Unlocking the Power of Memory: Why Building Strong Memories Matters.

Dr. Negus Rudison-Imhotep | Contributor on topics related to memory and memory building

Before addressing this subject my frontal lobe of the brain recalls this adage “When an old person dies, a library burns to the ground.” – African Proverb. As we age, it’s common to worry about losing our memories, partly because a certain amount of age-related memory loss is perfectly normal. To preserve your memory as you age, it’s important to understand how memory functions. So, what is memory? Where in the brain are memories stored, and how does the brain retrieve them?

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The Hippocampus

This deep-brain structure is crucial for forming new memories and organizing them. It acts like a librarian, cataloging where different pieces of a memory are stored. Amygdala: Located near the hippocampus, the amygdala processes emotional memories. It flags certain memories as significant or emotionally charged.

Cerebral Cortex: The outer layer of the brain, divided into various lobes, is where sensory memories are stored. Different sensory components of a memory (sight, sound, smell, etc.) are distributed across these areas:

• Occipital Lobe: Visual Memories
• Temporal Lobe: Auditory memories and language processing
• Parietal Lobe: Sensory and spatial information
• Frontal Lobe: Involved in processing and storing memories related to motor skills and complex thinking.

Retrieval of Memories:

Frontal Lobes: When retrieving a memory, the frontal lobes, essential for attention and focus, play a crucial role. They initiate the retrieval process and orchestrate the activation of different brain areas where the memory components are stored.

Cerebral Cortex: The sensory regions in the cerebral cortex that initially encoded the memory are reactivated. For example, when recalling a scene from a favorite movie, the visual cortex helps to remember the images, the auditory cortex retrieves the sounds, and the language areas bring back the dialogue.

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Hippocampus: Acts as a relay station during the retrieval process, helping to assemble the different sensory components into a coherent memory. Together, these brain regions create a network that encodes, stores, and retrieves memories, allowing you to access past experiences and information when needed (Gebicke-Haerter, 2023).

In simple terms, memory is our ability to recall information. Scientists categorize memories based on their content or how we use the information. For instance, remembering the layout of your grandmother’s kitchen differs in both content and purpose from remembering the middle three digits of a plumber’s phone number while looking at his business card as you dial the phone. The primary categories for memories are short-term and long-term.

Short-term memory deals with information that must be recalled only for brief periods, such as seconds or minutes. For example, when making a turn at an intersection, it is essential to check that no cars are coming from the left. However, after completing the turn, this information is discarded as it is no longer relevant. Keeping such details would only clutter your brain unnecessarily.

Long-term memories encompass the information that shapes your identity—not just facts (such as the capital of Ethiopia) or events (like your senior prom), but also skills and processes (such as typing or dancing the Funky Chicken). Long-term memory is both durable and adaptable; a memory can evolve through retelling a story or incorporating new information learned after the event.

Memories are not stored in a single location in the brain. Instead, the sensory components of a memory—sight, smell, sound, etc.—are distributed to different areas of the brain, and the act of remembering occurs as the brain pieces those bits back together.

Each time a memory is created, its constituent parts are cataloged in the deep-brain structure known as the hippocampus. Adjacent to the hippocampus is the amygdala, the brain’s emotional center, which flags certain memories as important or emotionally powerful. The different components of the memory are then distributed mostly to sections of the cerebral cortex, the brain’s outer layer.

When you need to retrieve a memory, you depend on the frontal lobes of the brain, which play a key role in attention and focus. The pieces of the memory are then pulled from the areas of the cerebral cortex where they’re stored.

For example, recalling a scene from your favorite movie might involve accessing data from the brain’s visual region to remember the backdrop and actors’ faces, as well as information from the language region to recall the dialogue, and perhaps even the auditory region to remember the soundtrack or sound effects.

Together, these components form a unique neuronal pattern that lies dormant until you set about remembering it, at which point it is reactivated (Rintamaki et al., 2023).

Memory is the brain’s ability to encode, store, and retrieve information, serving as a record of experiences that guide future actions. Memory includes both consciously recalled facts and experiences, as well as ingrained knowledge that emerges without effort or awareness.

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It functions as both a temporary information cache and a long-term record of what we have learned. Scientists describe various types of memory, including episodic, semantic, procedural, working, sensory, and prospective memory.

Each type of memory has distinct roles, from the vivid recollections of episodic memory to the practical skills stored in procedural memory. However, there are overarching mechanisms and key brain structures, like the hippocampus, that are essential for all types of memory.

Beyond its role in helping us understand, navigate, and predict the world, memory also forms the basis of our identity, fostering a rich sense of self and giving rise to feelings like nostalgia.

Learning and Adaptation – Memory is essential for learning. By storing information, we can build on past knowledge and experiences to adapt and respond to new situations, having the ability to learn from the past drives human development and progress.

Survival Mechanism – From an evolutionary perspective, memory plays a critical role in survival (Kroneisen et al., 2023. Remembering which plants are safe to eat or which routes lead to danger has historically been vital for the survival of individuals and species.

Social Connection – Memory enables us to maintain social connections. Remembering details about friends and family, such as their likes, dislikes, and shared experiences, helps to strengthen social bonds and foster relationships. Decision Making – Memories of past experiences guide our decision-making processes.

By recalling the outcomes of previous actions, we can make more informed choices and avoid repeating mistakes. Cultural Transmission – Memory allows for the transmission of culture. Through stories, rituals, and traditions, societies pass down knowledge, values, and practices from one generation to the next, ensuring cultural continuity.

Cognitive Health – Strong memory function is linked to overall cognitive health. Keeping the brain active through remembering and recalling information helps maintain mental acuity and prevent cognitive decline.

Memory is imperative in combating the erasure of empirical evidence-based information. Dr. Negus Rudison-Imhotep is the CEO & Cultural Memory Specialist @ Imhotep Memory Consultancy, LLC., and was engendered to postulate cultural memory / historical services.

Critical-thinking change agent with more than 20 years of hands-on experience developing strategic plans to drive community-based initiatives and link underprivileged and underrepresented populations with accessible resources to advance personal development, education, and community leadership.

See also How to Preserve Memory Through Storytelling in 7 Ways?

Expertise in networking and establish relationships between private and public organizations communities, and political leaders.

Reference

Gebicke-Haerter, P. J. (2023). The computational power of the human brain. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 17, 1220030.

Kroneisen, M., Forester, G., & Kamp, S. M. (2024). Neurocognitive mechanisms of the survival processing effect. Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Advances in Understanding Adaptive Memory, 301.

Rintamäki, J., Mena, S., Foster, W. M., & Zundel, M. (2023). The interview and researching collective memory. In Handbook of historical methods for management (pp. 412-424).

Want to learn more about storytelling? Start by downloading the first chapter of The Storytelling Mastery.