memory formation

• Autobiographical memory is the type of memory that involves the recollection of personal experiences and events.
• The role of the hippocampus in the formation and storage of memory is to integrate information from different sensory systems
• • hippocampus Definition ⇒ the hippocampus is a medial temporal lobe structure that is crucial for LTM formation (but not all types of LTM)
• Memory reconsolidation occurs when retrieving a memory causes it to become labile again, allowing for potential modification or updating
• Procedural memory is the ability to perform learned motor skills without conscious awareness
• Explicit memory requires conscious effort to retrieve information, while implicit memory does not require conscious effort
• Episodic memory involves remembering specific events or experiences, such as personal experiences.
• Semantic memory refers to general knowledge about the world, including facts and concepts.
• Working memory is the temporary holding area for information being processed by the brain
• Long-term memory stores information over extended periods of time, with different types of long-term memory including explicit (declarative) and implicit (non-declarative).
• Working memory allows us to hold and manipulate information temporarily, often referred to as short-term memory.
• Declarative memory includes episodic and semantic components, which are both forms of explicit memory that involve conscious recall.
• • The hippocampus is involved in establishing the background or context for each new memory, such as location, situation and memory of places are all influenced by the environment and the brain
• Procedural memories are non-conscious memories that guide our actions without requiring conscious thought, such as riding a bike or playing an instrument.
• The hippocampus is important for forming explicit memory as well as memory for complex tasks that require declarative memory. E.g. a child learning to spell unfamiliar words.
• • The process of consolidation (Permanent storage of memory) of declarative memory takes place in the hippocampus
• Consolidation involves strengthening connections between neurons through synaptic plasticity, allowing memories to be stored permanently in other areas of the brain.
• • The hippocampus transfers declarative information to other relevant parts of the brain such as the lobes of the cerebral cortex for permanent storage as LTM
• The Hippocampus is also important for spatial memory

  Which is an explicit memory for the physical location of objects in space- Like your brain’s own in-built GPS.
• • Through its close relationship with the amygdala, the hippocampus plays an important role in the relationship between emotion and memory, including both the emotions that are generated by particular memories and memories that are triggered by emotions.
• • Procedural memories are encoded, processed and stored by the cerebellum.Procedural memory is a type of implicit memory (unconscious) and LTM that helps you to perform tasks without conscious awareness of the previous experience. E.g. tying a shoelace
• • The cerebellum has a role in the memory of how to perform a motor skill. It works with the motor cortex and frontal lobes. The cerebellum activates the relevant neural systems to retrieve a procedural memory, thereby enabling you to automatically perform a task or motor skill without consciously thinking about it.
• the amygdala is a small structure located just above the hippocampus in the medial temporal lobe. It is also connected with many other brain areas and structures, allowing it to participate in a wide variety of neurological activities
• • The amygdala is important in the role of processing and regulating emotional reactions, particularly fear anger and aggression that may be experienced intensely and can motivate other types of behaviours. E.g. your amygdala enables you to detect danger with a snarling dog.
• The amygdala is also involved in the formation and consolidation of a wide range of other emotional memories- memories that evoke an emotional reaction (pleasant memories associated with rewards)
• We are more likely to remember events that produce strong emotional reactions than events that do not. It appears that the level of emotional arousal at the time of encoding influences the strength of the LTM of that event: the more vivid the memory, the more likely it is to be recalled
• The amygdala also contributes to the formation of and storage of long-term explicit memories. This is evident in a specific type of episodic memory known as a flashbulb memory (Which is a highly detailed and long-lasting memory of an event that is very surprising, consequential or emotionally arousing)