Think back to some of your earliest memories as a child. What do you remember? Maybe you can recall your first day of school, or the first time you rode a bicycle. Perhaps you can vividly remember the smell of your grandmother’s cookies fresh out of the oven, or the feeling you had going on your first roller coaster. How is it that we are able to recall memories from so long ago, and often have such clear recollections of our past? The answer lies inside our skulls.
The human brain is an extremely complex organ that is responsible for much of the functions in the body. There are more than 100 billion neurons in the brain that are constantly forming new pathways to send and receive information to and from the body about the surrounding world. There are on average 100,000 miles of blood vessels inside the brain alone. The distance around the Earth’s equator is only 24,900 miles, to put that into perspective. To put it simply, our brains are unbelievably advanced and interesting. Psychologists and neuroscientists are finding out more about the brain and making new discoveries all the time about how our brains function. We know a lot about the brain, but there is so much more to learn.
One important function that the brain controls is memory formation and recall. Our brain is constantly recording information from the environment around us. Our senses of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing send signals to the brain, and the brain forms new neural connections to create and store the new memories in the sensory memory or short term memory. The sensory memory is exactly what it sounds like - it’s for the basic information that the brain takes in as we go through our day, like traffic lights and construction noises and the smell of our morning coffee. Any information that you are cognitively aware, things that are on your mind at the moment, is considered short term memory. These two types of memories are brief and fleeting, and you won’t be able to recall these memories at a later time. Memories that your brain stores for recall are called long term memories. Long term memories are important or relevant memories that your brain creates pathways for to easily recall them in the future. Long term memories range from birth dates and phone numbers that you can spout off the top of your head to the most important events in your life, including great triumphs and traumas.
Neuroscientists believe that our memories are often connected to our senses because of the retrosplenial cortex. The retrosplenial cortex is a part of the brain that processes sensory information and plays a role in long term memory formation. Because this part of the brain handles both sensory information and memory formation, these will often become forged together into long term memories and create strong associations with events and sensations. For example, if your childhood home always smelled of peppermint, chances are when you smell peppermint as an adult you will think about your family and being a kid. Sensory information from important events in our lives creates stronger memories and helps the memory seem more vivid even after many years.
If you want to improve your memory, there are many different exercises and practices that can help. The simplest way to improve memory is to get enough sleep and eat healthy. Your brain is working hard all day long to process information and keep you alive. Getting enough sleep gives your brain the chance to rest and recuperate so that it continues to function properly.
Our memories are priceless, and its important to do whatever we can to preserve them. If you have old photos, tapes and home videos of you and your loved ones, consider getting them digitized! With Legacybox, you can digitize just about any media format for a great price, and Legacybox takes care of all the details for you. It’s important to hold onto our memories, and digitization is one of the best ways to ensure that our cherished records will never become lost or ruined over the years.
