How Your Memory Works

Do you remember what you had for breakfast this morning? If the image of a big bowl of cereal and milk popped into your head, chances are, that memory didn’t pop out of anywhere. Instead, that memory is an outcome of complex systems inside your brain that allows you to recall what you had for breakfast. Memory is important. Memory makes us who we are; it makes us understand ourselves better by reflecting on our past experiences.

There are three stages of memory; encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding is the first stage. It allows us to input the information we received outside into our memory system. There are three ways of how memory can be encoded into our system. Visual; the encoding of images. Acoustic; the encoding of sounds. Semantic; the encoding of words and their meanings.

Storage is pretty self-explanatory. It allows us to maintain the information we received from encoding to store in our heads for a long period, so then we can access it later. There are two forms of memory storage: short-term and long-term. The first encoded information is stored; in short-term memory, it only lasts 15-30 seconds, and the memory can only be kept there by constant repetition of the information encoded via a process called repetition. Long term memory stores memories for months to years of life events and different skills. If you’re wondering why sometimes you remember things you’ve done in the past that make you cringe, it’s a result of your long-term memory.

Retrieval is the callback of memory we have encoded and stored in our brains for use in an activity. Retrieval is the process that determines how well you perform on an exam, for example, if you are taking a Math’s quiz, trying to calculate the area of a circle, you would need to retrieve the area formula from your brain.

Distractions can also cause problems in these stages of memory. That probably explains why you are having trouble remembering what your teacher said in class; it might be because you were distracted by something outside your classroom window!

Hopefully, after reading all this, you won’t take your memory for granted ­– your ability to remember what you ate for breakfast is pretty darn impressive!

Parts of the brain

Picture Source: livescience.com