Thinking about memory and the brain - includes related articles on classroom activities that reinforce the connection between memory and the senses and teach how one makes memories

'Tis the season for memories of holidays past. My most vivid childhood recollections are visual ones - those large, colorful tree lights and a three-minute-long cartoon based on the obscure Christmas song "Hard Rock, CoCo, and Joe."

Memory is the mental faculty of saving information for use at a later time. Or as cognitive scientist Edward de Bono claimed, memory is "what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen." We know that memories are stored in the part of our brain called the cerebrum; however, many questions remain about how memories are processed. For example, why do we remember some things and not others? It is a complicated matter, but we know for certain that familiar things, ones we are exposed to repeatedly, are more likely to stick than unfamiliar things. Students can discover this for themselves with the Making Memories activity.

YOUR Resources

For more information about the brain, the senses, and other things that make us tick, check out these resources.

Some Body by Dr. Pete Rown (Knopf, 1995) contains some wonderful pullout pages, including several on the brain.

Blood and Guts: A Working Guide to Your Insides by Linda Allison (Little, Brown, 1976) offers fascinating facts and activities for older kids and teachers.

RELATED ARTICLE: A SCENTIMENTAL JOURNEY

Did you ever wonder why so many memories are evoked by smells? It could be because memories are most associated with the limbic system, which evolved from a part of the brain once used for smell. You can reinforce the connection between memory and the senses with this fun classifying activity.

1 Have students brainstorm as a class a list of holiday memories - the smell of pine, the taste of Hanukkah treats, the sound of church bells, or the sensation of snowflakes landing on their tongues, for example.

2 Record these memories on chart paper.

3 On the chalkboard, write the headings SMELL, TASTE, TOUCH, SIGHT and SOUND.

4 Ask students to classify their memories according to the five senses. Write their responses under the appropriate heading.

LYNNE KEPLER teaches third grade at Clarion-Limestone Elementary School in Strattanville, Pennsylvania. She is the author of A Year of Hands-on science (Scholastic Professional Books, 1996). To order a copy of $31.95, call (800) 724-6527.

COPYRIGHT 1996 Scholastic, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group