LEARNING, MEMORY, LANGUAGE

OTAK secara terus-menerus memperbaharui dirinya untuk menjadi sebuah

organ yang secara fisik berbeda dari apa yang dimilikinya pada saat
sebelumnya. Tidak pernah beristirahat, ia berputar melalui pengalaman-
pengalaman baru setiap hari, menggabungkan beberapa di antaranya ke
dalam jaringannya informasi yang tersimpan dan menyingkirkan yang lain.
Pembentukan ingatan, bersamaan dengan penerapan informasi yang terkode
secara elektrokimia menuju berkembangnya kebijaksanaan, menciptakan
identitas pribadi dan sosial. Ketika penyakit dan gangguan merampas otak
dari kemampuan mengingat dan berbahasa, mereka mengambil apa yang
membuat setiap orang menjadi unik.

BELAJAR DAN ingatan menjadikan setiap manusia unik. Bahkan sebelum lahir,
otak manusia menerima sensasi, memprosesnya, dan mulai mengkodekannya
menjadi triliunan sinapsis. Koneksi-koneksi tersebut, dan pola tembak
elektrokimia yang menyatukan mereka, membuat otak menjadi organ yang
berbeda dari sebelumnya dalam sekejap. Ketika koneksi-koneksi baru
terbentuk sebagai respons terhadap rangsangan, dan kemudian menjadi kuat
melalui penggunaan yang berulang, otak mengintegrasikan informasi baru
dan menyimpannya hingga dibutuhkan. Tanpa belajar dan ingatan, otak
manusia akan hanya seperti sebuah mesin. Belajar dan ingatan bekerja
bersama-sama. Beberapa pembelajaran dapat berubah menjadi kenangan
yang abadi; pengalaman lain terbukti efemeral. Eric R. Kandel, yang menerima
Hadiah Nobel untuk penelitiannya tentang dasar-dasar molekuler ingatan,
menarik perbedaan ini: "Belajar adalah bagaimana Anda memperoleh
informasi baru tentang dunia, dan ingatan adalah bagaimana Anda
menyimpan informasi tersebut seiring waktu." Belajar mencakup komponen-
kognitif, seperti menyelesaikan persamaan kuadrat; komponen motorik,
seperti mengikat dasi leher dengan simpul Windsor yang sempurna; dan
komponen afektif, seperti merasa malu karena kesalahan sosial. Kandel
melacak pembelajaran pada perubahan fisik dalam neuron-neuron otak,
khususnya pada interaksi neurotransmitter dan situs penerima mereka.
Dengan stimuli yang berulang, Kandel dan neuroscientist lainnya percaya
neuron secara fisik mengubah jumlah neurotransmitter yang dilepaskan dan
sensitivitas situs penerima di selubung sinapsis. Pembelajaran kognitif,
motorik, dan afektif kadang-kadang disebut domain KSA, untuk pengetahuan,
keterampilan, dan sikap.

TINGKATAN BELAJAR YANG BERBEDA

Domain kognitif mencakup tingkat pengembangan mental yang berkisar dari

pengingatan data sederhana hingga pembentukan penilaian. Setiap tingkat
memerlukan penguasaan dari yang sebelumnya. Tingkat ini meliputi:
pengetahuan, kemampuan untuk mengingat informasi; pemahaman,
pemahaman makna; aplikasi, kemampuan untuk menerapkan konsep pada
situasi baru; analisis, pemeriksaan logis konsep atau bagian dari masalah
untuk lebih memahami keseluruhan; dan sintesis, pembuatan konsep utuh dari
bagian dan pola individu. Domain motorik berkaitan dengan gerakan,
koordinasi, dan aplikasi gerakan ke tugas tertentu. Pembelajaran motorik
terjadi dengan repetisi, seperti koordinasi mata-tangan-kaki saat mengemudi.
Penguasaan terlihat dengan peningkatan presisi, kecepatan, dan ukuran
keunggulan lainnya, seperti pelaksanaan teknik renang seseorang. Domain
afektif meliputi kemampuan otak untuk menangani emosi dan perasaan, serta
masalah perilaku seperti sikap dan motivasi. Rentangnya dari kemampuan dan
kemauan untuk fokus perhatian hingga pengakuan dan internalisasi nilai-nilai
sosial.

