A greater number of synapse sizes means more capacity for storing information, which in this case translated into a fold greater storage capacity in the hippocampus as a whole than the previous three-size model had indicated. But if our memory capacity is so great, why do we forget things? Imagine an iPod with infinite storage capacity. Even if you can store every song ever written, you still have to buy and upload all that music and then pull individual songs up when you want to play them.
The Salk study brings us a bit closer, though. But first scientists will have to see if the patterns found in the hippocampus hold for other brain regions. They hope to map the chemicals, which pass from neuron to neuron, that have an even greater capacity than the variable synapses to store and transmit information.
Jeneen Interlandi is a New York City—based journalist who writes about health, science and the environment. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. As more studies are coming out — it is only a matter of time until we truly find out how much the human brain can store. The human brain and nervous system is prone to the same kinds of problems as any other part of our bodies, and we at CNS are here to help people manage — or return — their brain and nervous system to peak operational ability.
What is the Memory Capacity of a Human Brain? To learn more about establishing neurological care with neurologist at Clinical Neurology Specialists, please contact us for further assistance. Go to Top. The human brain may be able to hold as much information in its memory as is contained on the entire Internet, new research suggests. Researchers discovered that, unlike a classical computer that codes information as 0s and 1s, a brain cell uses 26 different ways to code its "bits.
What's more, the human brain can store this mind-boggling amount of information while sipping just enough power to run a dim light bulb. By contrast, a computer with the same memory and processing power would require 1 gigawatt of power, or "basically a whole nuclear power station to run one computer that does what our 'computer' does with 20 watts," said study co-author Tom Bartol, a neuroscientist at the Salk Institute. In particular, the team wanted to take a closer look at the hippocampus, a brain region that plays a key role in learning and short-term memory.
To untangle the mysteries of the mind , the research team took a teensy slice of a rat's hippocampus, placed it in embalming fluid, then sliced it thinly with an extremely sharp diamond knife, a process akin to "slicing an orange," Bartol said. Though a rat's brain is not identical to a human brain, the basic anatomical features and function of synapses are very similar across all mammals.
The team then embedded the thin tissue into plastic, looked at it under a microscope and created digital images. Next, researchers spent one year tracing, with pen and paper, every type of cell they saw.
After all that effort, the team had traced all the cells in the sample, a staggeringly tiny volume of tissue. Next, the team counted up all the complete neurons, or brain cells , in the tissue, which totaled Of that number, had the complete structures the researchers were interested in. Neurons look a bit like swollen, misshapen balloons, with long tendrils called axons and dendrites snaking out from the cell body. Axons act as the brain cell's output wire, sending out a flurry of molecules called neurotransmitters, while tiny spines on dendrites receive the chemical messages sent by the axon across a narrow gap, called the synapse.
The specific spot on the dendrite at which these chemical messages are transmitted across the synapse is called the dendritic spine. The receiving brain cell can then fire out its own cache of neurotransmitters to relay that message to other neurons, though most often, it does nothing in response.
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