If you lose your memory...why don't you forget how to read & write & talk etc?

Question

Is that in a different part of your brain?

Answer 1

You can have a stroke and lose your ability to talk, I suppose because that part of your brain is damaged, I don't know if you'd call that forgetting though. I guess you are talking more about going senile or having Alzheimer's?

Edit

I had a look to see what wiki says about Alzheimer, it says "In the last stage of Alzheimer's disease the subject with the disease is fully dependent. Language is reduced to simple phrases or even single words before being lost altogether."

Answer 2

Most people who get amnesia never actually lost their memory.  Most of the time, amnesia is triggered by some kind of psychological trauma, and while it is involuntary, it is still caused by the brain itself.  Generally, most people eventually recover from amnesia.

Other amnesia is caused by physical trauma (getting hit on the head) and may result in permanent memory loss and/or partial paralysis (depending on what part of the brain was damaged).  Typical amnesia, that is, forgetting one's identity but experiencing no loss of skills, is not experienced in cases of physical trauma only (except in cases where it lasts only for a very short time and is often attributed to shock).  Typical amnesia is a psychological issue.  Other types of amnesia caused by physical issues may be permanent and often affect other areas of the brain as well, causing any of a variety of other mental illnesses, paralysis, etc.

Answer 3

that along with breathing and keeping your heart beating are things you don't forget because they are stored in the CNS you never forget them. For example if you become a pro skater you might forgethow to do tricks but you will always know how to ride one. Its because you do them on a daily basis and

it gets transfers from the RNS to the CNS

Answer 4

You said it! It's in a different part of the brain. And reading, writing and talking are not merely memories that you could lose but those were skills that you use everyday in your life and it will stay in your brain no matter what happen to your memories.

Answer 5

The human brain is divided up into many specialized areas that perform the many necessary functions of daily life.  A given function may be lost if a specialized area or neural pathways connected to other parts of the brain are affected by trauma or disease.  Memory of past events may be lost without affecting areas and pathways that control riding a bike, etc.