How memories are made:
- Memories are formed through lasting physical changes in the brain in response to experiences. The process involves four steps:
- Encoding - translating sensory information into neurological language,
- Consolidation - linking related neural activity into a connected pattern,
- Storage - maintaining the neural pattern over time through structural changes,
- Retrieval - reactivating the stored neural pattern to recall the memory.
- The hippocampus is essential for consolidating new consciously retrievable memories by binding together disparate neural activity.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
