Informative Speech

       When I think of memory, I simply think of knowing the definition of a vocabulary word or being able to rectite infinite digits of Pi, but I never stop and think about what is actually happening scientifically. If somebody were to stop and ask me how good my memory is, I would think about how many country capitals I can recall or how many causes of cancer I can discuss in great detail. But what is memory? How does it work? How do we recall these random facts on command? In its most simple terms, memory is most commonly defined as the process of encoding, storing, and retrieving information from the brain (“Memory”). Anything that we remember has gone through all three of those processes. 

       First, people learn and take in new information in a process of encoding. Through encoding, information is adjusted and altered to better support storage, the second process (“How Memory Works”). The Derek Bok Center at Harvard University claims that “Information is usually encoded through one (or more) of four methods: (1) Visual encoding (how something looks); (2) acoustic encoding (how something sounds); (3) semantic encoding (what something means); and (4) tactile encoding (how something feels).” These four methods help us retain the information and transfer it to storage. 

       Although, people would never be able to remember the information encoded if it weren’t for storage, the second process. If we were unable to store information, anything that we encounter would go in one ear and right out the other. In the process of storage, the encoded information accumulates in the brain in either short-term or long-term memory. Short-term memory (STM) is where information goes for a short period of time, but through time, the information in short term is transferred (“How Memory Works”). Although, according to Psychology Today, most of the information we are exposed to is not transferred to long-term memory and it is lost. A reason for this is proposed in an article “How Memory Works” by the Derek Bok Center at Harvard University in which it says, “Time and inattention may cause information stored in STM to be forgotten. This is because short-term memory only lasts between 15 and 30 seconds. Additionally, STM only stores between five and nine items of information, with seven items being the average number.” This is partially due to the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for processing short-term memories and retaining long-term memories (“Parts Of The Brain”). I can assume that the prefrontal cortex can only retain so much on its own, so we have to step in and put in work to have more information stored. We  have to step in and reaccess the information, like with studying. Anything we learn in class will not be remembered unless we revisit the material and try to make the information stick in storage (“How Memory Works”).

       The information that is in long-term memory that we are re-exposed to then becomes automatic, opening up more space in short-term memory. The hippocampus-- the area of the brain responsible for spatial memory--- is where the short to long term transference is executed (“Parts Of The Brain.)”. The stored information is then available at any time when we want to carry out the third step in the functioning of memory: retrieval, the gathering of stored information. This is especially important for increasing memory because the more we retrieve one piece of information, the more likely it stays solidly in storage. Memories in short term are retrieved in the chronological order by which they were encoded and later stored (“How Memory Works”).

      However, retrieval is not always something we consciously think about. The cerebellum is responsible for processing memories that are procedural, or implicit, meaning that they are memories regarding actions we do in daily life without thinking. This involves something like driving a car, riding a bike, or even something as simple as brushing your teeth. We don’t get to the car and think about how we have to put our feet on the pedal, we just do it. We don’t think to ourselves about putting our hands on the handlebars of a bike, we just do it. We do not realize it, but these are actions we had to learn at some point and now they are implicit. This is different from explicit memories-- also referred to as declarative or episodic memories-- which are memories of specific facts and events processed by the medial temporal lobe. For these memories, when asked to recall them, we consciously pull the information from our memory (Greenfield 125). 

       While all of this may seem simple enough, memories can be altered, lost, or enhanced when emotion becomes involved. This is thanks to the amygdala, a part of the brain located in the medial temporal lobe. The primary function of the amygdala is to process emotions, but more specifically, an underlying function is to process the memory of emotions (“Parts Of The Brain”). Heshmat provides a theory based on this, “Emotionally charged events are remembered better than those of neutral events. You will never forget some events, such as the joy of the birth of your first child, or the horror of the 9/11 terrorist attack”. In other words, he is saying that high levels of emotion provide a reason for certain memories to stick more than others. Emotion affects what we remember. 

       To make a long story short, there is a reason we remember things. There is a reason we don’t remember everything. Anything we experience goes through this long process of encoding, storing, and retrieving in order to stick in our memory for a lengthy amount of time. But not all memories adhere to these strict guidelines. The amount of re-exposure and the emotion experienced revolving around the memory can alter the extent that we remember. But this emotion is important because it makes us who we are. As Thomas Fuller says, “Memory is the treasure house of the mind wherein the monuments thereof are kept and preserved.''