Knowledge and skills are remembered differently
Many of us have noticed that it is relatively easy to forget the solution to a quadratic equation, but it is almost impossible to forget how to swim or ride a bicycle. This is due to the fact that theoretical knowledge and practical skills are stored in memory differently. Procedural memory, associated with remembering actions, uses older parts of the brain responsible for coordination, response to visual stimuli (for example, when we see an obstacle and go around it) and automatic motor reflexes. When we learn a new skill, different parts of the brain work as a team: the prefrontal cortex controls the formulation of tasks and their distribution, the basal nucleus remembers interaction patterns and helps quickly respond to visual information, and the cerebellum is responsible for finer coordination of motor actions. As a result, they form a very complex and stable system that allows them to firmly remember the acquired skills. Procedural memory has evolved over hundreds of millions of years and exists in all animals.
And for abstract knowledge, such as the rules for solving quadratic equations, declarative memory is responsible, which is controlled by only one area - the cerebral cortex. Therefore, abstract memories are less “fixed” and are erased more quickly if they are not used regularly. This type of memory is relatively new and is familiar only to primates.
The fate of a neuron depends on emotions
So far, the main hypothesis for how long-term memory works is this: memories are stored in the hippocampus, a three-layered region located deep in the temporal lobes of the brain and part of the limbic system. It is one of two areas of the brain where new neurons are produced during adulthood (the other is the olfactory bulb). Neurons are formed in the subgranular zone, from where cells subsequently migrate short distances to establish themselves in the granule cell layer.
If some significant event happened to you, this part of the memory is stored in a new neuron. But of all the new neurons formed in the granular layer, 98% will die naturally within a few months to a year. They can survive (and the memories they contain remain as long-term memory) only if the person revisits the memory periodically over a given period.
Usually, memories that have an affective load “survive” - they return as soon as you experience something that is associated with a past event that left a vivid emotional trace. The brain continually adds to “working memory” with associated events from the past, so memory often works by free association.
Scientists managed to “catch” a specific memory in the brain
Science still cannot unambiguously answer the question of whether memories are focused pointwise in specific neurons or distributed over different parts of the brain. The distribution hypothesis states that each memory is stored across thousands of synapses and neurons, and each synapse or neuron is involved in thousands of memories. So if one neuron dies, there are hundreds of others responsible for preserving the same memory - but at the same time, with the disappearance of each neuron, thousands of memories fade a little. However, there is no such critical number of neurons, the death of which causes the erasure of memories.
But, according to another theory, each memory leaves a very specific trace in the brain - an engram. And if you track this engram, you can theoretically delete it or change it. Evidence for this hypothesis was recently presented by Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa, a professor at MIT's Pickover Institute for Learning and Memory. Tonegawa and his colleagues at the institute showed that they were able to detect cells that are responsible for part of the engram of a specific memory and activate them using optogenetics technology - a technique for studying nerve cells using light pulses. Scientists managed to reactivate the engram in new conditions and with this help implant a false memory in the brain of a mouse.
The researchers first placed mice in an unfamiliar cage A, and after they got used to it, their memory cells were labeled with channelrhodopsin, a sensitive protein that, in response to irradiation with blue light, can allow ions to pass into the cell and thus allow targeted stimulation of areas of the brain. The next day, the mice were placed in a new cage B, which was different from Cage A. After some time, the mice were given a moderate electric shock. At the same time, the scientists used light to activate cells that encoded memories of room A. On the third day, the mice were again placed in cage A, where they froze in fear, awaiting an electric shock. The false memories took root: the rodents associated the shock received in room B with room A.
However, it is possible to implant false memories without sophisticated surgical intervention: American psychologist Elizabeth Loftus conducted an experiment in which participants who had visited Disneyland were shown a photo of the park in which one of the visitors shook hands with Bugs Bunny the rabbit. After this, about a third of respondents remembered that they also met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland - although this was impossible, because this is a character not from the Disney world, but from the Warner Brothers universe.
