MACHINERY OF MEMORY IDENTIFIED

This ScienceDaily article provides good evidence for what I have long postulated is the way memory functions is set up and functions--i.e., that the brain uses a molecular addressing system to mark a network, a pattern, of neurons that constitute a specific memory.

Just as we put addresses into the nodes on a computer network so that messages get to the right one, so the brain does something similar. We, subconsciously, have emulated, very crudely, how our own brains work.

And just as a computer network hunts for the right node, so a neuron hunts for the connections that have the same molecular marker on a synapse. That explains why we almost get a memory, it is on the tip of our tongues, then 'Ah, got it!' as the last neurons are found.

That system would also make the most efficient use of neurons, because the same ones could be used for many different memories. Each one could have many different molecular addresses, linking it under different circumstances to a vast range of different network patterns. Otherwise the brain would be in danger of running out of storage. But with a hundred billion neurons, each with a myriad of molecular addresses, the storage and processing power would be infinite.