How do we remember things?

The processes of learning, memory and understanding are directly related to behaviour. Almostall human behaviour is learned. Learning takes place all the time. The brain keeps a trace of all the events taking place in our life.

According to psychologists there are four kinds of learning. Classical conditioning is the simplest kind of learning. Ivan Pavlov studied it during early 1900s. He offered a dog food and at the same time rang a bell. The sight of food made the dog's mouth water. Pavlov called this an unconditioned response because it was not learned. Soon, however, ringing the bell was enough to cause the dog's mouth to water. This was called conditioned response. Classical conditioning is often called respondent learning.
Another form of learning is called instrumental learning. Often a person learns to do something as a result of what happens after the person does it.
Multiple response learning is third type and happens when a skill is learned. A sequence of simple things must first be learned. Using a typewriter is our kind of multiple-response learning. At first, a person has to type letter by letter. With practice, the person learns to type word by word or phrase by phrase.
Fourth type of learning is insight learning. It means solving a problem through understanding how the different parts of a problem fit together. A simple example is that of a young child wanting to climb on top of a table. The child may use a stool to get on to chair and then use the chair to climb onto the table.
There are two basic theories to explain as how we memories events. According to one theory, memory is said to be stored in the brain as a memory trace. When we learn or experience something, impulses are generated in the nerves of the brain. These impulses impart their effects in the brain in the form of a record. According to the other theory, sensations created by learning produce some permanent changes in the brain which remain there in the form of memory. According to some biologists, the R.N.A. (ribo-nucleic acid) present in the brain keeps the record of events. It has been observed that the quantity of R.N.A present in the brain keeps o increasing from the age of three to the age of forty. During these years, the memory of the man also increases. The quantity of R.N.A is almost constant from the age of 40 to 55 or 60. Therefore man's memory is almost constant during this period. After the age of 60, the quantity of R.N.A. starts decreasing and so does the memory.
The only effective way of remembering something is to repeat it many times. Interest is very important. Boring things are much more difficult to remember than something that we understand and are interested in. Motivation or wanting to do something, is also important.