From the author: What is memory, how does it work, where do memories live, and why do we forget. MEMORY Part 1 We are all annoyed when we cannot remember information at the right time. We forget relatives' birthdays, phone numbers and important meetings. Some people are constantly looking for glasses or car keys, while others are unable to reproduce their own schedule without the help of a diary. Our brain is overloaded, and we tend to give away our memory for storage to various devices. But it’s scary to imagine what will happen if we forget our laptop or mobile phone at home. What do we remember, why do we forget, how does our memory work? Of course, memory plays a key role in human existence. Without it, we could not learn anything, would not be able to use the accumulated experience and would be deprived of the opportunity to function normally in society. Like almost everything in our life, the main organ of the human central nervous system, the brain, is responsible for memory. Movement, speech, the ability to perceive, evaluate and process information, as well as emotions and memory depend on its activity. In short, the brain consists of many neurons - these are cells connected to each other and communicating through electrical impulses. The brain is plastic. It can and should be developed. Every new skill, new route, new foreign language is new neural connections that form a neural network. It is in it that all messages sent to the brain by various senses, including memories, are stored. Memories themselves are “a pattern of neural connections distributed across different neural circuits and areas of the brain” (if you are interested, you can read more about this in the book “Memory Does Not Change.” Author Angels Navarro). Memory is not only a type of brain activity , but also mental function. Various areas of the brain are responsible for its execution. After all, any information during processing can be viewed from different angles. For example, what you call your boyfriend is for your brain a combination of image, smell, tactile sensations and evoked emotions. Its appearance will be stored in the visual cortex, touch and sensation will be stored in the premotor and sensory areas, and smell will be stored in the frontal lobes. These different "storage zones" are called "recognition regions." When you meet your boyfriend, these areas “join forces”, allowing you to recognize him by his voice, gait, hugs, etc. What we call memory is essentially the processes of perceiving information, its encoding, storage and decoding - the ability to reproduce (pull out from the depths of the neural network) and recognize at the right moment this or that fact or memory. The so-called “limbic system” is responsible for the process of memorization (encoding) and storage - it includes the hippocampus and the amygdala. The frontal lobes store and recall memories, the occipital lobes store visual memory, the parietal lobes are responsible for simple tasks, the cerebrum contains memories of habits and motor skills, the amygdala is responsible for emotions (such as fear), and the temporal lobes store the most important long-term memories.Data about brain function is constantly updated. For example, Stanford neuroscientist Joseph Parvizi identified a special area (on the fusiform gyrus) through which we are able to recognize faces. Please do not confuse the concepts of “memory” and “memories.” Seems self-explanatory, but you'd be surprised how often people misuse these concepts. Memory is an ability. Memories are stored information. We all remember a huge amount of information every day: words, numbers, faces, events. However, some people are able to remember a poem the first time, while others need weeks to learn the names of their colleagues at a new job. We tend to divide memory into good and bad, although in fact memory can be trained and untrained. Memory.