Researchers May Have Discovered How Memories Are Encoded In the Brain

Zothecula writes "While it's generally accepted that memories are stored somewhere, somehow in our brains, the exact process has never been entirely understood. Strengthened synaptic connections between neurons definitely have something to do with it, although the synaptic membranes involved are constantly degrading and being replaced – this seems to be somewhat at odds with the fact that some memories can last for a person's lifetime. Now, a team of scientists believe that they may have figured out what's going on. Their findings could have huge implications for the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer's."

Comments

They are etched

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

by tiny Gnomes, with silver hammers.

This is known, even by the most obtuse of my Aunts.

religious implications?

[Anonymous Coward]

If memories are stored in meat...how come we still have them in the afterlife?

Re:religious implications?

[gestalt_n_pepper]

Well, isn't that a cheery little missive? Tell me again what the appeal of this religion is? Is it the central zombie figure? The ritual cannibalism? The dramatic "death from above" episodes?

Re:religious implications?

[kanweg]

Yes, here you can read up on that.
http://www.jhuger.com/kisshank.php

Bert

They solved it

[Anonymous Coward]

but then they slept on it and forgot

Get your ass to Mars.

[Rodness]

How much will it cost me to remember being an invincible secret agent on Mars??

Cloud Storage

[InfiniteZero]

Well, the religious types will tell you there is also a backup copy stored somewhere, somehow in the cloud, literally.

Re:Fuck GizMag

[Ihmhi]

Wait, so the human body does nightly backups? That is awesome.

Re:Fuck GizMag

[Centurix]

It uses crantab

The brain does not store memories

[JRHelgeson]

The Spirit that inhabits your body, that is the recording medium. When you die, you take all those memories and everything you've learned with you. It's really quite simple. The spirit is the recording medium, and the the human brain is the spiritual to physical interface adapter.

Essentially, those neurons are nothing more than your hard drive cable. The scientists can see the data traveling down the cable, then they can see the data traveling back, then they wonder... 'hmm, how on EARTH does this cable store so much data?' It would all be so much easier to understand if they would just acknowledge the existence of a hard drive.

Re:The brain does not store memories

[swell]

Billions of neurons and trillions of synaptic connectors can not explain the miracle of memory, learning or inspiration. The higher function of the brain is to connect us with the infinite found in another dimension. There it connects with a storehouse of information and wisdom partly shared with others.

Given sufficient energy, the brain accesses this storehouse more or less efficiently and produces results that lead to intelligence and success in navigating what we perceive as the world around us.

It would be premature at this time to introduce the idea that this storehouse is shared with brains on other worlds, but it's worth considering for those with hyper connectivity.