How does the brain make and keep memories? Questions by Kids

Learning is all about asking questions, and children ask the best questions. Boise State is home to more than 1,400 faculty members and researchers who are eager to answer these amazing questions.

Today, Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences Sydney Bourtros answers a child's question: How does the brain make and keep memories?

Sydney Boutros, Psychological Sciences, faculty/staff studio portrait by Priscilla Grover

At Boise State, Boutros is a behavioral neuroscientist. Her primary field of research is learning and memory - specifically, exploring how we learn and remember to investigate diseases where people lose their memory, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

She currently has two ongoing projects: 1) assessing if the chemicals found in common weedkillers cause Parkinson's disease, and 2) creating a new method for early detection of Alzheimer's disease using loss of smell and virtual reality games.

Boutros also teaches classes like Introduction to Psychology, the Biological Basis of Behavior, and Psychological Neuroscience.

These classes help students understand the connection between behaviors and what happens in the brain to cause those behaviors. For example, students in the class go over what happens when you stub your toe (ouch!); what brain areas contribute to feeling happy or sad; how people are able to talk and understand what other people say; and why those things sometimes don't work the way they are supposed to!

First, did you know that your brain is electric?

Neurons are cells in your brain that communicate using electricity to notice experiences and make memories, like graduation day! Art by McKenna Howard

Your body is made up of a bunch of different kinds of cells, Boutros explained. In your brain, these cells are called neurons, and they are made especially to talk to each other. You may be wondering, "How can neurons talk?" The answer is with a change in electricity!

When something happens - like a fun trip to your grandparents' house or going to the zoo - a neuron in your brain will change its electrical charge. This "zap," (which is called an action potential) from one neuron will cause another neuron next to it to also change its electrical charge; this will continue on to many, many neurons! It's a chain reaction!

The action potential is how neurons talk, which is very important for making and storing memories. Importantly, in order for the first action potential to cause the series of changes, something interesting needs to happen. There's a lot that is happening around you that you don't even notice: for example, have you thought about the temperature of the room you're in? Are there any sounds? What are the lights like? Are there pictures on the wall around you? What are they?

Now that I've suggested paying attention to these things, you may notice them. That is the key to memory: attention. Nothing will make it into your memory if you do not pay attention to it. "Attending" to something is what will make that very first action potential happen, triggering a whole bunch of neurons to "turn on." This is why it's easy to remember a special occasion, like a trip to the zoo - you paid attention to it!

"What looks like plastic casing around this brain is actually remnants of what is called the Dura Mater," Boutros explained. "It's a layer of protection that sits just under the skull to help physically protect our brain from the outside world. We have many layers of protection (in order): the skull; the meninges, which include the dura mater, arachnoid layer, subarachnoid lymphatic-like membrane (SLYM), and the pia mater; and cerebrospinal fluid to make our brain "float" in our head (a concussion happens when your brain touches your skull - it's not supposed to do that!). Sometimes when we dissect brains out, we'll keep pieces of those layers to show."

That's making a memory; what about remembering?

We think that when you make a memory, a special series of neurons lights up. Then, when you think about that that memory again, that same series of neurons lights up again. It's a unique combination, just like your passwords are unique combinations of letters and numbers. Combining the right neurons to remember something is like combining the right letters and numbers to unlock your phone!

This is where we see very careful organization of the brain. Your brain has specific areas that are important for memory, vision, emotions, rewards - you name it! One of the important brain regions for memory is called the hippocampus. Hippocampus literally means "seahorse" in Greek because it is shaped (kind of) like an upside-down seahorse. It is located in your temporal lobes, which are the areas of the brain that sit just next to your ears.

The name hippocampus comes from the Greek word for seahorse. It's a part of the brain involved in emotion and memory. This image originated from the article "The Seahorse In Your Brain: Where Body Parts Got Their Names" By Joy Ho / NPR.
Published December 16, 2016, and can be found at https://www.kpbs.org/news/2016/12/16/the-seahorse-in-your-brain-where-body-parts-got

Specifically, the hippocampus is very important for making emotional memories and for helping us learn facts (like you are doing now). Those aren't all types of memories, though. We know this thanks to a person named Henry Moliason.

Henry had a procedure that resulted in him having both of his hippocampi surgically removed. He was okay after surgery but had a lot of trouble making new emotional and factual memories. However, he was really good at motor memory, like a game called the Tower of Hanoi. Another example of motor memory is riding a bike - it's not emotional or factual, it's a series of physical movements that you learn how to do through practice.

Henry Molaison, aged 60 in 1986, sits for tests at MIT. By this point, he had been the subject of study for half his life. Photograph: Jenni Ogden from the book "Trouble In Mind: Stories from a Neuropsychologist's Casebook". Image source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/may/05/henry-molaison-amnesiac-corkin-book-feature

Because Henry couldn't make new emotional or factual memories but could make new physical memories, we determined that there are many different types of memory and that they are stored in different parts of the brain. So, while the hippocampus is very important for learning a new friend's name or the capital of Idaho, it's not the only brain region that makes memories.

We still have a lot to discover about making and keeping memories - maybe YOU will discover something new!

Further learning for kids:

University of Washington, Neuroscience for Kids: Lights, Camera, Action Potential!

The Khan Academy: Neuron action potentials

Hippocampus fun facts for kids

NPR: The Seahorse In Your Brain: Where Body Parts Got Their Names

Further learning for adults:

What is a neuron?

Two-minute neuroscience: Action Potential

The curious case of Patient HM

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