PELAJARAN-PERLAJARAN AWAL

Ketika bayi yang sehat dilahirkan, otaknya sudah terkabel untuk fungsi-fungsi dasar
kelangsungan hidup, seperti regulasi detak jantung, pernapasan, dan pencernaan. Itu
adalah kodrat, dan itu terus melaksanakan perintah untuk perkembangan otak yang
mencakup pertumbuhan dan mielinisasi neuron. Namun begitu bayi memasuki dunia,
pengasuhan dimulai.

Lingkungan bayi meningkatkan koneksi saraf melalui pembelajaran. Koneksi

baru dapat tumbuh kuat dan menjadi permanen, atau tumbuh lemah dan
terpotong. Tanda pertama dari ingatan muncul sekitar usia dua hingga tiga
bulan, ketika bayi menangis lebih sedikit dan mulai tersenyum pada wajah-
wajah yang akrab. Senyum tersebut menunjukkan pengenalan, dan
pengenalan memerlukan perbandingan dengan pengalaman. Ini mungkin
berkaitan dengan perkembangan cepat lobus frontal otak, yang tumbuh
secara dramatis antara usia tiga hingga delapan bulan, di mana pada waktu itu
anak-anak dapat mengingat sementara benda-benda yang disembunyikan
dari pandangan. "Kecemasan pemisahan" terjadi ketika anak-anak merasa
rentan saat orang tua pergi atau takut pada saat diperkenalkan pada orang
asing. Perasaan seperti itu harus menyertai ingatan, karena otak harus
mengenali perbedaan antara masa kini dan masa lalu. Antara usia 18 hingga
24 bulan, anak-anak mulai mengembangkan rasa diri, termasuk perasaan, niat,
dan interaksi dengan orang lain. Kosa kata berkembang secara eksponensial
antara usia dua hingga enam tahun saat anak-anak berinteraksi dengan dunia.
Anak-anak yang lebih muda dari sekitar tujuh tahun belajar tentang dunia
dengan cara yang sederhana berdasarkan pengulangan. Dalam pembelajaran
asosiatif, anak-anak belajar bahwa dua hal saling berkaitan. Anak yang
menjatuhkan sendoknya dan melihatnya jatuh, kemudian mengulangi aksi itu
lagi dan lagi, mendapatkan pemahaman primitif tentang gravitasi.
Pembelajaran asosiatif mencakup kondisioning klasik, jenis yang digunakan
Ivan Pavlov, dan kondisioning operan, yang membutuhkan perilaku sukarela
yang membawa imbalan atau hukuman. Pembelajaran non-asosiatif
menunjukkan bahwa dua hal dapat atau tidak berhubungan. Bermain adalah
metode penting dari pembelajaran sosial. Ketika anak-anak bermain, mereka
bereksperimen dengan cara kerja suatu hal. Dalam kelompok, mereka belajar
untuk berinteraksi. Ketika bermain meniru tindakan orang dewasa, anak-anak
mulai belajar budaya mereka, terutama ketika menggunakan mainan yang
mewakili bahan di dunia orang dewasa. Bermain game, anak-anak belajar
tentang pentingnya aturan, dan pada akhirnya, kapan waktunya untuk
mengabaikannya.

