WHAT IS MEMORY?

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Memory is our ability to encode, store, retain, and subsequently recall information and past experiences in the human brain. It can be thought of in general terms as the use of past experience to affect or influence current behaviour whether that's soon after the information has been processed, or many years into the future.

While it's tempting to think of memory as computer storage or a tape recording that can be played back perfectly at will, human memory is far more complex and changeable than that! Even our ideas of how memory works have changed over the years. For example, did you know that during the 1960s, a theory known as cell memory or cellular memory suggested that all cells in the body, not just brain cells, were capable of storing memories.

This was based on memory transfer research using cannibal flatworms, and on anecdotal evidence of organ transplants where the recipient was reported to have developed new habits or memories, but such theories are now considered pseudoscientific and have not made it into peer-reviewed science journals.

Did You Know?
For a time during the 1960s, it was hypothesized that all the cells of the human body were capable of storing memories, not only those in the brain, an idea known as cell memory or cellular memory.

This was based on memory transfer research using cannibal flatworms, and on anecdotal evidence of organ transplants where the recipient was reported to have developed new habits or memories, but such theories are now considered pseudoscientific and have not made it into peer-reviewed science journals.

The memory system

Memory is the sum total of what we remember and gives us the capability to learn and adapt from previous experiences as well as to build relationships. It is the ability to remember past experiences, and the power or process of recalling to mind previously learned facts, experiences, impressions, skills, and habits. It is the store of things learned and retained from our activity or experience, as evidenced by modification of structure or behaviour, or by recall and recognition.

In this sense, it's clear that memory is not just one thing and memory operates in a complex way. Memory entails autobiographical memory, which is information about ourselves in relation to the world, there's learning and remembering facts, and even muscle memory that helps us play musical instruments or ride a bicycle. Much of this enters our long term memory or makes up procedural memory, episodic memory, sensory memory, and explicit memory, to name some. And encoding and retrieval of memory become problematic when it comes to issues of false memories, memory loss, or memory disorders.

Understanding human memory

Etymologically, the modern English word “memory” comes to us from the Middle English memorie, which in turn comes from the Anglo-French memoire or memorie, and ultimately from the Latin memoria and memor, meaning "mindful" or "remembering".

In more physiological or neurological terms, memory is, at its simplest, a set of encoded neural connections in the brain. It is the re-creation or reconstruction of past experiences by the synchronous firing of neurons that were involved in the original experience.

What is memory? An illustration of a human neuron to demonstrate that hundreds of connections are made per cell rather than like a computer
A neuron

As we will see, though, because of the way in which memory is encoded, it is perhaps better thought of as a kind of collage or jigsaw puzzle, rather than in the traditional manner as a collection of recordings or pictures or video clips, stored as discrete wholes. Our memories are not stored in our brains like books on library shelves but are actually on-the-fly reconstructions from elements scattered throughout various areas of our brains. And this is why memory recall when distressed or traumatised can be particularly problematic, like in criminal investigations and witness testimony because the process of memory consolidation could cause false memories to be elicited or an individual to experience memory loss.

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Did You Know?
Recent studies suggest that repeated bouts of jet lag may cause harm to the temporal lobe, an area of the brain important to memory, causing it to shrink in size, and compromising performance on spatial memory tests.

It is thought that stress hormones, such as cortisol, released by the body during times of stress (such as the sleep disturbance, general stress and fatigue caused by long flights) are responsible for this impairment of memory and other mental skills.

Memory Stores

Recent studies suggest that repeated bouts of jet lag may cause harm to the temporal lobe, an area of the brain important to memory, causing it to shrink in size, and compromising performance on spatial memory tests.

It's not just limited to jet lag, but other forms of sleep deprivation that impact the ability of the brain to transfer short term memory to long term memory - a process that occurs primarily during sleep. It is thought that stress hormones, such as cortisol, released by the body during times of stress (such as the sleep disturbance, general stress and fatigue caused by long flights) are responsible for this impairment of memory and other mental skills and cognitive function.

The difference between memory and learning

Memory is related to but distinct from human learning, which is the process by which we acquire knowledge of the world and modify our subsequent behaviour based on the information stored. During learning, neurons that fire together to produce a particular experience are altered so that they have a tendency to fire together again. For example, we learn a new language by studying it, but we then speak it by using our memory and subsequent retrieval of the words that we have learned in order to express ourselves.

Thus, memory depends on learning because it lets us store and retrieve learned information. But learning also depends, to some extent, on memory and the retrieval process, in that the knowledge stored in our memory provides the framework to which new knowledge is linked by association and inference. This ability of humans to call on past memories in order to imagine the future and to plan future courses of action is a hugely advantageous attribute in our survival and development as a species.

Why memory storage is not like computers

Since the development of the computer in the 1940s, memory refers to the capacity of a computer to store information subject to recall, as well as the physical components of the computer in which such information is stored. Although there are indeed some parallels between the memory of a computer and the memory of a human being, there are also some fundamental and crucial differences as to how we describe memory; principally that the human brain is organized as a distributed network in which each brain cell makes thousands of connections, rather than as an addressable collection of discrete files.

The sociological concept of collective memory plays an essential role in the establishment of human societies. Every social group perpetuates itself through the knowledge that it transmits down the generations through long term memory, either through oral tradition or through writing.

The invention of writing made it possible for the first time for human beings to preserve precise records of their knowledge outside of their brains. Writing, audiovisual media and computer records can be considered a kind of external memory for humans.

Image Source

Neuron illustration