The Science Behind Memory
Why do some memories stick with us vividly throughout our lives, while others quickly obscure or fade away? Memories fall into that fuzzy realm between reality and imagination. As concrete as they may seem, all memories are mere impressions of larger pictures that can become skewed and even erased over time. The science behind it might look complicated, but the basic ideas behind how we form and use memories are pretty simple. You might even be able to use the knowledge of how they work to sharpen your recall skills.
We hold on to different memories with different strengths, and the more we recall them, the stronger they get. But memories are only as reliable as our perception, so they can be skewed or even changed just by thinking about them. Time can also distort or even erase the weakest ones. Let's look at the science and see how we can use this knowledge to our benefit.
Strength in Numbers
How often do you revisit your fondest memories? Revisiting the best memories might be how to keep them the most vivid. When you recall something, your neurons invite more neurons to share in that information, which appears to be the key to how all memories survive. A recent study showed that the more neurons we use to form and keep a particular memory, the stronger that memory is. And more neurons can mean the difference between a memory sticking around for the long haul and being erased forever.
Think of it as backing up a file on your computer. Important memories get more backup copies, so there’s less likelihood of total corruption or loss when one gets damaged or destroyed. Memories that are lower on the priority list are shared with fewer neurons, putting those memories at a higher risk of being permanently distorted or lost.
Perception is Everything
We tend to think of our memories as accurate records of the past, but they can be delicate and subject to change over time. Scientific American explains that memories are the result of events we witness and bits of information our minds fill in to make sense of it all. We do this far more than we realize, which means our memories might not always be as reliable as they feel.
That’s part of how false memories work. The mind adds in missing pieces based on what is most reasonable or likely, and then it unwittingly combines those assumptions with actual pieces of the event. The more a person reinforces those added details by recalling them with the memory, the stronger and more detailed the false memory becomes.
Mnemonics and Recall
Our memories also work better by association. When we relate two events to one another, we reinforce memories for both. That’s why mnemonic devices are such effective memory tools.
Mnemonic devices are association techniques everyone can use to reinforce memories and improve recall. Some popular mnemonic devices include:
- The method of Loci has you envision a familiar location, one you can visualize in detail, and associate items you want to remember with items in that location. You might create a mental shopping list by associating grocery items with objects you keep on your desk, for example.
- Acronyms can be expanded into phrases to make list items more meaningful, like when people learning to read music learn the phrase, “Every Good Boy Does Fine,” to help memorize the notes of the treble clef.
- Rhymes are fun and catchy, so it’s no wonder the coral snake warning, “Red on yellow, kill a fellow; red on black, venom lack,” is so easy to remember.
- Chunking involves putting smaller items together into manageable groups. This is what makes telephone numbers so easy to remember; we don’t learn them as seven digits, but rather three larger numbers, which is much easier to memorize and recall.
Memories are an important piece of who we are — but they’re only as strong as the neurons that share them, and like the rest of us, need taken out for exercise to keep them sharp and functioning at their best. We ultimately have control over what remains as the years pass by, so go ahead and relive the good times as often as possible and let the not-so-good ones fade away. Take care to preserve the important memories, and they'll be there to keep you company when you need them most.
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