I just thought about this.......
How do our brains store all informations (memories, skills etc) we know?
Do they do that by designating some areas where electrical currents with constant size and form flow nonstop there?
Or do they store it by modifying some chemical substances in the brain so that one type of substance belong to one type of memory and so on?
Or do brains have some kind of 'DNA's (or such things)?

Start here: http://science.howstuffworks.com/brain.htm

One of the problems facing neural science is how to explain evidence that local lesions in the brain do not selectively impair one or another memory trace. Note that in a hologram, restrictive damage does not disrupt the stored information because it has become distributed. The information has become blurred over the entire extent of the holographic film, but in a precise fashion that it can be deblurred by performing the inverse procedure.

Comparison between Karl Pribram's "Holographic Brain Theory" and more conventional models of neuronal computation (http://www.acsa2000.net/bcngroup/jponkp/#chap5)

Biomimetic Intelligence is the science of understanding and replicating the processing mechanisms and structure of the brain. Traditional neural networks have little or no resemblance to actual neurological structures, and more importantly, have proven to be very limited in capability.

Biomimetic Intelligence (http://www.andcorporation.com/frame_technology.html)

PUNKY WAS A SALAMANDER. Or at least he had the body of a salamander. But his cranium housed the brains of a frog. I'd spent an entire season at the fringe of his clear-water world, asking who he was, with the neural juice of a totally different animal racing around inside, turning him on, tuning him in to his environment at a wave band beyond a normal salamander's spectrum. The answers, borne by his actions, flattened my scientific detachment, I confess.

Shufflebrain (http://www.indiana.edu/~pietsch/shufflebrain.html)

"Do they do that by designating some areas where electrical currents with constant size and form flow nonstop there?"


Not quite, that would be horrendously inefficient and dangerous (think of all that current flowing around!!!!). Not TOO far off the mark though. From what I've read before, brains store information using certain brain cells which act as tiny capacitors where charge can be stored or taken away. Scientists are not certain yet but it seems the brain works in much the same way as a computer - in binary code. This theory also explains why memories fade - the charge from some of these old capacitors will eventually leak.

well, assuming that our brains store data in the form of static electricity (capacitance model), there must be at least two groups of data-storing cells, one is possibly located on the cerebrum, and the other lie(s) in Cerebelum or other parts of a brain-------> this can also proof if amnesia does not affect 'lifetime skills', don't you agree?

So I guess electric shock therapy to the brain was not a good idea.:m:

Originally posted by curioucity
I just thought about this.......
How do our brains store all informations (memories, skills etc) we know?
Do they do that by designating some areas where electrical currents with constant size and form flow nonstop there?
Or do they store it by modifying some chemical substances in the brain so that one type of substance belong to one type of memory and so on?
Or do brains have some kind of 'DNA's (or such things)?
Nobody knows.

"...in binary code. This theory also explains why memories fade - the charge from some of these old capacitors will eventually leak." - John Connellan

I do not agree with this, specifically the fading memories part. Our memories must fade because our consciousness can only process a limited amout of data at once (at least that is the case for me). Imagine that everytime you went to your favorite restaurant you vividly remembered every time you had been before. You would have to sift through all of these memories, and repress the ones you did not want or the ones that were trivial. Every action you did or was done to you would have this response. Our minds must subconsciuosly prioritize our memories and catagorize them in order of importance. This is why our strongest memories are usually unpleasant (so we can avoid a similar situation), the next strongest are the most pleasant ones (so we can attempt to duplicate them), and from their they usually fade in the order of use (least recalled fade first). All of our memories remain in our mind, this has been shown to be true by regression through hypnosis and by scientists physically stimulating individual parts or the brain. The fact that our memories fade is an efficient way to insure we do not become overloaded.

As far as the mind being a binary system, I am not sure. We see varying shades of grey pretty easily (that is a metaphor). And we have a difficult time with mathematics (this definitely is not proof that we do not think in binary code, but I think it is suspect). I think it is something a little more complicated. Many of my thoughs are in the form of images, this is probably why we are so good at pattern recognition. I really do not know...if I did I would build a computer in an attempt to duplicate it, but no such luck...

Canute - I respect your feedback, what are your ideas?

- KitNyx

Originally posted by KitNyx
Canute - I respect your feedback, what are your ideas?

