Memory. Wait..what did you say?

We've all had those moments where we're in a social situation and you're introduced to a few people and despite your best efforts, forget their names within seconds of speaking to them. Or my personal favourite, when I go to get groceries and despite having a list, still manage to forget one item (damn you paper towels!). Surely there's an answer to why this is, and we find it in understanding memory. See the brain is designed to only process information that will be useful at a later date, and to allow the rest to disappear. If we remembered everything all our senses took in in a day, we could barely function as the brain would be continually trying to process and store the bombardment of information. So how do we remember what we want to remember?

Well first, if you don't learn, you don't remember and once you do your brain needs to categorize which memory type it is. So let's start there. Declarative memory (sometimes called explicit) is the "what" memory. It stores memories of facts and events that can be consciously recalled. Declarative memory can be further sub-divided into episodic and semantic memories, which as the names suggest, are the memories of experiences and specific events (episodes) and more structured records of facts, concepts, meanings (semantics) of the external world.

Then you have nondeclarative memory, also known as implicit or procedural memory, which is retrieved without conscious effort. This type of memory is used when you're performing learned motor skills like walking, riding a bike, tying your shoelaces. These memories are acquired though repetition and practice, and are so encoded in our memory that we no longer have to pay attention to them. If we didn't have these, then every time you tried to get up from a seated position you'd look like a baby trying to take their first steps.

So where does all this information go you ask? The first stop is what I, and some others, like to call the post-it note of memory, short term. This is the reason why you can't remember that person's name, because the information is available for literally only 10-15secs, (a minute if you're lucky). This is the first stop memory makes, and it will be quick to vanish unless we make a conscious effort to retain it. My suggestions when it comes to names are to 1) repeat it back and a few more times in conversation and 2) make an association with the name/person. For example, I work with someone who to this day I still know as "Pocket square Ryan" If we have done that, then we can get to the next level of memory, working. Working memory is often used interchangeably with short term memory, but I think it deserves recognition of its own. Whereas short term memory has the ability to store information for immediate retrieval and disposal, working memory is used to describe the use of information for manipulation.

Your end goal though is long term memory. Here is where vast amounts of information live and wait to be called into action. Kind of like how you know lyrics to songs that are 20years old. Long term memories can last from minutes to days to years. Basically when short term memories get consolidated they can turn into long term, and voila! you can remember! Most cognitive scientist believe that the storage capacity of long term memory is unlimited, and from the amount of learning I've done in the past few years, coupled with all the tv jingles, lyrics to all the songs, and internalized maps of cities I've visited, I tend to believe it to be true.

I don't think I'll ever stop being amazed at the amounts of information I can put into my brain, or those moments of "DOH!" when I completely forget, and hope that I've been able to shed a bit of light in the storage units of your brains.

YARR for now!