At some point in our lives, we all had to memorize a text for an exam, learn to solve equations, learn the rules of a sport, or the notes of an instrument. There were many times we felt frustrated for not being able to memorize that list of fundamental topics to pass that exam, and worse yet, the disappointment of failing because we forgot exactly that part we had studied.
But... how does this work? What is learning and how is it related to memory?
According to neuroscience, learning is considered a lasting change in behavior or the acquisition of knowledge over an extended period. Generally, this process occurs thanks to repetition, which facilitates the retrieval of what has been learned through memory; both processes primarily take place in our brain.
The Brain and Its Connections
The brain is made up of neurons, specialized cells capable of transmitting information in the form of electrical impulses. This neuron-to-neuron communication is achieved thanks to chemical molecules, neurotransmitters, which are released into the synaptic space and received by receptors on neighboring neurons, transmitting data and allowing for processing. Here lies the key: the strength and efficacy of this communication can be altered by experience and repetition, characteristics we know as neuronal plasticity, the basis of learning and memory.
Let's delve a little deeper: there are several neurotransmitters, both excitatory and inhibitory, that affect neuron-to-neuron communication. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter, meaning it stimulates the passage of information throughout the body.
When we repeat a task many times, for example, when practicing a sport or solving exercises, certain neurons are repeatedly stimulated together, which reinforces their communication and makes the connection stronger and more durable. In short, neurons that activate together repeatedly connect more strongly later on.
This phenomenon was discovered in 1973 by Bliss and Lomo, neurophysiologists, who named this process Long-Term Potentiation (LTP for its acronym in English). Glutamate initiates and maintains this potentiation, being the main excitatory chemical messenger in the brain.
During LTP, new synaptic spines (contact sites between neurons) are formed, and the production of proteins promoting stable structural changes in nerve cells increases. The importance of this is such that many studies claim that memory loss in Alzheimer's is the result of some type of alteration in LTP.
In summary, learning depends on structural changes in our brain, leaving traces in our system and allowing us to recover that information whenever necessary.
Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
By Lu Ronner, a student of the Bachelor’s Degree in Biotechnology at UADE
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