Memory memory in the head - How the memory works
Her memory achieves peak performances every day: it records innumerable information, saves it and calls it back when needed. However, one or the other is lost. In addition to retaining but also forgetting is an important process.Many people collect cherished memorabilia that connect them with special moments or people. Photos or other keepsakes are kept in albums or a shoebox, but the largest collection of them comes with you every day. Your memory not only remembers a lot of information, it also separates it according to its meaning. Things that seem unimportant are filtered out of the flood of perceptions and are not remembered. Surely you have ever wished for a better memory. Not being able to remember everything has its meaning: your brain would simply be overloaded if it had to store all impressions, experiences and details. But how does the memory actually work?
Different storage locations
The term "memory" usually refers to the place where memories are kept. It is not a central site in your brain, but various areas that retain the recorded facts or perceptions for different lengths of time. On the one hand, a distinction is made between ultra-short-term memory in which information is stored for only about four to ten seconds. The short-term memory, however, already manages to 20 minutes. Once certain facts or memories have been transferred to long-term memory, they usually stay there for a lifetime. However, this depends on whether the memory is actively maintained.
It is a normal process that memory abates as you age, with the exception of illness-related reasons such as Alzheimer's disease. However, with a healthy lifestyle, sufficient exercise and activities that stimulate the brain, you can counteract this positively.
Remember, learn, forget
In order for us to be able to remember something, a stimulus must first of all strike a sensory cell. This is transmitted in the form of an electrical impulse to a nerve cell in the brain. The different nerve cells are linked together via connections, the synapses. If new information arrives, these connectors will be activated. To stay in the memory, the information must be solidified in a particular synapse combination. The more involved in this process, the better the memory can be stored and later retrieved. When repeating a certain activity, the same connections are activated again and again. This makes them stronger and has the consequence that we learn something permanently and remember it.
But there is also the opposite phenomenon: Information that is not so often in use is replaced by more strongly linked memory. Although they are not completely lost, access to them is made more difficult or remains closed. This process is commonly referred to as "forgetting."
What are memories for?
Not everything that you perceive daily remains in your memory. Some things just pass you by. This is related to the original function of the memory: above all, your brain stores what might be of use to you in the future. Anything that is not considered potentially usable is filtered out.
There are different types of memories. For example, certain behaviors or habits are almost automatic without you having to think about it. Due to the frequent repetition, the processes have solidified so strongly that a conscious perception is not necessary during this time. If, on the other hand, you want to retrieve learned facts, you must actively remember them.
If the memories are associated with strong emotions, whether positive or negative, it is easier to recall them. This basically works again and again, but never completely identical. With each call, your memory changes depending on your current situation, attitude or level of knowledge.
When memory fails
Even if you are annoyed by occasional forgetfulness, it is a protective mechanism of your body that protects you from overstimulation. If your brain were full of unimportant perceptions, you would not be able to retain the really meaningful information. In addition, you can not concentrate on anything else because of the constant memories that come pouring in on you.
Unlike normal forgetting, amnesia is the loss of much of the memory. This is triggered by a disease, an accident or a traumatic experience. Often this affects the episodic memory that belongs to the long-term memory. Those affected are missing entire passages of their lives. If neither old memories can be retrieved nor new ones stored, one speaks of a global Amnesie.
One type of memory loss, on the other hand, is common to all people: the fact that nobody remembers their earliest childhood is called infantile amnesia. The first conscious memories usually develop at the age of about two years.
