Memory Systems and the Brain: Declarative vs Nondeclarative Memory

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33Brain Factssociety for neuroscience | Learning, Memory & Emotions 4 Brain Facts society for neuroscience|32 LEARNING AND MEMORY Our understanding of how humans learn and remember is far from complete, but researchers are uncovering intriguing new details about the mechanisms, limits, and architecture of memory formation. Thanks in part to H.M., scientists now know that the medial temporal lobe, which includes the hippocampus and parahippocampal regions, works with other regions of the cerebral cortex, the brain’s outermost layer, to form, organize, consolidate, and retrieve memories. The four major lobes of the cerebral cortex — frontal, parietal, tem- poral, and occipital — process sensory information such as smell, taste, sight, and sound. Associative regions in the cortex integrate these sensory inputs, enabling us to understand our environ- ment and encode memories. Declarative Memory Declarative memory is memory for facts, data, and events. Such conscious (explicit) memories are called declarative memories because you can consciously recall and describe the information. Declarative memories can be semantic or episodic. Semantic memories consist of the cultural knowledge, ide...