Memory

How do we memorize things anyway? And why do we forget some things so easily? All memory is a biological process that involves connections between nerve cells and the brain but of course is not as simple as that. There are two types of memory, short-term and long-term.

Short-term memory is memory that you're conscious of and most likely to forget before the next hour, while long-term memory stays stored and accessible in your memory even when you put it out of your conscious mind. Long-term memory could be caused by repetition of a certain task, such as practicing a piano piece or riding your bike. Even after months, you can unconsciously play the piece without needing to look at your fingers to check if you're making any mistakes. In short-term memory, the connections between the nerve cells and the brain are slightly altered but wear off in a matter of hours. However, in long-term memory, permanent or nearly permanent changes are made to the connections and wear off quite slowly over the years. The organ in the brain that processes short-term memories stories away memories in the temporal cortex. Certain nuclei of the cerebellum and spinal cord are required for long-term memories to form, although they don't intrude on the formation of short-term memories.

Numerous reasons cause us to forget. First, it could be that we've forgotten something because of emotional pain related to the memory. Secondly, there might be limitations to the informational processing capability of the brain, so to gain more information, it might be necessary to lose some stored information. Mainly though, the structural changes made to the brain when forming long-term memories wear off over a period of months or years. Aging can certainly damage memory; however, recent studies show the damage over time is not simply loosing random brain cells but actually in specific areas and not as bad as it was thought to be. Even though aging itself isn't terrible, Alzheimer's disease slowly brought by time can devastate people's memories. The disease begins around the area of the hippocampus and spreads to other areas of the brain, affecting not only the memory but speech. As it spreads, people are able to do less and less. While there is no actual cure for it yet, Vitamin E has been shown to slow the progression of the disease, so there is some hope for them yet.

Even though there have been rapid progressions in the research of the memory and brain lately, it'll be long until we completely know about how the memory works, something that makes up who we are.

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References:

Title: Neuroscience For Kids - memory experiments from the cafeteria work well) ... Let's see how good your memory for them really is.

URL: faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chmemory.html

Title: The Human Mind: Part 1: The Human Group Mind and How It Works Describes how our human minds work is proved by the way in which it explains and predicts human. We have some knowledge about memory and emotions. ...

URL:www.solbaram.org/articles/mind1.html

Title: NY Memory and Healthy Aging Services Diagnosis and treatment of memory disorders due to menopause, aging, and dementias.

URL: www.nymemory.org