Reading Notes on Hippocampal Memory

Some notes from reading "Hippocampal Memory."

• 1. We all use the right brain's recall and association to process information, and the left brain's instantaneous memory to store information.
• 2. Exams truly reflect the accumulation of knowledge.
• 3. Knowledge is a neural tree formed by the interconnection of brain elements; a stable tree base can carry a large amount of information and is not easily forgotten.
• 4. Association, base roots, connection, leaps, linking, analogy.
• 5. Many conditions, strong signals; weak conditions do not conduct (unstable, easily lost).
• 6. Few conditions conduct; weak states conduct (stable, lasting).
• 7. Within a certain period, when the amount of knowledge exceeds the material basis that the brain can synthesize in that stage, relying on establishing strong-signal circuits under multiple conditions to solve each specific problem is not feasible, as it can cause brain confusion. Therefore, the more advanced the exam, the more it reflects the neural structure of the brain.
• 8. A complex problem is often composed of many simple problems, which can be further broken down into smaller ones. When encountering difficulties in solving problems, it is best to imagine the problem as a tree, with the final problem being a leaf. To find this leaf, one must find its root.
• 9. First, the brain is alive and undergoes metabolism. 1. New cells are produced every day, while old cells age and die. The number of new and dying cells is roughly balanced, always stabilizing within a certain range. New cells demand to be expressed, consumed, and connected, so there are no people who do not evolve, only people who evolve in different directions. Second, the brain is alive and evolves. 1. How does the brain evolve? First, brain evolution is constrained by material conditions because the information and nutrients needed for brain evolution come from the external world. We can only explore how the brain develops itself under various constraints. This inevitably introduces a concept: the hippocampus. The hippocampus is an important tissue in the brain responsible for extracting, processing, and organizing information, functioning similarly to a CPU in a computer. The temporal lobes are responsible for storing information; our information is stored here, equivalent to a hard drive. The hippocampus extracts, categorizes, connects, and sorts information. The temporal lobes efficiently store information for easy retrieval. As information increases, neurons and neural pathways multiply, our cerebral cortex thickens, and we become more agile. During sleep, the CA1 region of the hippocampus stops working. A day's brain activity exhausts the activity of CA1 region cells; these cells with reduced activity metabolize and die, and new cells grow for the next day. Additionally, during sleep, our brain has a retrospective function performed by the CA3 region of the hippocampus, which links to the temporal lobes, extracts past memories for organization and splicing, and minimizes information redundancy. Thus, as days pass, information important to us becomes clearer, while unimportant information gradually fades. It can also be seen that insufficient rest leads to low efficiency in receiving information, and without sleep, there is no renewal of CA1 region cells. When we are young, our bodies are strong, and hippocampal cells have a high regeneration capacity, allowing us to learn many things daily. As we age, the metabolic rate of hippocampal cells slows, leading to a decline in learning speed.
• 10. How the hippocampus processes information is our concern. I believe it is: contact information -> extract information based on preferences -> logically judge information -> categorize information -> store in the temporal lobes. All the above text can be summarized in two words: reasoning and memory. In my own words, learning is the process of storing information in nerve cells and then using existing neural pathways to connect them. The process of establishing neural pathways is the process of reasoning. Reasoning is the process of dendrites constantly seeking axons. If we can remember but not understand, it means information is stored in cells but not connected by neural pathways. Such information, or unconnected nerve cells, will gradually be marginalized, stored deep in the temporal lobes, and difficult to recall. New information must be connected within a month to be stored in the temporal lobes for future retrieval.
• 11. Regarding the strength of memory, neural pathways have three characteristics: synergy, strength, XXX. Strong one-time memory can be permanently retained, and repeated memory can also permanently retain memory.
• 12. For most everyday information that is neither too important nor unimportant, the best memory method is reasoning. Note: not association. The biological essence of association is still reasoning, but it emphasizes aimlessness, creating disordered information and logic. This method can be a data disaster for future information. Reasoning allows information to be categorized and arranged orderly, making logic clearer and actions more stable.
• 13. If I have time, I would like to study how imagination is generated and affects life.