Memory: Where Are Your Memories? 📚🔍
👨🔬 Lashley's Search for the Engram
- Engram 🧩: Physical memory trace in brain! Where is it? 🔍
- Decades of Research 📅: Tried to find specific location! 🔬
- Failed! ❌: Couldn't find one spot for memory! 🤔
📈 Lashley's Two Principles
⚖️ Equipotentiality
- All Areas Equal! 🟦: Any cortex part can store memories! 🧠💾
- No Special Spot 📍❌: Not one "memory center"! 🚫
- Distributed Storage 🌐: Spread across brain! 🧠🔀
📊 Mass Action
- Amount Matters! 📏: More brain = Better memory! 🧠⬆️📚⬆️
- Not Location 📍❌: QUANTITY of cortex important! 📏✅
- Damage Effects 💔: More damage = Worse memory! ⬇️
🧠 What IS Memory?
- Information Storage 💾: Saved from sensory experience! 👁️👂➡️💾
- Can Be Retrieved 🔍: Access later when needed! ⏰
- Encoded 🔐: Translated into brain language! 🧠🔤
🎓 Learning vs. Memory
- Learning 📚: Acquiring new information! ⬇️🧠
- Memory 💾: Storing that information! 💾🧠
- Related but Different! 🔗: Learn first, then remember! 📚➡️💾
⏱️ Two Memory Systems
💭 Short-Term Memory (STM)
- Temporary Storage 📦: Seconds to minutes! ⏲️
- Limited Capacity 📊: 7±2 items (Miller's Law)! 🔢
- Working Memory 💻: Active processing! 🧠⚡
- Easily Disrupted 💥: Distraction = Lost! ❌
📚 Long-Term Memory (LTM)
- Permanent Storage 📏: Years to lifetime! ♾️
- Unlimited Capacity ∞: Never "fills up"! 🎆
- Consolidated 🔒: Stable and enduring! 💪
- Organized 📁: Categories and connections! 🔗
🧩 Hebb's Consolidation Theory
🔄 The Process
- Initial Trace 🎯: Weak, electrical activity! ⚡
- Reverberation 🔊: Neurons keep firing in loop! 🔁
- Structural Changes 🔨: Physical modifications in synapses! 🔗🔧
- Consolidation 🔒: Temporary ➡️ Permanent! 💾
⚡ Neurons That Fire Together, Wire Together!
- Hebbian Learning 🧠: Repeated activation strengthens! 💪
- Synaptic Plasticity 🔗: Connections change with use! 🔄
- Foundation of Learning! 🏛️: Still accepted today! ✅
🎯 Where ARE Memories Stored?
- Everywhere! 🌍: Distributed across cortex! 🧠
- Different Types, Different Places 📍: Motor, visual, emotional! 💪👁️💔
- Hippocampus Key 🔑: For forming new memories! 🎆
- Cortex for Storage 💾: Long-term kept here! 🧠
🔑 Key Takeaways
- No single "memory spot"! 📍❌
- Equipotentiality = Spread out! 🌐
- Mass action = Amount matters! 📏✅
- STM = Temporary! ⏱️
- LTM = Permanent! 📏
- Consolidation takes time! ⏰🔒
- Hebb's theory still valid! 🧠✅
- Fire together = Wire together! ⚡🔗
- Hippocampus essential! 🔑🧠