Unpleasant experiences can be edited
You can also change existing memories - this method helps treat phobias, post-traumatic stress and other syndromes associated with increased anxiety. True, for now this is the prerogative of psychologists, not neurophysiologists. One of the most promising “rewriting” methods was developed by Harvard professor Roger Pitman and McGill University psychiatry professor Alain Brunet. It looks like this: first, specialists stimulate the memory, encouraging the person to re-experience the emotions that he once felt at the time of the traumatic experience. A person pre-writes down his unpleasant experiences from the past and re-reads them before each psychotherapeutic session, having previously taken propranolol, a medicine for hypertension that suppresses rapid heartbeat, sweating and other symptoms of fear. As a result, the previous traumatic memory ceases to be associated with unpleasant sensations.
Obsession helps develop super memory
For an incredibly acute memory for the events of one’s own life, there is a separate term - “hyperthymesia”. True, what is meant here is not abstract mnemonic abilities, but rather autobiographical memory - attempts to force a hyperthymetic person to memorize the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary are unlikely to be crowned with success, but he will remember the guests’ wardrobe and playlist on his sixteenth birthday in detail.
The first case of hypermnesia recorded by official medicine occurred relatively recently - in 2000, Broadway actress Marilu Henner wrote to UC Irvine neurophysiologist James McGough, claiming that all autobiographical memories were stored in her head like pictures on a DVD. She could remember thousands of faces and remembered every day of her life in detail since she was 11 years old. Research conducted by McGough and his colleagues confirmed her unusual abilities, which turned out to be very rare - since then, only 20 people have been discovered with a similar “super memory” syndrome.
Magnetic resonance imaging showed that Marilou's incredibly sharp memory may be associated with features of the brain: the temporal lobe and caudate nucleus are enlarged in size, which is typical for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. And, indeed, some signs of OCD were observed in Marilu’s behavior: she sought to ensure that everything in her life was ordered, including the events of the past.
From the outside, this ability looks like an incredible gift, but it is worth considering its downside: people with hyperthymesia not only vividly remember the best moments of their lives, but also cannot forget a single bad event that happened to them.
We remember unfinished actions better
This phenomenon is called the “Zeigarnik effect” after the Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, a student of Kurt Lewin. According to Lewin's "field theory", memories last longer if a certain energetic tension that arises at the beginning of any action is preserved. This can be done without allowing the action to complete. Levin conducted experiments with children where the children were interrupted in the middle of the creative process and asked to do something else. But the unfinished business caused anxiety to the children, and at the first opportunity they tried to complete it.
Zeigarnik continued to research this phenomenon and conducted a number of other experiments that confirmed that uncompleted tasks create a certain tension in human memory - in other words, unfinished tasks. It turned out that on average, participants recalled unfinished actions 90% better than completed ones. Zeigarnik came to the conclusion that this feature is associated with motivation - people with mental disorders affecting the motivational sphere did not show similar attention to unfinished actions.
Human memory is a unique storage , which contains our soul memories, our experiences, our past impressions. Sometimes it’s so nice to get some past event out of your memory and plunge into it again. Then our feelings come to life, our hearts begin to beat faster, and it’s as if we are returning again to those days that have long since sunk into the past. Our memories are a unique opportunity to live some moments of our life again, experiencing the same feelings and emotions.
One can only envy those people who have a good memory, because they are able to remember everything down to the smallest detail and often simply amaze others with their ability to remember details. But sometimes such abilities are not at all beneficial to the person himself. Admit it, at least once in your life have you encountered people who remember only negative events and completely refuse to preserve positive moments, good memories of the soul in their memory. At every opportunity, they pull out negative memories from the depths of their memory, and each time they mentally return to past unpleasant situations, experiencing negative emotions again and again. Such people always have some scary stories in reserve, heard on TV or from friends. It seems that they purposefully remember only what can upset or make them suffer again.
If you ask such a person what good things he remembers from his life, he will only wrinkle his forehead, but is unlikely to be able to extract at least a few good memories from his memory. But was there really nothing good in their life? This simply cannot be. Every person’s life consists of multipolar events. It contains both pleasant and not so pleasant memories. They are woven into our lives and form the fabric of our lives. However, is it really necessary to keep bad memories in your memory? Is this burden so important that you carry it with you throughout your life, periodically taking it out, blowing the dust off it and experiencing negative emotions again and again?
