David Suzuki once said, “The human brain now holds the key to our future. We have to recall the image of the planet from outer space: a single entity in which air, water, and continents are interconnected. That is our home.”
The human brain is a remarkable and complex organ which pedals all the body functions. It is responsible for interpreting information from our surrounding and encompasses the interconnection of mind and soul. The brain perceives information through five senses namely sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste. It assembles the information in a meaningful manner for us to comprehend and later stores the messages in our memory. The brain is responsible for our thoughts, body movements, memory and speech, and many other functions within our body organs. It is through the various processes that happen in the brain that allow us to move around, to touch, talk; love or hate, to laugh or cry, to create or to destroy- our daily actions, feelings, thoughts, dreams, wishes, hopes and regrets are aided by our brain. By interpreting the world surrounding us, storing fragments of unique moments, arranging, organizing and taking actions in relation to our experiences, the brain defines us.
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Various parts of the brain and other specific neurons are used in the process of forming memories. Memory can be described as the process of recalling past experiences and remembering previously learned skills, facts, experiences, habits and impressions. It is using past experiences to influence our current behavior. Memory is everything we can remember and it gives us the ability to learn and adapt to life from previous experiences while building relationships. All this take place in the brain. The main parts of the brain involved in creation of memory are the hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum.
The hippocampus is located beneath and below the medial temporal lobe, which is a part of the temporal lobe behind your ear. It's considered as a subcortical structure. Like most of the brain structures, it is bilateral, which means there is a single hippocampus on every side of our brain. The hippocampus connects memories of realities and ideas. It has extensive connections with several cortical areas within the parietal lobe, temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex. The massive corresponding connections that are involved in forming a memory may assist us to process information which involves numerous sensory modalities. This allows our thinking ability to be flexible. The hippocampus can synthesize information coming from various sensory modalities making it able to send wide connections to multiple parts of the cerebral cortex. The hippocampal formation happens in the hippocampus and it plays a crucial role in memory build up by connecting different sensory stimuli of a specific event, joining together the stimuli and briefly holding the information whilst making interconnections with other regions of the brain.
The amygdala is located near the hippocampus. Situated in the frontal part of the temporal lobe, it connects pieces of memory with aspects of human emotion. It is associated with emotional learning and fear conditioning. They are essential in enabling one to perceive and feel certain emotions. While it is mainly associated with our bodies’ fear and stress responses, the amygdala also plays a major role in memory by facilitating the transfer of new information into the long-term memory. The amygdala will encode memories more rapidly when an event is emotionally exciting.
The cerebellum is positioned at the rear end of the skull, just behind the upper part of the brainstem; the location where the spinal cord and the brain meet. It is made of two hemispheres. In top to bottom direction, our brain is divided into cortical and subcortical structures, which are surfaces of the brain and below the surface respectively. Subcortical structures are the various areas of the brain that lie below our brain’s surface. The cerebellum plays a major role in motor learning and learning of procedural memory, that is, practiced skills or routine. It aids in performance of skills that require fine motor control and coordination. Playing a piano, riding a bike and driving a car are some examples of skills that involve procedural memory. When the hippocampus is damaged one can still be able to remember how to play the piano, but forget facts pertaining their life. On the other hand, someone with a damaged cerebellum would suffer the opposite problem as they will be able to remember their memories but will lack the ability to retrieve procedural memories such as playing a piano.
The prefrontal cortex lies beneath the frontal part of the skull. The cognitive role of the prefrontal cortex is mainly executive function, which mainly focuses on controlling reflexive behavior that facilitate actions like decision-making, planning, problem solving, personality expression, self-control and social control .It also aids in moderation of certain aspects of language and speech. It is this executive function that humans use to show greater proficiency than animals. The prefrontal cortex performs the function that helps to make have a truly unique cognitive ability.
Three processes are involved in the formation of a memory namely, encoding, storage and retrieval. However, between encoding and storage lies a process of consolidation. Memory consolidation can be treated as an individual process.
Memory encoding starts with sensual perception. Information is perceived through our five body senses. It’s from these sensory organs that the brain will interpret the information being received. The process of memory formation starts with attention, which is controlled by the frontal lobe and the thalamus. Human emotion tends to raise the level of attention. The emotional aspect of a certain incident is processed on a brain pathway leading to the amygdala. The hippocampus analyzes the inputs perceived and finally decides if they are to be committed to the long term memory.
Neuronal communication in the brain is facilitated by the neurons’ structures like dendrites, soma, axons, synaptic vesicles and terminal buttons. Nerve cells communicate through electrochemical signals. Charged particles drive electrical signals within the neuron allowing instantaneous conduction across the neuron. Communication between the neurons happens at synapses, where the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons come close to one another for chemical transmission.
Memory storage is the instinctive process of the brain in retention of information, in its short-term or long-term memory. Repetition or frequent use of information will improve retention in of information which will facilitate easy retrieval of information. This is the reason studying aids in better performance in tests. It is an ongoing course of reclassification that result from endless changes that take place in our neural pathways, corresponding to the information in our brain.
The last process of memory is retrieval. It entails successive re-accessing of information that was initially stored in the brain relating to a certain event. It can be also be referred to as recalling or remembering. Neurotic cells replays patterns initially generated by the brain in the same order as in the event of the initial occasion. This pattern creates a picture of the event in question making the brain to visualize some aspects of information.
Various factors affect the cognitive health and brain processes. Though they may seem insignificant, environmental factors play a crucial role in determination of your brains health and memory. However, they can be changed and manipulated to allow one to grow healthier reducing risks posed on memory and cognition. Some of the environmental factors that affect memory are education and learning, socializing, environmental toxins and infection.
A dynamic social life plays an integral part in avoiding memory loss that could result in the later stages of life. It is imperative that we maintain strong social relations with family, friends, colleagues and community groups so as to improve the health of our brain. Engaging in activities such as sports and gaming should be incorporated in the social life as it helps in brain development especially in children. Generally, spending time with friends and family is known to improve the state of the brain as well as mental awareness.
Education and learning influences the development of the mind. The duration of learning has an effect on brain function and cognitive performance in the later years. The education curriculum is always designed in a developmental model, which tries to improve children’s cognitive abilities such as speech, memory and decision making while they proceed to higher modes of learning. Further education is beneficial since it is found to reduce risks associated with dementia.
Repeated exposure to toxicants in the environment can increase the risks of developing cognitive impairment, dementia or even Alzheimer’s disease. The most dangerous environmental relating to memory are aluminum, lead and polychlorinated biphenyls. They immensely affect the brain health and cognitive ability. Human infections also affect the brain function and memory processing ability. Diseases such as HIV and syphilis are known to bring about mild to severe brain damage, which calls for early diagnosis of such illnesses to preserve the mental health.
The brain is responsible for all the functions that take place in our body from speech to movement. It is by these functions that we are able to relate to ourselves, the surrounding and one another. The brain helps us to decide what is right or wrong, good or bad, wise or foolish, and it is through these that humans can be able to assimilate and interpret the needs of other people in a community setting. This demands for better lifestyle choices that will improve brain health and enable us function more efficiently. We should be willing to learn new concepts, skills, form new social connections and intimately engage with nature to make our mind better. To make ourselves better.
