Science · The Earth and the Universe

How does the brain store memories?

A memory is not a file: it is a path the brain has learned to walk again.

Memory & neurons3 min read5 partsQuiz of 8 questions
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Anne Foerster Nueroscientist · Hippocampus detour after 19 days, brain 77 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Part 1 of 5 · freeIntroduction

We often imagine memory as a hard drive. In reality it is a living network. Billions of neurons, the cells of the nervous system, reconnect, strengthen or weaken according to what we live through.

Nothing is stored in a single place. A memory is a trace spread across the network, fragile at first, sturdier after sleep, and always rebuilt a little whenever we recall it.

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  1. 2Connections that grow stronger
  2. 3The hippocampus, station master of memory
  3. 4Remembering means rebuilding
  4. 5Several memories in a single brain
Open-book quiz8 questions whose answers are in the text.
Glossary7 terms explained in a tap.
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