Complex Memories
Most of our important memories are powered by (involve) long arrays of nerve cells.
Individual nerve cells and the connections between them form the basis for all activities, no matter how complicated.
Catching a ball, for example, requires whole sets of nerve cells for seeing, controlling our hands, moving our bodies, and coordinating out actions.
Our nerve cells learn by experience. In our brains, we have circuits that tell nerve cells what and when to learn, and whether something needs to be learned quickly.
Other circuits monitor what's important, what needs to be repeated, and what needs to be remembered. They also dictate how the more basic neural circuits are wired and rewired.
And, as you might have guessed, our brains also have circuits that monitor and control the controlling circuits. In fact, scientists are not sure how many levels of controls our brains possess.
Components of Complex Memories
What we think of as a single thought—"ball," for instance—is really composed of many fragments of thoughts. When you think about a ball, you don't normally separate its color from its roundness or bounciness. But your brain does. The ball's color, shape, and function are stored in different regions of the brain, although not every distinct element of "ball" has its own region.
Most complex thoughts are learned; they are not instinctive. For example, complex thoughts that arise from our senses—sight or smell, for example—are usually based on constant exposure to an idea or activity (like playing with balls when we were young or eating mom's best meatloaf for dinner). Over time, this constant exposure produces the entire idea inside our minds.
This process also seems to work for thoughts or concepts that appear to be completely unrelated to our senses or other connections.
How Our Thoughts are Linked
Different parts of thoughts are linked in different ways. Sometimes, they are linked by how they fit into our world.
Links are the streets that take us from thought to thought. Some kinds of thinking generated by these links may seem so ordinary that we don't call them thinking at all, like walking across a room, or eating when you're hungry.
The most interesting links are those we figure out for ourselves. They are the links, for example, that allow children to compare—to see, for example, how the ball they play with and the planet they stand on resemble each other.
The links between different parts of thoughts, or between thoughts themselves, are neural activity, and can be strengthened through learning, practice, and repetition.
Links and Problem Solving
When we have to solve harder problems or think creatively, however, we need to make more and better connections.
Solving a problem involves getting to a destination. Creative thinking differs from other thoughts (like hunger) in that what's required to solve the "problem" usually isn't known. But the directions our thoughts travel for creative thinking still consist of links between thoughts and parts of thoughts—links that arise from nerve cell activity and the learning process.
Finding links between thoughts—or finding the best ones—can be like trying to find the best route on a map. We may make many false starts or take roads that look good on paper but don't work in practice. With time, though, we usually find the quickest and easiest route.
It's the same way with thinking. We can learn to avoid the choices that cause our false starts or lead us to turn the wrong way. By eliminating the links or connections that look good originally but prove to be difficult or time-consuming, we're actually improving our thinking and making it more efficient.
This content is brought by Staying Sharp, a partnership between NRTA: AARP's Educator Community and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives.
