Principles of memory formation and retention
What is memory for? A main function of our brain is to learn and remember information about the world around us. Brains create and maintain internal representations, or models of the world, in order to successfully guide decisions and actions. In a sense, past memories exist to serve the present and future.
The role of learning and training is to adapt the internal representations to a changing environment. These internal representations are models of the world encoded in neurons, the specialised cells in the nervous system, which embody information and knowledge in the precise location and exact timing of their activity, in other words the spatiotemporal pattern of neuronal activity. The role of memory is to retain these updated representations over time, so they can be used and put in practice in the future (Dudai 2004). In addition to directing decisions and behavior in the present and future, two other important functions of human memory are to create self-continuity and self-image (autobiographical memory), as well as to enable social bonding (collective or social memory). In this paper, Dr Natasha Sigala PhD, concentrates on the first function of memory and considers how principles of memory formation relates to Active Training Team’s safety program.
Author: Dr Natasha Sigala, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex
