How Does the Brain Memorize Information?

Memory is an associative brain function, meaning a function in which one object is associated with another by a relationship. Everything we experience is stored in the brain subconsciously, but storing information is not the problem that most of us have, retaining it, in a way that we can recall it is. The more association one has with a memory or experience the easier it is to retrieve.

The brain stores information and experiences like a computer, first it encodes the information, that it stores it in a place for retrieval at a later time. But just as a computer needs its brain defrag, meaning to bring like, and associated things together, so does the human brain.

Naturally the brain stores information based on association. In the short term memory things are based on the current experience and our senses. What we see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. If this information is used once and never recalled again, it is discarded, like a phone number we just got from 411. If this information is recalled frequently it is than processed into the long-term memory.

Information in the short term memory only last a few seconds and decays to make room for new information. So I guess it may be safe to say that short-term memory is not for memory at all, but simply information. Information we are currently experiencing, long enough to experience the moment.

But if there is an association to that information based on a previous experience that information is than placed in the long-term memory right along with that previous experience. If it is a new memory, it will be easier to recall it once it is recalled a few times, which creates new information to be stores with this new long term memory.

Have I confused you yet?

So short-term memories are temporary pieces of information, and long-term memories are permanent pieces of information associated with other pieces of information stored permanently as a long-term memory. Each time this memory is recalled, and new short-term piece of information is associated with it, and creates a new long-term memory making it easier to recall.

The biggest problem this poses is forgetfulness. Say you have information in your memory that you want to recall, but cannot, due to forgetfulness.

Old information hinders new information, this is called proactive interference; for example. It is the year 2008, we are all aware of it, but we often find our selves still writing 2007, why is that? We know what year it is, but out of habit we are used to writing 2007, so the more often we write 2008, it now becomes a new habit, that we don't have to put much thought into.

New information also hinders old information, this is called retroactive interference; for example, we have a new phone number, and I put a lot of effort into memorizing it, that now I can not recall the old number, simply because in order to learn the number I purposely had to make myself forget the old number, or for example, mix the two together because I still have recollection of the old number and now the new as well.

Our brain works in really interesting ways, and once we are aware of it, we can do many things that will in fact affect our ability to memorize and recall information that is stored as a long term memory.