An engineer wears a helmet of sensors, part of a brain scanner, at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital.
- Science
- Explainer
Human memory: How we make, remember, and forget memories
Human memory happens in many parts of the brain at once, and some types of memories stick around longer than others.
From the moment we are born, our brains are bombarded by an immense amount of information about ourselves and the world around us. So, how do we hold on to everything we've learned and experienced? Memories.
Humans retain different types of memories for different lengths of time. Short-term memories last seconds to hours, while long-term memories last for years. We also have a working memory, which lets us keep something in our minds for a limited time by repeating it. Whenever you say a phone number to yourself over and over to remember it, you're using your working memory.
Another way to categorize memories is by the subject of the memory itself, and whether you are consciously aware of it. Declarative
