Why our memory never wobbles riding a bike

WE’RE being urged to stay off public transport ( to avoid coronavirus) and discouraged us from driving (polluting) cars, so like millions of others in lockdown, I decided to get on my bike — literally.

I haven’t ridden for about 25 years, but it’s true what they say: you never forget how to do it.

It got me thinking: why do I remember how to do this but have forgotten so many other things over the years — the languages I once studied or historical facts I memorised?

How certain memories stick in the brain and others disappear baffled neurologists for years. Then in 1953, a 27-year- old American called Henry Gustav

Molaison offered some insight into what constitutes memory.

He had surgery to try to cure his epilepsy and it went badly wrong, damaging part of the brain where new memories form.

For the next 55 years, until his death in 2008, he lived in the permanent present. Each time he met a friend or ate a meal, it was as if for the first time. He had no ability to build memories and store them.

It’s been suggested that because procedural memory — such as learning to ride a bike — involves the basal ganglia, cells deep within the brain, they are possibly more protected from day-to-day damage. Other types of memory involve multiple parts of the brain that might be more vulnerable.

One of my dementia patients didn’t know what day of the week it was or, recognise her husband. And yet she could play Beethoven on the piano flawlessly. The human brain is truly remarkable.