I FORGOT THE NAME OF THIS ARTICLE: AN ARTICLE ABOUT MEMORY

PEOPLE ARE FORGETTING THINGS ALL OF THE TIME AND SOME STUDIES SAY PEOPLE FORGET 70% OF THE INFORMATION LEARNED THAT DAY IN 24 HOURS; PHOTO BY JULIETA ORTIZ

People are forgetting things all the time and some studies say people forget 70% of information learned that day within 24 hours. Which leads us to the question: why do we forget and remember what we do? 

To answer this question, we should learn how memories are made, why they’re forgotten, what different types of memories exist, and what can impact them. The human brain is wired to survive and tends to focus on important information. Also, the more times a memory is used, replayed, or recalled, the less likely we are to forget it. 

Memories can be short-term or long-term. But within these main categories, there are more specific subcategories. In the long-term memory category, there are procedural memories, declarative memories, semantic memories, episodic memories, etc. There are also some subcategories in the short-term category, but this article will focus on long-term memory. 

Procedural memory is a type of memory that allows people to do certain tasks without thinking about previous times. For example, riding a bicycle or tying shoelaces. Declarative memory involves factual information such as remembering names, dates, places, events, etc. 

Semantic memory is general day to day knowledge that involves things such as words and numbers. For example, knowing what a car is or knowing that an apple is a type of fruit are both examples of Semantic memory. Episodic memory has to do with your memories that have happened in your life. An example of Episodic memory could be what you did on your birthday or where you parked your car. 

According to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, memories are made by neurons and are stored in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. The connections between neurons are called synapses and they are strengthened when there is repeated neural stimulation. Information from the environment is taken in by the senses. Then it can either be forgotten or transferred to short-term memory. Short-term memory has a limited capacity. From here things can be forgotten or transferred to long-term memory which is thought to have an unlimited capacity. 

Memories can be forgotten because of many different factors. For example, memories can be forgotten when you replace them with new information. This is because new information can replace old information. The brain discards useless information to focus on important things. According to the NIA, memories can also be impacted by lack of sleep, depression, anxiety, stress, head injuries, traumatic events, low levels of important nutrients, and other factors. 

Memory can be improved in many ways including practice, mnemonic devices, getting quality sleep, being mentally and physically healthy, etc. An example of a mnemonic device to remember the order of the planets would be “My very eager mother just served us nachos”. When it comes to long lists, it’s often easier to remember the things at the beginning and end while the middle is easily forgotten. This is due to the serial position effect. 

There is much more to the fascinating topic of memory that can be learned about in Introduction to Psychology here at CCA which Mr. Schulte teaches. Students would learn not only about memory but a variety of topics. It is offered only to Juniors and Seniors, is a one-semester class, and is a social studies credit.