Where do human memories get stored and in what form?
1 Answer
Brain areas involved in the neuroanatomy of memory such as the hippocampus, the amygdala, the striatum, or the mammillary bodies are thought to be involved in specific types of memory.
Explanation:
Scientists do not yet understand many things about human memory and many of the ideas and theories about it are still quite controversial. For instance, most scientists agree that it is very useful to describe human memory as a set of STORES which are "places" to put information, plus a set of PROCESSES that that can help find your way around the store.
It is not sufficient to describe memory, and its counterpart, learning, as solely dependent on specific brain regions.
This process differs both structurally and functionally from the creation of working or short-term memory.
Although the short-term memory is supported by transient patterns of neuronal communication in the regions of the frontal, prefrontal and parietal lobes of the brain, long-term memories are maintained by more stable and permanent changes in neural connections widely spread throughout the brain.
The hippocampus area of the brain essentially acts as a kind of temporary transit point for long-term memories, and is not itself used to store information.
However, it is essential to the consolidation of information from short-term to long-term memory, and is thought to be involved in changing neural connections for a period of three months or more after the initial learning.
It was said that memories are stored in between neurons. But even though their are billions of connections, this number may not be enough. It also has been said that memories are encoded in actually changes in DNA.
The best answer, right now, is that we really don't have a complete picture.
