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Information is stored in different regions of our brain. Bran scans reveal that once stored, our memories of past experiences activate various parts of the Frontal and Temporal Lobes (Fink Et al., 1996). Retrieving a telephone number and holding it in working memory activates a region of the left Frontal Cortex. Retrieving a party scene would more likely activate a region of the right hemisphere.
Bits and Pieces
Our memories are not held in just one place. Rather many regions are active as we encode, store and retrieve different kinds of information. Remembering an event requires retrieving snippets of information from various cortical storage sites and integrating them with the emotional associations provided by the Amygdala, two lima bean-sized neural clusters located in the Limbic System. Amnesia patients may retain the distributed fragments of a memory –- the sounds, smells, people, actions and emotions. But the neural connections that enable the patient to reassemble the fragments into explicit memory of an event may be lost.
Explicit and Implicit
A memory enters the Cortex through the senses. We then separately process and store our explicit and implicit memories. Explicit memories, processed in the Hippocampus, are facts, general knowledge, and personally experienced events that are retrieved with conscious recall. Implicit memories are processed in the Cerebellum, and include learned skills, motor and cognitive, and classical conditioning effects that are retrieved without conscious recall.
Parallel Processing
Unlike computers that perform serial processing, our brain engages in parallel processing – doing several things at once. The brain divides a visual scene into subdivisions, such as shape, color, movement etc., and processes each aspect simultaneously (Livingstone & Hubel, 1988).
Thanks to our brain’s capacity for parallel processing, most of it goes on without our needing to pay attention to it. Automatic processing occurs so effortlessly that it is difficult to even shut off.
Effortful Processing
But some forms of processing do require effort. Remembering special facts, true or false, definitions and other types of information requires effort and attention. Effortful processing often produces long-lasting and accessible memories.
We process information in three key ways: by encoding its meaning, by encoding its image, and by mentally organizing it. While we can do these things automatically, in each case, there are effortful strategies for enhancing memory.
Truth or Fiction
When processing verbal details to be stored, we also save its meaning, connecting it with what we already know or want to think. This applies to truth or fiction. We can remember a falsehood as easily as the truth. We may also process a fact as we wish it to be and will be able to retrieve it as a truthful fact.
Stored Emotions
Associated words, events and contexts are not the only things stored in memory. Events or facts may have aroused a specific emotion that is also stored in memory. What we learn in one state, joy, sadness, etc. is sometimes more easily remembered when we are in the same state. What is learned while being depressed or drunk might not be easily remembered however, as depression and alcohol disrupt memory encoding.
Our moods similarly affect our memories. We seem to associate good or bad events with their accompanying emotions (Fiedler Et al., 2001). Yet, in a good or bad mood, we persist in attributing to reality our own changing judgements and memories.
This report is not a diagnosis. We hope this information can guide you toward improving your life.
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