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Secrets of the Brain: the Mystery of Memory

by Tonia E. Chrapko, B.Ed.

Even though science continues to give us ever increasing insights into what memory is much of it remains a mystery. Researchers consider memory a process, and when you remember you are actually reconstructing the event from bits of information stored in various parts of the brain. But the mystery is, what initiates the reconstruction? Is it, as some suggest, directed from outside the physical body, from the energy body? That remains to be seen.

The Location of Memory. In the past, it was thought that all memory was in the brain. However, Gazzaniga (1988) reports that memory occurs throughout the nervous system. So every thought you have is “felt” throughout your entire body because the receptors for the chemicals in your brain are found on the surfaces of cells throughout your body. Thus when the chemicals are activated in the brain, the message is communicated to every part of your body that allows cells to communicate by remote travel using blood and cerebrospinal fluid.

Stress Erodes Memory. Excessive stress and obesity produce an over-production of a complex set of stress hormones that damage and destroy neurons in the brain’s region critical to learning and memory. One really good way to burn off excess stress hormones is through exercise. So for those experiencing particularly high stress levels exercise is not only beneficial, it is necessary.

What are the Characteristics of Memory? Sensory – we remember things that involve our five senses. So, the more senses that get activate, the easier it will be to recall.

Intensity – when something is more intensely funny, sexual, absurd, etc. it tends to stand out in our memories.

Outstanding – things that are dull and unoriginal are more difficult to remember because there is nothing to distinguish them from all the other memories.

Emotional – when something happens that has high emotional content –

positive or negative – we tend to remember it more easily.

Survival – anything we perceive as important to survival we will remember more easily. It’s not just physical survival. Survival can include emotional survival, psychological survival and financial survival.

Personal importance – we naturally remember things that interest us and that have some personal importance.

Repetition – the more often we recall information, the better we get at recalling on demand.

First and last – the brain most easily recalls things from the beginning and the ending of any session or lecture.

What are the Keys to Memory? Pay attention – often times the biggest problem is that people’s minds are not focused in the moment. Instead, they are thinking about something in the past of future.

Visualization – create a visual in your mind because the brain thinks in pictures and concepts, not paragraphs.

Association – find something to connect the information to…similar to word association. Ask, “What does this remind me of?”

Imagination – get creative when visualizing or making associations.

Why do we forget? It could be that we never stored the information properly in the first place. It could be because there was not enough emotion or personal importance connected to the information to make it stick. It could be that it was so emotionally traumatic that the mind suppressed it in order to maintain normalcy.

Why do we remember negative events? Whenever emotions are activated, especially strong emotions, the information or experience is entrenched into memory. Often times we tend to dwell on it, thereby rehearsing it and entrenching it even further. It is also easier to recall negative memories when we are in a bad mood. Why? Because we remember things in the state that we learned them so whenever you are feeling angry you will more easily recall other situations in which you were angry.

The subconscious remembers everything. If we were to compare the conscious mind with the subconscious, the conscious would measure about one foot long and the subconscious would be the length of a football field. The potential is enormous. So everything we experience can be stored. However, the conscious mind would get overloaded trying to process all the incoming bits of data on a daily basis. Instead, all the information goes into the subconscious for storage and we may never deal with it, except if the mind chooses to process it at night through dreams. Or, if we go for clinical hypnosis, through which a therapist assists in accessing information or memories the conscious mind has “forgotten” or repressed.

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