EJARAH MEMORI Orang Yunani kuno sangat mengagumi daya ingat sehingga mereka memuja
Mnemosyne, ibu para Muse, sebagai dewi dari daya ingat. Mnemosyne, yang namanya terus
hidup dalam frasa "perangkat mnemOnIC" untuk setiap alat bantu ingatan, memberikan
hadiahnya dalam bentuk tablet lilin. Filosof Plato menceritakan bagaimana gurunya, Sokrates,
menjelaskan karya tersebut: "[S] etiap kali kita ingin mengingat sesuatu yang kita lihat atau
dengar atau kita ciptakan sendiri, kita mengekspos blok [lilin] pada persepsi ide dan mencetak
jejak ke dalamnya." Murid Plato, Aristoteles, berpendapat bahwa kelemahan daya ingat terjadi
karena ketidaksempurnaan lilin. Dari tablet lilin pada zaman kuno, melalui buku dan
perpustakaan pada Abad Pertengahan, hingga fotografi, telegrafi, dan komputer, penjelasan
tentang daya ingat terus berkembang sesuai dengan perkembangan zaman dan ilmu
pengetahuan mereka. Filosof Inggris David Hartley (1705-1757) mengambil referensi dari karya
Sir Isaac Newton, yang percaya bahwa semua materi mengandung getaran halus, untuk
mempostulatkan tentang pengkodean memori melalui gerakan tersembunyi dalam sistem saraf.
Lebih dari satu abad kemudian, ahli fisiologi Jerman Ewald Hering (1834-1918) mengusulkan
bahwa semua materi organik mengandung memori. Ia mendefinisikan pewarisan sebagai
memori yang dilewatkan dari orang tua ke anak melalui sel germ. Psikolog Hermann Ebbinghaus
(1850-1909) mencoba studi sistematis pertama tentang daya ingat pada tahun 1885. Dalam satu
eksperimen, ia memaksa dirinya untuk menghafal urutan suku kata nonsens (baf, dak, gel, kim,
wauch, dan seterusnya) dan kemudian mengatakannya dalam urutan secepat mungkin. Ia
berpikir, dengan benar, bahwa daya ingat termasuk pembuatan asosiasi di otak, dan ia
menggunakan suku kata nonsens karena mereka tidak memiliki asosiasi yang sudah ada
sebelumnya. Ia menemukan korelasi antara jumlah kali ia mengulangi daftar suku kata pada satu
hari dan kecepatan dengan mana ia mengulang suara pada hari berikutnya.

