Storage of memories depends on how we learned them.
Memories are stored in two different ways, depending on how we learned them, new research finds.
The brain uses one circuit if we learn a piece of information by association and another if we learn it by trial-and-error.
An example of learning by association is eating chocolate and finding it delicious.
In other words, we eat it once, find it is delicious and the behaviour is reinforced.
In contrast, we have to use trial-and-error learning when we have little experience of a situation, but we are trying to achieve a goal.
One example is trying to navigate a city when your phone’s battery is dead.
From experience we may have learned that following the river eastwards will lead roughly towards the centre.
Here we are applying a kind of statistical model built from previous experience.
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