Tracing Memory: How we remember

Do you have a terrible memory? You may think you do but in fact your memory is better in many ways than the best computer memory. How do our memories work? How do they develop and then decline as we get older, and what if anything can we do about it? The answers may come from looking at the mechanisms that underpin our phenomenal memories.

There are actually two different types of memory. Reading this paragraph now and remembering what you’re doing depends on your working memory, where brain cells stay active as they hold information in your mind. But memories of your childhood, directions for riding a bicycle and even feelings of familiarity are stored in long-term memory, where your brain actually changes its structure and biochemistry in order to fix memories without the cells having to stay active. The memories can be cued up just by reactivating these altered cells. By and large these mechanisms work seamlessly to control our day-to-day behaviour, but sometimes they can go wrong.

Join us for this special event as part of Brain Awareness Week to experience how good or bad your own memory is and find out what it really means to have something on the tip of your tongue or to have a feeling of déjà vu.

Event organised by:
The European Dana Alliance for the Brain and The Royal Insitution of Great Britain

Speakers

Alan Baddeley, University of York
Richard Morris, University of Edinburgh

Facilitator: Kate WIghton, The Times