HISTORY OF MEMORY The ancient Greeks so revered memory that they worshipped
Mnemosyne, mother of the Muses, as its goddess. Mnemosyne, whose name lives on in the
phrase " mnemOnIC device" for any memory aid, gave her boon in the form of a wax tablet. The
philosopher Plato related how his teacher, Socrates, described the workIngs: "[W] henever we
want to remember something we've seen or heard or conceived on our own, we subject the
[wax] block to the perception of the idea and stamp the impression into it." Plato's student
Aristode argued that deficiencies of memory occur from imperfections in the wax. From wax
tablets in ancient times, through books and libraries in the Middle Ages, to photography and
telegraphy and computers, explanations for memory have evolved to keep pace with the times
and their science. English philosopher David Hartley (1705-1757) drew on the works of Sir Isaac
Newton, who believed all matter contained subtle vibrations, to postulate on the encoding of
memories through hidden motions in the nervous system. More than a century later, German
physiologist Ewald Hering (1834-1918) suggested that all organic matter contains memory. He
defined heredity as memory that passed from parent to child through germ cells. Psychologist
Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) attempted the first systematic studies of memory in 1885. In
one experiment, he forced himself to memorize long strings of nonsense syllablesbaf, dak, gel,
kim, wauch, and so forth-and then say them in order as quickly as he could. He thought,
correctly, that memory included the creation of associations in the brain, and he used nonsense
syllables because they had no preexisting associations. He discovered a correlation between the
number of times he repeated the syllable list on one day and the speed with which he repeated
the sounds the next. EXAMINING ASSOCIATIONS If the creatlon of memories involved
associations, where might these associations exist? German evolutionary biologist Richard
Semon (1859-1918) proposed in 1904 that experience leaves a physical trace on specific webs of
neurons. He called this ghostly trace an engram. American neuropsychologist Karl S. Lashley
(1890-1958) tried to find Semon's engrams and gave up in frustration. Lashley proposed a
counterargument that said memories become encoded through a form of "mass action"
throughout the brain. As a third alternative, Canadian neuropsychologist Donald O. Hebb (1904-
1985) argued for some localization of memories through modification of groups of "cell
assemblies" in the brain. To Hebb, learning and memory formed real, physical changes in the
neuronal circuits of cell assemblies. Under this theory, cell assemblies work in chains, so that one
element of memory-say, the name of an object-excites another assembly that encodes its
image. Hard evidence of physical alterations in neuronal connections arose in 2007 when
University of California at Irvine scientists demonstrated concrete changes in the synapses of
rats' brain critical to learning. A high-tech scanning technique called restorative deconvolution
microscopy found expanded synapses in the rats' hippocampus regions associated with learning
after the rats had mastered new tasks. WHAT IS MEMORY? Memory has three parts: encoding,
storage, and retrieval. Without encoding, the brain has nothing to process for storage. Without
storage, the brain would always live in the present. Without retrieval, memories stored in the
brain would remain there to no practical purpose. Memory must be stable enough to allow the
brain to build upon experiences, but flexible enough to adapt to changes in those experiences.
Some memories (What is my name?) need to remain constant, while others (My clothes are a
size larger now) must be modified to navigate through life. Encoding requires paying attention.
The strength of the memory may depend upon the type or amount of attention paid to stimuli.
Attention to the physical characteristics is encoded more shallowly than the sounds of words,
which are not as deeply encoded as the meaning of information processed by the cortex. In
addition, emotional content enhances encoding and can lead to so-called flashbulb memories,
which may include minute details of extremely emotional moments. A process called elaboration
associates new information with other information and adds strength to encoding. That's why
associating words with images, a common mnemonic device, increases the likelihood of their
recall. The brain's executive function then would have two ways to grasp the memory: visual and
verbal. Strategies to max1m1ze encodinginclude minimizing distractions, managing study time
effectively, analyzing the material instead of merely trying to memorize it, and using associative
memory techniques. Frequency of exposure helps too. Storage retains the information gathered
in the initial stages of encoding. The information passes into sensory memory as the brain
processes sensations such as sights and sounds. Some gets processed into short-term memory,
and a fraction makes it into longterm memory. Sensory memory lasts a fraction of a second, just
long enough to register a perception. Short-term memory lasts for about 20 to 30 seconds but
can be extended with practice. Psychologist Alan Baddeley proposed "working memory" as a
variation of this concept. Working memory holds information during cognition, including
sounds, images, and thoughts. HOW TO REMEMBER Long-term memory includes many types of
stored information, from facts to autobiographical bits to motor skills developed through
repetition. Memories called up by the conscious mind are called explicit, or declarative; those
automatically recalled during physical actions are implicit, or nondeclarative. Storage capacity of
long-term memory is believed to be virtually infinite. It's not clear whether forgetting occurs
because some long-term memories disappear, or whether they exist but cannot be recalled.
Retrieval may seem random, but it follows an orderly, cause-andeffect process. So-called
retrieval cues, to dredge up memories from long-term storage, may come from specific
thoughts or be suggested from outside, as during hypnoS1S. Associational organization of
information in the brain may cause one thought to naturally lead to another, which was encoded
at the same time, or in the same way, or with links to other information . Moods and physical
environments also can affect retrieval. Two types of retrieval are recall and recognition. Recall
involves memories of previously digested information. On a high school biology test, recall
would help you list the major phyla of the animal kingdom. Recognition is mere identification of
learned items. On that same test, recognition would allow you to pick out animal phyla from a
