(Original title: First make the memory in a way that is easy to disappear and turn it into a way to gradually last longer)
The story so far focused on only one synapse in the hippocampus. When you repeat learning, the number of synapse itself increases.
In the case of the person who removed the hippocampus, he could not remember his memory until a few years before the surgery. However, there was no problem with conversation, and he remembered childhood memories. The memory is not kept only in the hippocampus. The memory moves over time to the cerebral cortex.
In this way, the brain makes memories that can be made immediately and quickly disappear. When the same stimulus arrives before the memory disappears, the brain spends more time making memories that last longer. In case of saving a file on a computer, it is saved only by executing the “Save” command once, but the human brain does not work so. Memory is made step by step by repeating and it is gradually converted to a way which lasts long.
What is gradually getting stronger by repeated use? The muscle is one example. Creating memories is closer to muscle training than saving files. *14
- Footnote *14: When the brain feels strong fear, it establishes the memory firmly. However, since we can not use this mechanism as a daily tool for enhancing memory, I omitted it.