later, so it can be remembered in your long-term memory. As memories of an event are brought back to you by the hippocampus, other regions of the brain are activated and become linked to make the memories stronger. Over time, it's easier to retrieve an old memory because activated areas of the brain that store facts and events get refreshed. The brain is helping you retrieve old memories by taking them from files in the brain that handle language and other files that handle images. In a way, the files that are refreshed remain up front and are easier to obtain.
Storage Ability
Short-term memory helps us remember certain facts, such as phone numbers or addresses, for some time. But those memories are stored only temporarily--or are pushed back into the file system of the brain--so they become harder to get to. These short-term memories can be stored in the long-term memory process by using imaging techniques in your mind. You may place a picture in your mind and link it to something already in your memory through association. You connect the new memory with information stored in the long-term memory banks of your brain. This is often done with more important events in your life. Trivial events are pushed aside as the file cabinet of the brain gets more packed with information.
Brain Exercise
Keeping the mind busy may help develop long-term memory power. One way to keep information you want stored in your mind for a long time is through exercise of the brain. Simply engaging in mental exercises such as reading books, performing craft activities or doing computer activities can prevent memory loss, according to a study released Feb. 17, 2009 by the Mayo Clinic. The researchers examined 197 people ages 70 to 89 and found that people who did these activities had a 30percent to 50 percent decrease in the risk of memory loss compared to people who didn't do those activities. Also, people who watched TV less than seven hours a day were less likely to develop memory loss than those who watched it more than seven hours a day.
