Question

How memories formed at the following levels? Molecular: What is long-term potentiation (LTP)? Cellular: How is the hippocampus important for memory? System: How widely are memories distributed in the brain? How would you distinguish amnesia from normal forgetting? When would you call an absent-minded person amnesic? What’s better: A memory that records objectively and accurately, or a memory that can be updated to support newer levels of understanding?

Answer 1

How memories formed at the following level?

At molecular level, the brain "records" memories by modifying the molecular structure at the connection points between neurons (the synapses). A single memory could be spread across millions of synapses.

What is long-term potentiation (LTP)?

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a persistent strengthening of synapses based on recent patterns of activity. These are patterns of synaptic activity that produce a long-lasting increase in signal transmission between two neurons.

LTP causes persistent increase in synaptic strength following high-frequency stimulation of a chemical synapse.

How is the hippocampus important for memory?

The hippocampus is part of the limbic system, and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, and in spatial memory that enables navigation.

How widely are memories distributed in the brain?

Memories are not stored in just one part of the brain, but are widely distributed throughout the cortex. After consolidation, long -term memories are stored throughout the brain as groups of neurons that are primed to fire together in the same pattern that created the original experience, and each component of a memory is stored in the brain area that initiated it (e.g. groups of neurons in the visual cortex store a sight, neurons in the amygdala store the associated emotion, etc).

How would you distinguish amnesia from normal forgetting?

Forgetting differs from amnesia in that forgetting is usually regarded as a normal phenomenon. Also, forgetting involves specific pieces of content, whereas amnesia affects a relatively broad category of memories or wipes out an entire segment of memory.

When would you call an absent-minded person amnesic?

We shall call an absent-minded person amnesic in some cases such as the case of physical damage to the brain from trauma or stroke or whatever which has caused destruction of areas of the brain responsible for storing certain memories. Or, a psychological trauma may result in the person "blanking out" the memory of a particularly distressing incident.

What’s better: A memory that records objectively and accurately, or a memory that can be updated to support newer levels of understanding?

A memory that can be updated to support newer levels of understanding is better because it may help a person to adapt as per new conditions of life.

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