Memory and the Brain

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How does memory work? Is it possible to improve your memory? In order to answer these questions, one must look at the different types of memory and how memory is stored in a person's brain.Memory is the mental process of retaining and recalling information or experiences. (1) It is the process of taking events, or facts and storing them in the brain for later use. There are three types of memory: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Sensory memories are momentary recordings of information in our sensory systems. They are memories evoked through a person's five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch. Although sensory memory is very brief, different sensory memories last for different amounts of time. Iconic memory is visual sensory memory and it lasts for less than a second. Echoic memory is auditory sensory memory and it lasts for less than 4 seconds. For example, if a person smells a certain smell, the olfactory tract in their nose sends signals to certain parts of the brain called the limbic system. (2) This system helps store the memory of the smell in the brain so that when the person smells the smell again, he or she will remember it.

Short term memory (also called working memory) is the recording of information that is currently being used. However, short term memory only lasts about twenty seconds. George Miller, who calculated the human memory span, found that it can contain at any time 7 chunks (any letter, word, digit, or number) of information. (2) When the brain receives signals of information, the information can be repeated over and over until it is stored, therefore creating a "phonological loop". (4) However, unless a repetition of the information occurs, it will be lost.

Long...

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...are directly connected to the brain and the signals the brain receives when one learns new information. One day, hopefully, new technology might allow us to look inside a person's brain and see their memories or even retrieve memories that they have pushed away.

References

1) Memory Basics

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110291/basic/index.php

2)U of A Cog Sci Dictionary

http://www.bcp.psych.ualberta.ca/~mike/

3) Brain Power

http://www.lsc.org/online_science/brainpower/brain_sensory.html

4) Memory and the Brain

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f97/projects97/Warren.html

5) UTCS Neural Nets Group Research

http://nn.cs.utexas.edu/pages/research/memory.html

6) Mind Tools-Introduction to Memory Techniques

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTIM_00.htm

7)Memory in the Brain

http://www.driesen.com/memory_in_the_brain.htm

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