The brain’s memory is never full, like a smartphone or computer. The night before an exam or under pressure from work, it often feels like there is no space in the brain, but neuroscience says that there is no specific limit to how much information can be stored in a healthy brain. Elizabeth Kensinger, a psychologist at Boston College in the United States, said that there is no limit to how much information can be stored in the brain. Memory is information or data, which helps in understanding the present and making predictions.
No single piece of information is stored in a single cell in the brain. A memory is spread across many neurons. This cluster of neurons is called an engram. These are a connected group of neurons spread across different regions of the brain. Scientists call this distributed representation. In this process, each neuron becomes part of different memories. For example, in the memory of a birthday, the taste of cake, song, emotion, light, etc. activate different regions of the brain. Such as the visual cortex, test cortex, auditory system and emotional center. When this specific pattern is reactivated, that memory is remembered.
Paul Reber, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University, says that this distributed representation system is what makes the brain so powerful. Since each neuron can be part of many memories, the number of combinations increases three-dimensionally. As a result, it is possible to store billions of memories. Even if some neurons are damaged, the memory is not completely lost.
However, we cannot remember all the information. Because the brain constantly receives countless information, but does not store all of it. Although the brain is like a camera, it does not capture all the scenes. Only the important information is transformed into long-term memory, which is called consolidation. Only one-tenth of what we see or experience is converted into long-term memory.
A psychologist at Columbia University named Laila Davachi says that the brain has evolved not to remember information perfectly, but to survive. Our brain retains memories that are useful or necessary for life. When the same information is repeatedly received, the brain remembers it in summary form, not in detail. For example, memories of going to school or office every day are not remembered separately, but rather are stored as a whole experience.
Therefore, the brain’s memory is never full. It is constantly learning from past experiences, making predictions for the future, and remembering important things. So there is nothing to worry about if you forget some small things. Your brain was busy remembering more important information at that time.
Source: livescience.com
