20 Human Memory Facts: Understanding How We Remember and Forget

The brain is one of the most fascinating and intricate parts of the human body. According to scientific research, the human brain remembers things from the Womb.

Actually, human memory starts to work just 20 weeks after Conception. Many people even associate the loss of memory with aging. However, memory loss happens mainly when we get older. 

Without our memory, we cannot learn, gather experience, or even increase our operating skills and abilities. So, in this article, we will now discuss some amazing facts about human memory.

Interesting Human Memory Facts

👉 The human memory can remember things from their moms’ womb

We may not remember what our mothers’ wombs look like, but science indicates that our memories can start as early as five months before birth.

This is why some parents try their best to argue less and play many of their favorite tunes while pregnant. 

👉 Your memory may retrieve false information.

Human memory is capable of re-inventing or exaggerating a memory. The experiment conducted by Loftus and Palmer included the investigation of the distorting of memory.

In this experiment, the participants were assigned to watch various car accident videos. 

The participants needed to fill out a specific survey asking about, ‘how fast the vehicles were going when they got into the accident,’ just by replacing the term “smashed” with several other verbs. However, this manipulation of words may influence human memories.

👉 The stages of the human memory

There are three stages of human memory: short-term, long-term, and sensory. Sensory is the initial stage where information is shortly held in the sensory system, like auditory or visual memory.

Short-term memory is the part where information is helpful for a brief period of time, like for a few seconds to several minutes. Lastly, long-term memory is where information is stored for an extended time period, ranging from days to a lifetime.

👉 Human memory is an amazing recording device.

Human memory is an amazing recording device, though it is susceptible to forgetting, distortion, and fabrication.

Different factors, such as expectations, emotions, suggestions, and biases, may influence memory.

The human brain has almost one billion neurons, each capable of developing 1000 connections to other neurons.

👉 The human memory may be declined with age

Human memory declines with age, especially episodic memory, which includes remembering specific experiences or events.

This is because of the changes in the function and structure of the brain, such as hippocampal volume and reduced synaptic density.

Moreover, sleep plays a vital role in the procedure of memory consolidation, where our memories can be strengthened and stabilized. Hence, getting enough sleep may improve memory retention to a great extent.

👉 Sleep has several stages.

As mentioned earlier, sleep is important for our memory. Sleeping is also a memory enhancer because it protects memories from interfering stimuli.

Besides, sleep even plays an effective role in enabling various types of memories to experience consolidation.

Our sleep comprises five vital stages: Light, Very Light, Delta, Slow Wave, and Rapid Eye Movement.

👉 Hot flashes may impair the performance of human memory.

According to some studies, women who undergo menopause with vasomotor symptoms, such as hot flashes, will face a decline in memory for several verbal materials, like stories and words.

According to the revelation of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, that physiologic hot flashes are related to decreased alteration of brain function and memory performance, especially in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.

👉 Loss of vision can disrupt the ability of human memory.

A loss of vision is related to various kinds of changes in the brain facilitated by synaptic plasticity. In this synaptic plasticity, a procedure enables adaptation, memory, and learning that depends on experience.

However, according to several researchers, after the emergence of blindness, some changes can be seen in the density of neurotransmitter receptors vital for synaptic plasticity. 

As this synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus becomes more impaired, the spiral memory can be affected in subsequent months.

👉 Memory can be influenced by emotion

Emotion plays a vital role in both memory retrieval and formation. Emotional events can be remembered more often than non-emotional events, and emotions may influence memories’ vividness and accuracy.

Also, human memory can be improved with rehearsal and repetition, as these can improve memory retention by strengthening the neural connections between neurons that can encode and store information. This is called the “rehearsal effect.”

👉 Drawing is a lot better than writing.

According to several research, older adults are related to the deterioration of memory retention because of the shrinkage of the brain.

This results in the function of important brain structures involved with our memory, like the hippocampus.

However, according to some studies, people who old but can take up drawing will be able to improve their memory.

Also, drawing can even work as a therapeutic invention to help people to remember important episodic moments.

👉 Human memory can get impaired by brain disease or damage

Brain disease or damage may impair memory function by affecting the networks or brain regions involved in memory processing. For example, Alzheimer’s disease, amnesia, and even traumatic brain injury.

Moreover, human memory can also get affected by medication. Some types of substances and medications can impair memory function, like antipsychotics, sedatives, and also alcohol.

In contrast, substances like nicotine and caffeine may enhance memory function in particular contexts.

👉 Personality traits can influence memory

Personality traits may influence memory function. Some studies show conscientiousness and neuroticism are associated with better human memory performance.

However, the relationship between memory and personality is complex and cannot be understood completely.

In addition, gender can also influence memory function. According to some studies, women have better episodic memory, whereas men have better spatial memory. However, these differences are not consistent across all studies.

👉 Most of the human memory comes from the age of 15-25

For adults, most memories come from when they were between 15 to 25 years old.

The tendency for older adults to remember events that happened during their adolescent and early adult years can cover almost 60% of all memories. This tendency is known as the “Reminiscence bump.”

Also, human memory can get broken up into pieces and bits in different brain parts.

👉 The human memory is not a single entity.

Human memory is not a single entity. it is a collection of different systems that can function differently.

For instance, procedural memory involves unconscious recall habits and skills, while declarative memory includes conscious recall of factual information.

Moreover, human memory can be improved with mnemonic devices, as these strategies or techniques can help improve memory retention. Some examples include rhymes, acronyms, and even mental imagery.

👉 Memory can be enhanced by diet and exercise

A healthy diet and proper exercise can improve the function of human memory by promoting neuroplasticity and neurogenesis.

Neurogenesis is the growth of new neurons and connections in the brain. It has been shown that correct exercise can improve memory retention, especially for adults. 

A healthy diet that includes foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins can support brain health and also memory function.

👉 The human memory is a reconstructive procedure

Memory is not a collection of past events or a literal playback but a specific reconstructive procedure where information is pieced together depending on prior expectations, knowledge, and other contextual cues. Hence, human memory can be prone to distortions and errors.

Moreover, memory retrieval can be improved by cues and contexts that were present during encoding.

This procedure is called the “context-dependent memory effect” or the “encoding specificity principle.”

👉 The human memory can be influenced by attention.

Attention plays a vital role in the formation of memory. Without attention, information cannot be encoded into memory. Thus, paying attention to vital information can improve memory retention.

Also, culture can influence human memory, like the beliefs, values, and even norms shared by a specific group.

For instance, some cultures even prioritize oral storytelling and memorization to preserve tradition and history.

👉 Social factors can influence the human memory

Important social factors, like social support and engagement, may influence memory function.

According to some studies, social support and engagement are related to better memory performance and reduced risk of cognitive decline.

👉 The human memory is enhanced by forgetting first

Human memory can be enhanced by forgetting things first. You must forget a few pieces of information at some level before remembering it. This will make your memory strong over time.

Also, being tested on information mainly helps you to remember it better. According to several research, being tested on information is one of the perfect ways to improve recall.

👉 Visual information can charge human memory.

Human memory is supercharged when some new pieces of information are visual. Text combined with proper visuals can improve the amount of information retained by new learners to a great extent.

So, human memory is a multifaceted and complex function that different factors, such as emotion, attention, visuals, personality, exercise, diet, and many more, can influence. 

At the end of this article, we learned about 20 really amazing facts about human memory. These facts clearly show us this interesting part of our bodies.

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