What happens to us when we remember a past event that caused us pain? A person is able to experience the past so vividly that all feelings and emotions come to life. and it turns out that the person again finds himself involved in a situation many years ago. If at the same time he experienced negative emotions, then each time he returns to his memories, he will experience them again and again. Again and again disastrous changes will occur in his body caused by the feelings he experiences. Over time, this can lead to serious health problems, and, most importantly, a deterioration in overall vitality. Let everything go as it should in ordinary life, but a person, being in the power of the past, suffers and experiences mental pain. Can you imagine what it's like to constantly experience suffering? A person becomes gloomy, he ceases to distinguish the colors of life.
On the contrary, if a person is able to remember only the good, he looks at life with optimism and believes that everything will work out in the best way. You need to learn to keep in your memory only pleasant, positive, good memories of the soul. They are able to charge us with positive emotions, give us joy, and inspire us for future deeds. Good memories of the soul are a constant source of energy within you, from which you can recharge at any time. Such memories are needed, they decorate our lives and make it richer. People who have made it a rule to remember only the good and not to remember the bad do absolutely the right thing, because they do not dwell on the negative, but look boldly and optimistically into the future. Good memories of the soul allow you to fill your consciousness with light, and, most importantly, preserve positive impressions about your life, which will allow you to say to yourself in old age: “I lived a happy life. There was so much good in her!”
Don't fill your memory with garbage, don't store in it what you need to get rid of. If you find yourself tending to remember only the bad, be sure to restructure yourself. Don't harbor grudges or anger towards anyone. Just give up these memories. Something pleasant is probably happening to you. Focus on this. Concentrate on positive events and consciously store them in your memory.
If you have a computer, then you clearly monitor what is stored in its memory. You delete unnecessary files from your hard drive so that they do not take up space there. Do the same with your negative memories. Just delete them from your memory. Don't go back to them, stop bringing them into the light of day. You have many other pleasant and useful things that should be preserved.
Do you remember the bad things? Is it necessary to do this? How do you think? Do you have good soul memories in your memory? Share your opinion with us, we will post it on the website.
It’s still good that memories are intangible, have neither taste nor smell, therefore, no matter how hard we try, over time they, if not erased, will definitely weaken.
You cannot live by memories alone, otherwise there will be no future. Film “Forbidden Love” / “The Edge of Love”.
If your memory is bad, tell the truth. Always! - Michel Montaigne.
For some reason, everyone complains about bad memory and no one complains about poor intelligence. – Franklin B.
You won't be able to move forward if you constantly live in memories and look back. - Margaret Mitchell.
It is always much more pleasant when we are remembered by the actions that we did for someone, and not by the actions that someone did for us. – Jefferson T.
Memories from frequent contact do not wear out like magic clothing. – Stevenson R.
We often forget joys, but we always remember sorrows. – Lermontov M. Yu.
Memories make you who you are today.
How can you live if you have nothing, not even memories that disturb you at night? Cartoon “Lilo and Stitch”.
Read the continuation of the best aphorisms and quotes on the pages:
Do not look for our grave in the ground after death - Look for it in the hearts of enlightened people. – Rumi
Remembrance is a kind of meeting.
In nothing do I find such happiness as in a soul that preserves the memory of my good friends. – Shakespeare W.
We must know the inventions of our ancestors. – Cicero
If remembering is beneficial, no one will be forgotten. – Disraeli B.
Emptiness. Nothingness. And there is nothing in this - tiny oases of warmth... these are memories. Mikhail Shishkin
People should complain more often about their minds than about their memory. – La Rochefoucauld
In order to organize your life, learn from troubles, and know how to exist further, you need thoughts, memory and memories... - Herder I.
It happens that cranes flash on the horizon, a weak wind carries their plaintive cry, and a minute later, no matter how greedily you peer into the blue distance, you won’t see a dot, you won’t hear a sound - just like people with their faces and speeches flash in life and drown in our past, leaving nothing more than insignificant traces of memory. – Chekhov A.P.
