I am not good at recalling names, and never have been. Is my brain not working as well as it did? Is it dementia? Or does everyone have weaknesses that get progressively worse as you age?
Driving and memory
When you drive a car, you have to execute several actions at the same time, and also pay attention to traffic. For this to take place, most of your actions are performed automatically. These are laid down in a separate memory in a specific part of the brain: the corpus striatum.
Remembering an event changes your memory
Sometimes our memory is compared with the hard disc of a computer where data is stored, or a filing cabinet. But that is not the way our memory works. How does the act of recall actually work? And what is the role of the hippocampus? And how do false confessions come into existence?
Can you smell it too?
Our olfactory organ is quite exceptional. What you are capable of smelling can change within a few months as a result of changes within your nose. And a smell apparent to one person may be completely undetectable to another.
Where am I? Our internal GPS
London taxi drivers know every street in London, as well as all the restaurants, post offices, shops and more. In our brain there is an ingenious GPS. And this GPS is integrated with our life history and emotions. Try doing that with a navigator!
