Synthesis Essay 10: The Biological Basis Of Memory
Essay 10: The Biological Basis of Memory
How does the brain form and retain memories? This question has fascinated people from all walks of life from time immemorial. Although scientists have discovered a tremendous amount about brain function over the past century, the biological basis of memory largely remains a mystery. Part of the problem, however, is the nature of the question itself. This leads to a more basic question: what does the term memory really mean?
In the scientific realm, the term 'memory' encompasses far more than a person's ability to recall facts or past events. This ability is called declarative memory. The main subdivisions of declarative memory are short term and long term memory. Anyone who has ever pulled an all nighter cramming for a final exam is well aware of this distinction. In contrast, remembering how to perform a series of motor skills is known as procedural memory. Spatial memory is rather tricky; it combines some aspects of declarative memory with a mental map of the external environment. The ability to keep track of long term goals is the hallmark of executive memory. This article will touch on each aspect of memory and hopefully shed some light on this fascinating phenomenon.
In some respects, short term memory is the most straightforward aspect of declarative memory to …show more content…
In 1949, a Canadian neuroscientist named Donald Hebb proposed that the key to understanding memory was a process called long term potentiation (LTP). This concept is often expressed as the maxim "neurons that fire together wire together." By this, he meant that repeated stimulation of two neurons reinforces their synaptic connections, resulting in stronger responses to subsequent stimuli. Conversely, a lack of stimulation leads to weakened synaptic connections, and sometimes to their complete
How does the brain form and retain memories? This question has fascinated people from all walks of life from time immemorial. Although scientists have discovered a tremendous amount about brain function over the past century, the biological basis of memory largely remains a mystery. Part of the problem, however, is the nature of the question itself. This leads to a more basic question: what does the term memory really mean?
In the scientific realm, the term 'memory' encompasses far more than a person's ability to recall facts or past events. This ability is called declarative memory. The main subdivisions of declarative memory are short term and long term memory. Anyone who has ever pulled an all nighter cramming for a final exam is well aware of this distinction. In contrast, remembering how to perform a series of motor skills is known as procedural memory. Spatial memory is rather tricky; it combines some aspects of declarative memory with a mental map of the external environment. The ability to keep track of long term goals is the hallmark of executive memory. This article will touch on each aspect of memory and hopefully shed some light on this fascinating phenomenon.
In some respects, short term memory is the most straightforward aspect of declarative memory to …show more content…
In 1949, a Canadian neuroscientist named Donald Hebb proposed that the key to understanding memory was a process called long term potentiation (LTP). This concept is often expressed as the maxim "neurons that fire together wire together." By this, he meant that repeated stimulation of two neurons reinforces their synaptic connections, resulting in stronger responses to subsequent stimuli. Conversely, a lack of stimulation leads to weakened synaptic connections, and sometimes to their complete