Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us*

My ninety-three-year-old mother is rapidly losing her memory due to Alzheimer’s. It is a sad process to witness. What amazes me is that she struggles to remember things like the day of the week or a TV show, but she can recall an event from my childhood.

It got me thinking. How do we remember things?

It may sound like a stupid question, but have you ever really thought about how this happens?

Most adults can't remember anything from before they were 2 or 3 years old. Any memories we claim to recall before the ages of 2 or 3 are constructed from someone else’s telling us about an event.

Why do we remember some things but forget others, time and time again? A person’s name, for example, but we remember facts from ages ago.

Why do we forget 90% of our dreams, often as soon as we wake up, and what is special about the 10% that we remember?

The memory process

Memories form through complex interactions of brain chemicals, mainly glutamate and neuronal receptors. You read, see, or hear something, and it gets stored in your memory. For that to happen, it must be coded and stored somewhere. But what exactly gets coded?

Is our mind like a hard drive on a computer? Does it filter thoughts? Good ones, bad ones, sorrow, happiness, and more?

Psychologists and behavioural scientists say there are three steps to making a memory.

The first is encoding. Information is coded into a format that can be stored. It is sent and stored in various brain areas, depending on whether it is short-term or long-term memory.

The coded memories in our brains then have to be recalled. When we want to recall them, we decode and translate these codes into words, thoughts, or memories.

Doesn’t it just make your head hurt to think about it?

What is even more staggering is that your brain is made up of 75% water. This is why dehydration, even as small as 2%, can negatively affect brain function. So, are all our memories water-soluble?

Memory is Learning

Socrates said, “Memory is learning,” though the translation isn’t exact. Making memories is a biological process, though. We are not computers, and you can’t just replace someone's brain like a hard drive. Well, not yet, anyway.

We have connections between neurons in the brain. They are called synapses. New synapses (new circuits) are formed between nerve cells, essentially remapping the brain. The brain’s connections offer incredible flexibility. Each of its 100 billion nerve cells can connect to 10,000 other cells.

How often we need to recall a thought affects if the connection is strong or weak. We form stronger connections through daily activities. Things like getting dressed, driving a car, and our routine tasks at work. Less exposure results in weak connections. For example, trying to remember a person's name the first few times until they become a bigger part of our lives (and stronger connections).

As you get older, your memory may not work as quickly as it used to. This is a normal part of aging. Other conditions can affect how well the parts of your brain that manage memory function.

When Things Go Wrong

Many factors can impact our memory. These include illnesses like brain tumours, injuries, strokes, depression, Alzheimer’s, and dementia. Damage to neurons disrupts neurotransmitter production.

Disorders can develop after emotional or physical trauma. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur after a mugging, abuse, a natural disaster, or combat. Turning off chemical or nerve receptors may help those with PTSD. It can reduce the fear associated with traumatic memories.

The stress hormones epinephrine and cortisol enhance and consolidate memory. In evolutionary terms, we remember dangerous situations clearly. This helps us avoid them later. The third form of memories (apart from short- and long-term) is sensory memories. These are fed by the five senses (hearing, touch, smell, taste, and vision). They are recalled very quickly, for only a couple of seconds, and you don’t strictly control them.

The old saying that “sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you" is not exactly true. Research shows that hurt feelings can be more painful than physical pain. People will forget what you said, whatever you did, but seldom forget how they made you feel.

Why do we forget 90% of our dreams?

Our short-term memory doesn't fully activate until a few minutes after we wake up. It's not fully turned on to remember dreams, which is why it is so easy to recall a dream and then instantly forget it. It simply vanishes, even though a second ago you perfectly recalled it.

Thinking about memories is one of those things that makes your head hurt. It is another amazing fact about how we function as human beings. Unfortunately, like most things in life, as you get older, things don’t work as well as they used to. We still have the memories, but they just don’t get decoded in the same way.

I have always thought of my memory as this big wall of boxes. Each one is separate. Some have locks where I have hidden the keys because I do not want them opened. Others don’t have any keys because I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. Ever thought about what your memory looks like?

I forgot why I wrote this now, but I hope you enjoyed it.😉😉

Till next time,

Calvin

[* Oscar Wilde]