Information processing

Knowing how our brain is able to process the information it receives from the outside is important, but for this, it is first necessary to understand how it works internally. Neurons, or nerve cells as they are also called, are responsible for receiving information from nerve endings throughout the body. They transmit the sensations processed by the brain. The information reaches the cells through a process called axons, and the synapse is the union of information from one neuron to another; the synapse can be excitatory or inhibitory.

A curious fact is that the absorption of information from experience, which tends to occur mostly during the first years of life, is caused by a synaptic overproduction followed by selective loss of memories.

An individual, months after birth, presents more synapses than as an adult. This process occurs in the cerebral cortex of the brain, specifically in the visual cortex. This happens because in this early phase of life many synapses are formed, which later disappear; this is the reason why we do not have many memories of our first months or years. The synapse process stabilizes in about 3 years in the visual cortex, while it can take up to 10 years in other areas of the frontal cortex.

The other known method of synapse formation is the addition of new synapses. This process occurs throughout a person's life, selecting which connections are important or significant and eliminating those that are not, which conditions the memory and the memories we have.

Information processing

The sensory organs are responsible for transforming sensations such as physical stimuli associated with sound, touch, smell, etc., into electrochemical signals; and this is how information processing begins.

This information is transformed by the brain's algorithms and decoded. For example, you are in an art gallery observing the paintings exhibited there; your brain processes all the information related to the painting such as color, figures, orientation, borders, among other details. At this point, all the information received is filtered to determine which is significant and which is not; otherwise, you would be processing and reacting to every detail in that room.

The storage of information

Clearly, for the brain to be able to process information, it must first be able to store it. For this there is memory in all its variants: short and long term, and working memory. The steps are as follows; information is first encoded and then stored. Working memory, for example, stores information for less than 30 seconds.Information recall

Information is not only encoded and stored, but also recalled.

Remember all the times you tried to bring back a specific memory?

That is the recall process; sometimes it is successful and sometimes it is not. The task of bringing information back is not an easy one, as it often involves reconstructing a scene based on isolated details that may not be very accurate. Memories are not always reliable, as many factors can influence or distort them.

Our memory system is extremely complex, although undoubtedly effective on many occasions. Recalling memories is a process that demands encoding the memory in the shortest possible time, and then storing it properly in our long-term memory reserve.