We depend upon our memory for pretty much everything we do. It reminds us who we are, what we’ve done, and how to protect ourselves. That said, our memories are not always accurate. Samantha Laine Perfas reports for the Harvard Gazette on the science of memory.
How do we remember, exactly? Interestingly, our brains do not capture photographs, let alone videos in any real detail. We kind of patch different pieces of different experiences together. We’re building on past knowledge with new knowledge.
Our hippocampus, which sits in the middle of our brain, captures and retrieves the information we store. In concert with other cortical regions, the hippocampus allows us to conjure back up past experiences.
Put differently, there are patterns of activity in our brains that are close to the past experience. Of course, some memories stick more than others. To some extent, that has to do with the involvement of our senses and, to some extent, that has to do with the fact that the memories stand out for some reason. Their distinction can promote their staying power.
Smells can help you store memory and recall experiences. But, people remember the experience and not the smell.
Retrieving a memory multiple times helps you to store it. You think about it more. In turn, you strengthen the memory and you are less likely to forget it.
Over time, your memories leave the hippocampus. You store them. They turn into facts. They become long-term memories. Though they may or may not be true.
There are also “flashbulb” memories. These memories are ones that hit you so hard at the time they were formed, that you recall exactly where you were and your age. An example is the memory of President Kennedy’s assassination.
But, interestingly, people often don’t recall these memories accurately or in the same way, over time. We reconstruct them. Yet, we do not even realize it.
Another way of thinking about memory is that our brains compress experiences rather than taking them down exactly as they happened. We can’t take everything in. And, we keep changing them because our memories tend not to be fixed. For example, we are not good at identifying someone we saw; we misidentify people.
The flexibility of our memories helps us. It allows us to put past information together and, based on the pieces, think about the future. But the flexibility of our memories also leads us to confuse experiences in some cases.
Bias also has a role in memory. In one experiment, a researcher found that people with severe depression were more likely to look at a computer screen flashing words and see the negative words. Our biases affect what we see and what we recall.
Suggestibility also affects memory. When someone suggests information to you about a past experience, we are more likely to weave that suggestion into our memories. And, while we can be sure that the experience we recall is accurate, it might be totally inaccurate.
What about children, you might be wondering? Doesn’t their memory develop differently? The answer is that children’s memories of their childhood depends in large part on how their parents speak to them. If parents reinforce information, it is more likely to stick. Over time, people recall memories from distinct periods. But, they don’t recall them equally.
What are the best strategies for sharpening our memories? They involve “encoding.” How do we take in the information? Visual memory can be key at enhancing memory because it helps you organize information. Also, hearing the information over and over again from different sources reinforces it.
Take photos with your phone to help recollect experiences. Revisit the photos a few times over several days.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Avoid memory supplements
- Tips for improving your memory
- Exercise may help memory and attention
- Walkable communities good for your memory
- Eating green leafy vegetables could help your memory
