KM and sensitization
This post points out how we make memories; and from it I reinforce that real KM is about dialogue, reframing to your context, and then acting on this to create personal knowledge; an imprint on our mind. When we act, dopamine runs to our prefrontal cortex…it can signal an important experience.
This adds another pattern to our mind and is correlated with other similar patterns…the prefrontal cortex performs a feedback loop using glutamate.
This makes the difference between “know-what” and “know-how”. When we have “know-how” we have the ability to assemble patterns and apply them to the context at hand, creating new personal knowledge (due to having an understanding of the fundamentals and skills)
Long term potentiation (LTP) is the basis of learning and memory. It can be summarized as “nerve cells that fire together, wire together.” Memories arise in two steps. First, your reward circuitry signals that an experience is important by sending dopamine to your prefrontal cortex (PFC). The more dopamine the more importance your brain attaches to an experience.
Second, the PFC responds to your “This is important!” signal by (1) knitting together everything associated with the reward, and (2) forming a neural feedback loop heading back to the reward circuitry. Thereafter, any thought, memory, or cue associated with a particular reward activates the pathway, and sets your reward circuitry a buzzin’.
It could be smells associated with your favorite burger joint. For a tomcat it could be the hole in the fence that led to a female in heat. For a bird it might be seeing the guy who fills the birdfeeder. Its evolutionary purpose is to help you remember the who, what, where, when and how of sex, food and rock ‘n’ roll.
Importantly, the feedback loop doesn’t run on dopamine. It runs on glutamate. Both neurochemicals have the power to activate “Go get it!” signals in your reward circuitry.
With sensitization, explicit memories (such as facts and events) transform into habits, which are known as implicit memories. Example: knowing how to ride a bike without thinking
Reward circuit (dopamine) → PFC (associations formed) → feedback loop (glutamate) to reward circuit.
An extended snippet is here.
Related
We need to study memory to understand KM
Neuronal rhythms impact memory
synaptic plasticity - neurons that fire together, wire together
Capture as it happens - Memory fades, protecting our world view, and forcing cause and effect
Memory is like a journal: selective, incomplete, and subject to interpretation
