Several brain areas are involved in the creation and storage of memory. The medial temporal region is responsible for forming and organizing memory, while cortical areas are important for the long term storage of knowledge and facts and for how this knowledge is used in everyday situations.

Although much still remains to be discovered about the working of the memory, scientists have already obtained important knowledge. For example, the brain seems to process different kinds of information in diverse ways and then store it in an alternative manner

Types of Memory

Declarative knowledge requires processing in the medial temporal region and parts of the thalamus and can be divided into three types of memory.

Working memory: This a type of transient memory that allows us to retain what someone just said long enough to reply. It depends on parts in the prefrontal cortex. Certain neurons in this area are influenced by other neurons releasing dopamine and glutamate.
Episodic memory: This second type of memory depends on the hippocampus and lets us store and replay events in our minds.
Semantic memory: This is stored throughout the cerebral cortex and includes raw facts and data.

Nondeclarative knowledge, the knowledge of how to do something, is expressed by skilled behavior and learned behavior and requires processing by the basal ganglia. Here two type can be discerned.

Emotional aspects of memory: Here, the amygdale plays an important role. A relevant factor that influences what is stored and how strongly it is stored is whether the action is followed by reward punishment or highly emotional consequences. These consequences determine what behaviors will be learned end remembered.
Motor memory: The memory of motor tasks which involve a precise timing depend on the cerebellum.

Changing Neurons

After years of study, it is currently thought that memory involves a persistent change in the connection between neurons. Animal studies have shown that this occurs in the short term through two biochemical events that affect the strength of the relevant synapses.

The stability of long term memory is conferred by turning on genes that may lead to modifications within neurons that change the strength, number and stability of synapses. For example, researchers can correlate specific chemical and structural changes in the relevant cells with several simple forms of memory exhibited by the sea slug Alypsia californica.

Several Systems

There is no single brain center for memory. It is most likely stored in distributed collections of cortical processing systems that are also involved in the perception, processing and analysis of the material being learned. In conclusion, each part of the brain most likely contributes in a different way to permanent memory storage.