list that includes plants. ORGANIZING YOUR MEMORIES The brain's medial temporal lobe, which
includes the hippocampus and parahippocampal regions, forms webs of rich connections to the
cerebral cortex, helping create, organize, and store memories. The cortex itself is crucial to the
longterm storage of information such as events, facts, and daily routines. Remembrance of facts
and events is called declarative memory, whose retrieval requires conscious effort. Brain scans
indicate widespread regions of the cerebral cortex interact to support these memories.
Declarative memory's major forms include working, semantic, and episodic. It's balanced by
nondeclarative memory, which does its work without conscious direction. Working memory is
what the brain keeps handy to navigate through the world from second to second. One way to
think about it is to compare it to a computer monitor, which displays a portion of the
information held in the computer's memory for easy access and manipulation. New experiences
register through the senses and cognition and reside in the current moment of consciousness,
just as open documents fill the screen. Working memory depends on the prefrontal cortex's
interacting with other regions of the cerebrum. If the prefrontal cortex's executive function calls
upon long-term memories to enrich current experience, it interacts with posterior cortical areas,
where words, sounds, and images are stored for retrieval. STORAGE UNITS Semantic memory
involves knowledge about general facts and data. That includes much of the learning done in
the schoolroom but also recognition and naming of people, animals, places, and things. Neural
networks appear to be specialized for storing particular data and appear to be widely scattered
throughout the cerebral cortex. Episodic memories are the kind of biographical bits in which
people recall what happened to them at particular times and places. Initial processing and
storage of such episodic memories are believed to rely heavily on the medial temporal lobe and
parahippocampal region. Portions of the parahippocampal region process different bits of
episodic memory through different streams, bringing together neural nerworks that encode for
"what," "when," "where," and other details. These links then are stored in various cortical regions.
Dredging up a long-term memory brings together the individual bits-images, sounds, times,
places, and so forth-to complete the memory. Memory that is nondeclarative involves the rote
memory of deeper and older parts of the brain. It's the memory of how to perform learned
habits and skilled actions, such as typing, skiing, and dancing. Processing and storage occurs in
the cerebellum and basal ganglia. Memories that contain emotional content get an extra kick
from the amygdala, encoding them more powerfully than emotionally neutral stimuli. When
emotional memories are retrieved and expressed, the hypothalamus and the sympathetic
nervous system become activated, prompting physical changes in the body that are linked to
the expression of emotion. MEMORY and INTELLIGENCE To heck with a better mousetrap.
Science can build a better mouse. All it takes is a gene that alters the brain's receptors and
improves memory. In 1999, Joe Z. Tsien, a biologist at Princeton University, created a new strain
of mice called Doogies- after the whiz-kid doctor in a fictional TV series-by inserting a gene into
their hippocampus that extended receptor function . Normally, the receptors of nerve cells stay
active for a fraction of a second. The insertion of the new gene lengthened the activation period
by 150 percent, improving the mice's memory, because of the role of the hippocampus in
memory encoding, and their intelligence. Doogie mice easily outperformed regular mice in
intelligence tests. Doogies also had greater curiosity. Mice brains and human brains have the
same biological circuits, so it's no stretch to assume that increasing memory in humans also
would increase intelligence. Neurologist Richard Restak believes that makes perfect sense. ''An
increased memory leads to easier, quicker accessing of information, as well as greater
opportunities for linkages and associations," he said. ''And, basically, you are what you can
rememb e r. " Memory supports not only intelligence, but also language, motion, and everyday
cognition. Using working memory, the brain interacts with the world in the here and now. More
sophisticated communication requires an expansion of memory far beyond that of other
animals. A speaker and a listener need extensive short- and longterm memory to communicate
through symbols, using words that they have agreed to assign to particular objects. Memory
must keep track of the words and their meanings, as well as the syntax that puts them together.
As communication expanded to include long speeches and written documents in human history,
both short- and long-term memory adapted. Short-term memory allows the brain to track the
progress of individual phrases and bring order to sentences and paragraphs. Long-term memory
calls up the meaning of simple words as well as more abstract forms such as figures of speech
and metaphors; it suffered a blow when narrative works could be put on paper instead of
residing in oral traditions. PERSONAL CONNECTIONS One of the most important social
functions of memory is the recognition of faces. Most people can remember as many as 10,000,
and can identify as many as 90 percent of their school classmates by their yearbook photos after
an absence of35 years. Memory functions for facial recognition are not perfectly integrated,
however, as evidenced by the all too common ability to recognize someone but not remember a
name or how that person is familiar. Three regions of the brain activate when you recognize a
face. First is the inferior occipital gyri, which lie at the back of the brain where visual processmg
occurs. This pair of structures analyzes the bits and pieces that make up the face, including the
shape of the nose, lips, and eyes; wrinkles; skin tone; and other characteristics. Second is the
right fusiform gyrus, which recognizes the face. And third is the anterior temporal cortex, where
memories of specific faces are stored, allowing comparison between the recognized face and
the storehouse that provides identification. If the inferior occipital gyri fail to do their job, the
brain may miss important identifying information. Breakdown of the right fusiform gyrus may
lead to believing a variety of faces are those of one person. And problems in the anterior
temporal cortex may result in a profound inability to name people who are recognized. A well-
tuned ability to recognize faces promotes social bonds and social order as people recognize
each other and the roles they play.