Danilo Diaz Granados: What Is Human Memory?

Memory helps us acquire, save, remember and use information, experiences and learnings gathered all through our lives.

Human memory is a function of the brain that allows us to acquire, save and remember information regarding different types of knowledge, skills and experiences. It is a complex web of systems or memory sub-types that interact among themselves to acquire, save and remember the information we receive.

Activities such as walking, eating, speaking and reading are learned, and without memory they would be impossible to use. Saved information can be modified by newly acquired information through learning, creativity or new experiences.

There’s not an exact place where memory is stored – instead, it is distributed all throughout the brain, in places such as the pre-frontal cortex, the temporal lobe, the hippocampus, the cerebellum, the amygdala, the lymph node and others.

Types of memory

Memory is divided into three systems: sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory.
Sensory memory: registers the sensations perceived by the senses, recognizing the physical characteristics of perceived stimuli, such as lines, angles, brightness or tone. It is comprised by:

Iconic Memory: Registers visual stimuli.
Echoic Memory: Temporarily saves audio stimuli, after they are gone.

Short-term memory: It is comprised by two systems:

Short-term memory: Retains information by brief periods of time unless said information is revisited. After enough reviewing, said information becomes part of the long-term memory.
Work or operative memory: Retains and manipulates the information needed to face work such as: understanding, reasoning, information-retaining, the acquisition of new knowledge, reading and problem-solving.

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Memory systems or sub-systems

Central executive and phonological loop, or operational verbal memory: Saves and handles the verbal information we receive: Learns and comprehends what is read, learns new words and languages.
Visual-spatial Schedule: saves and manipulates visual or spatial information we receive, allowing for geographical location and to plan spatial tasks.
Long-term memory: Saves memories, understanding of the environment, viewed images, concepts learned. It is divided into:
- Declarative or explicit memory: It’s comprised by everything we remember in a conscious or purposeful manner. It is divided into two further sub-types:
  - Episodic or auto-biographical memory: Saves the experiences we live.
  - Semantic memory: Saves the general knowledge and allows for word association, symbols and concepts.
Procedural or implicit memory: Saves information regarding acquired skills, in order to use them in a subconscious way, such as walking or riding a bike.

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