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Different Types of Memories Use Different Pathways in Brain

Learn more about how different memories form

   

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When most people think of memory, they're concerned primarily about declarative memory (also called explicit memory), which refers to conscious memories that can be described to others. Declarative memories include facts, people, places and experiences in life.

A subcategory of declarative memories is semantic memories — those involving factual information that doesn't relate to a person's individual experience, such as components of language and general knowledge. Examples include vocabulary words or your city's main streets. Your brain also stores episodic memories — memories of a specific personal event, such as first leaving home for college or the moment your child was born.

Laying down these memories involves the hippocampus, the amygdala and other nearby brain regions, which are connected by an intricate neural network to the cerebral cortex, where memories are stored. When we first experience an event or encounter new information, the hippocampus forms links that allow us to recall the information in the future.

To become a long-term memory, the information or event is first encoded and then stored. The more memories your brain associates with the new memory, the greater the chance of it being remembered.

How well memory functions also depends on how attentive you are at the time you're exposed to new information, your need or motivation to remember it, and your emotional state at the time. "You remember the things that are important to you and the things you pay attention to," says André A. Fenton, professor of neural science at New York University's Center for Neural Science.

The final step of the process is consolidation. If, for example, you are actively learning new information, such as a second language, solid review of the material helps strengthen the neural pathways and makes the information more likely to be stored and later recalled. Sleep also plays a role.

Short-term memories are held and retrieved briefly and don't become consolidated. Long-term memories do and result in actual changes in the neurons, or nerve cells, including the strengthening and growth of new synapses — the connections between neurons. "Long-term memory changes the brain in a long-term and quite often permanent fashion," Fenton says.

To improve your ability to remember new information, experts recommend these steps:

  • Stay calm. If you're stressed, you're more likely to forget.
  • Reduce distractions. Focus on the person whose face and name you want to be able to recall, or concentrate on what you're hearing or reading.
  • Write down the new information or repeat it out loud.
  • Associate information with visual cues. To remember your new friend, Ruby, imagine her wearing a red hat.

Some forgetting is normal. After all, your brain works more efficiently if it discards memories that are no longer useful, such as algebraic formulas or how to diagram sentences, assuming you're not an engineer or an English teacher. 

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