May 18, 2025

Safa Ahmad 

11th Grade

Brooklyn Technical High School 

Introduction

The development of the brain is a delicate process spanning from adolescence into adulthood, with a number of complications and mysteries. Some of the most asked questions neuroscientists ask are,” How does the brain form memories?” and, “How does the brain pick which memories to hold onto?”. There are a multitude of valuable moments that feel special to us as they occur, but only some of those moments are committed to long-term memory. As we grow into individuals, what causes the distinction between what memories we keep? Is there a distinction?

How Do We Form Memories?

When exposed to a new event, the sensory register process occurs, causing the neurons in the brain to form new connections. During the process, the synapses, the junction between two nerve cells, create new circuits. This process of remapping the brain aids in the formation of memories, providing advanced flexibility and capacity. A common misconception of memory is that it is simply stored in the brain, when in fact it requires much effort and complexity to retain and call upon specific details. An important note is that memory formation is an imperfect process, prone to misidentification and errors. For one, memory can be easily distorted through cognitive processes and specific emotional and physical states. Nonetheless, it’s an extremely significant and powerful function of the body that permits us to live our lives with a great amount of ease. 

How Does the Brain Pick What Memories to Hold On To?

The synapses that form the circuits in our brain get stronger based on how much we expose ourselves to the event. For example, when many of us memorized the multiplication table in elementary school, spending dedicated time in class and at home aided in that memorization. Had we spent little to no time looking at the chart and attempting to understand the concept, we would have failed to build the ability to quickly recall our times tables as we do so frequently in higher-level maths. Similarly, when we mentally revisit an idea, thought, conversation, piece of media, etc,  it further ingrains such into our brains. Additionally, things viewed as out of the ordinary are more likely to embed themselves into our memory than a constant in our lives. Known as the isolation effect, one is much more likely to remember a distinct object from a homogeneous list than a heterogeneous one. 

Issues that arise within the brain in regards to encoding, storing, and consolidating memories can also prevent efficiency in retaining memories, as any failure (more often than not, the encoding section) can prevent cognitive access to content held in memory due to strained recollection. Moreover, factors such as aging, stress, genetic change, and simply being exposed to large amounts of information make storage much more difficult, causing the brain to omit some memories from our remembrance.

Why Do We Keep Specific Memories?

The brain's two main purposes in memory formation are collection and storage. Researchers have found that during idle parts of the day and during the hours in which we sleep, the brain marks specific information as important memories that we need to retain. This further reinforces that the idle state of the brain is just as important as the active state, and furthermore helps collect and store that which we feel is important to us. Not giving the brain enough time to complete this process by not resting impedes the process and decreases the overall efficiency of the brain. 

When trying to understand how our body works, the brain plays a vital part in all of it. Much is left to be discovered and, more importantly, figuring out how memory works in the context of mental disorders and past trauma, but more importantly, remembering the core fundamentals of how memory is formed.