After all, memories are not as constricting as a living being, although sometimes memories torment the soul! Alexandre Dumas “The Three Musketeers”
The memory of the happiness experienced is no longer happiness, the memory of the pain experienced is still pain. J. Byron
Memories... so ridiculous. The more we try to forget them, the more fiercely they attack us, lying in wait in moments of weakness. And everything beautiful and sweet is in a haze. Behind a gray, cloudy curtain. Vague memories of happiness... Anna McPartlin “Wrap the moon for me”
I lie awake until five or six in the morning. Sometimes, like now, I force myself to remember.
We all need memories to know who we are... From the movie “Memento” Memento
Blessed is he who honors his ancestors with a pure heart. - Goethe I.
The pain goes away. Sooner or later. And only sweet memories remain, seasoned with a drop of sadness. Jane Austen "Persuasion"
There are memories that you wouldn’t want to give up even for a treasure. After all, they are more expensive. They are gems of memory. Wilkie Collins "Moonstone".
Memories are not yellowed letters, not old age, not dried flowers and relics, but a living, trembling world full of poetry... K.G. Paustovsky
Memories are wonderful, but they have no taste or smell, they cannot be touched. And over time they inevitably weaken.
It is easier to love memories than a living person.
Be fair and respectful to the memory of your predecessor, otherwise this debt will certainly be given to him after you. – Bacon F.
May the descendants of the Orthodox of their native land know the past fate. – Pushkin A.S.
It is impossible to remember, it is impossible to forget - this is my cross. S. Meyer. "New moon"
No one is eternal in the world, everything will go away, But a good name lives forever. – Saadi
Well, why do you need memories that pull you back, when with me you will go forward?!..
Always honor the traces of the past. - Caecilius.
Memories are magical clothes that do not wear out from use. R. Stevenson
Everyone acts as if nothing happened, but inside they doubt. That's what memories are for.
My memories are dear to me. That is all I have. This is the only true value... Clifford Simak “All the traps of the Earth”
I have erected a monument to myself, not made by hands; the people's path to it will not be overgrown. – Pushkin A.S.
Memory is the only paradise from which we cannot be expelled. J.-P. Richter
Memory weakens if you don't exercise it. – Cicero
If you lose interest in everything, then you lose your memory. - Goethe I.
Why should I remember her, she lives in my heart.
If the fields spread out wide before our eyes, their view will not be forgotten. If the good we leave behind spreads far, the memory of it will not become scarce. – Hong Zichen
There is no use remembering the past if those memories cannot help in the present. Charles Dickens "David Copperfield"
It is pleasant to remember the hardships of the past. – Virgil
Don't spoil your good memories - Damn the memories! I need a future!
Before bed comes the thing you most want to forget. Memories rush in...
There is no use remembering the past if those memories cannot help in the present.
Double the disaster memory. – Publius
Only unreliable memories or unreliable thoughts can be put into such an unreliable vessel as text on paper.
Remembrance is a kind of meeting. – Jubran X.
Remembering is the same as understanding, and the more you understand, the more good you see. - Gorky M.
Memory, this scourge of the unfortunate, revives even the stones of the past and even in railways. Once drunk, he adds drops of honey. - Gorky M.
Is there a person who would not be impressed by antiquity, attested and certified by so many glorious monuments? – Cicero
No! He never dies, Whose life passed brightly and blamelessly, Whose unforgettable memory lives on, firmly rooted in the hearts of people. – Lope de Vega
Memories are willful. If you stop chasing them and turn your back on them, they often come back on their own. Stephen King
Don't give me anything to remember: I know how short memory is. – Akhmatova A. A.
Memory is a copper board covered with letters, which time imperceptibly smoothes out, if sometimes it does not renew them with a chisel. – John Locke
Everyone makes memories that pain the heart.
Only those who do not need a monument deserve a monument. – Hazlitt W.
The one who knows how to be attentive knows how to remember. – Johnson S.
What is it like to live when you have nothing, not even memories to bother you in the middle of the night?
There is no greater torment than remembering a happy time. – Dante A.
From the impressions or ideas of memory we form a kind of system, covering everything that we remember as perceived either by internal perception or external senses, and each part of this system, along with existing impressions, is usually called reality. – Hume D.
I cut out this memory, folded it carefully and put it away in the fragile locket of my heart. Andrew Sean Greer. “The Confession of Max Tivoli”