Question: How do you learn a memory ?

Melanie Stefan answered on 21 Mar 2011:

Neurons in our brain fire in response to all kinds of experiences. Now, if two neurons that are next to each other repeatedly fire at the same time, then the connection between them gets stronger (we say that “neurons that fire together, wire together”) In terms of molecules, that means that more channels get inserted into the neuron at the receiving end of the connection, so that the next message is transmitted more reliably. We think that a memory is just a set of neurons that is connected in this way. The memory can be retrieved if some of those neurons are activated (which is why, for instance, a specific smell can bring back a childhood memory)