How does memory work?

Question

How does memory work? I mean how does it really work. Im talking on a molecular basis. What happens in your brain when you recall something? Anybody have any idea?

Answer 1

It is a debated topic. If you search Google and Wikipedia for terms like "cognition" and "neuropsychology," you will turn up a variety of opinions and research. But really generally speaking, when you are trying to remember something, they can see different synapses firing more rapidly in your brain...

Answer 2

Memory in the brain can be triggered by our 5 senses:sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. For example, if a smell is to be recognized and to be kept in memory, nerve impulses from the olfactory tract would travel to the limbic system of the brain; this system is made up of the hippocampus, thalamus, and the amygdala which control a person's memory. When the brain receives an impulse of something that is reoccuring over and over again, it will store it as a memory so it will be remembered. So memory is mainly a series of nerve impulses and the storing of information in the nuclei in the cells of the brain that relay information between the parts of the limbic system and the cerebral cortex so that memories can be stored and recalled.

Answer 3

Let me try to remember my Ap Psych course...

Memories do not reside in any specific spots, but are, instead, stored throughout the brain. one researcher said, "...memories are more of a spiritual than a physical reality." Because scientists ahev been trying for ages to fiind out exactly how we remember things. The best they could come up with is synaptic changes, which happen whenever the brain does anything at all.

Answer 4

This is such a great question! I was pretty interested in finding the answer. What I did find was the site below which has great diagrams and explains memory on the Social, Psychological, Neurological, Cellular, and Molecular Levels.

Answer 5

This answer is incomplete, but it's all I know.
Subjects of interest, when preceived, are stored in the lower-central region of the brain. I think memories and thoughts are caued by combination of neural connections. If a thought is important enough, it is remembered, else it is forgotten. If a thought it used long enough, the neural bonds are strong enough to incorperate it into long-term memory and perhaps can even be used without real concious thought (you don't really think about walking... you just do it).

Answer 6

i did a research project on this. and if you wanna look it up... E. Kandel is the man to search for. He's doing killer studies on Aplysia (the giant marine snail) mice, and other sources.

there are a few strongly supported theories out there. it all basically boils down to new nerve cells being created. if it's a permanent neuron, then it's long term memory... a short term memory will involve a short lived neuron... yadda yadda yadda.

some really interesting experiments are taking place in this field... well worth a look up

Answer 7

Your brain is like a computer. Once data is received it is stored in cells, like a chip. It can them be brought back out like opening a file.

Answer 8

WHAT EVER IS THE REASON , AND HOW IT WORKS, IT IS FACINATING, TO THINK THAT MEMORY NOT ONLY IN HUMANS,

IF WE DID NOT LEARN, WE WOULD STILL REMEMBER RIGHT
ANIMALS REMEMBER TO MIGRATE,
SALMON GO SPAWN, WHY HOW DID THEY REMEMBER\
THERE ARE SO MANY VARIATIONS OF MEMORY,, ID DO NOT REMEMBER MOST OF THEM,, BUT GOD DESIGNED A FABULOUS BRAIN IN ALL SPECIES
EVEN PLANTS, IT IS AMAXING

Answer 9

nobody has an efhing clue, and anyone that thinks they know, they simply like hearing the sound of their own voice

Answer 10

No one really knows