- KitNyx
Ouch. I afraid don't have the faintest idea or a single thought on the subject. I can understand that it's an interesting scientific question but myself I'm not very interested in the physical mechanisms.

I'm more interested in the extraordinary and more abstract fact that there can be such a thing as memory, and that a strictly and completely physical entity such as a human being, put together by pure coincidence from lumps of dead matter, can be perfectly conscious of remembering things and of wondering how it happens.

If the current scientific method and consequent world-model is correct then our consciousness of our memories plays no part in determining our behaviour. Perhaps therefore the real question is what on earth are memories for?

I was under the impression that stronger inter neuronal connections were forged by thinking about things more often, so if you dont think about anything for a while, they weaken, and thus dont respond when stimulated.

Uh... does that mean memories and memorizing have something to do with Cerebelum instead of our Cerebrum?

Scientists are not certain yet but it seems the brain works in much the same way as a computer - in binary code. This theory also explains why memories fade - the charge from some of these old capacitors will eventually leak.
NO way!
I am from the field... and I can assure you that no scientist believes the brain works in binary code.

Curiocity,
The cerebellum is for motor regulation, has not much to do with the kind of memory under discusion.
The hippocampus and the cerebral cortex seem tobe most important for memory. (there's a good article on this: McClelland, McNaughton & O'Reilly, 1995, Psychologial Review Vol. 102, No. 3, pp. 419-457).

But I must say: this thread should be in human science!
somebody, please move this.

whoops, sorry if that causes some inconvenience to you...
when i started this thread, i didn't take the 'human science' cathegory into my consideration......

Merlijn: Since you work in the field maybe you could clarify a few things (or know people who can)?

I have studied the brain very little so pardon my ignorance. As everyone knows, the mind interacts with the world through the senses. I've always been fascinated with how this works. If what I understand is correct, touch is the easiest to grasp. Basically the nerves are stimulated by the environment and send an electrical signal to the brain, with the intensity of the signal telling the brain how much stimulation is on that area. (right?) What I don't understand is how the eyes can take in such a complex thing (billions of photons), translate that into an electrical signal, and send it along the optic nerve. Now obviously the the electrical signals are not in binary, so I'm correct in assuming they are in some sort of wave form? If so, will there ever be (or maybe there already is?) a way to attach wires or something to every fiber in the optic nerve, run it through some decoding program on a computer (what this thread is about), and get an image like you were that person? Maybe I'm crazy, but I think it would be really cool if you were able to do something like this and maybe be able to replace your eyes with complex cameras with zoom modes hehe. What are your guys thoughts?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Merlijn
[B]NO way!
I am from the field... and I can assure you that no scientist believes the brain works in binary code.

Curiocity,
The cerebellum is for motor regulation, has not much to do with the kind of memory under discusion.
The hippocampus and the cerebral cortex seem tobe most important for memory. (there's a good article on this: McClelland, McNaughton & O'Reilly, 1995, Psychologial Review Vol. 102, No. 3, pp. 419-457).


Merlijn, its just that I knew that I read in an article that the brain stores information electrically like capacitors so I just assumed memory would be coded as binary. I should have said in that sentence that "it seems TO ME the brain works...etc".
I hope u understand.
p.s. do u actually know how memory is stored yet???

First let me state with what "authority" I speak on the subject.
I have a master's title in cognitive psychology. I do not any more work in the field of cognitive sciences, I have done scientific research for two years at the University in Amsterdam.
The precise functioning of the brain is not within the field of my specialisation.

ericfost,
Many have thought of the implications of a device that can read patterns in the nervous system. Dennett even wrote a story of his brain being in another man's body, communicating with that body through such a machine.
There are however two problems with a machine like that. the first is that the nervous system is simply too compex to make it feasable. The other, more important, is that every nervous system is unique. This makes the problem of making the machine even harder to realise. But I think in principle it may be possible.
However, will youalso experience the scenbnery in a similar way as the person whose eyes you are seeing with?

Your fascination for how the mind interacts with the senses is exactly why I studied cognitive psychology.

John,
The neurons in our nervous system can be viewed as electrical wires. At some occasions a neuron may become active and will "fire". This means that a signal travels from one end of the cell to the other. This signal does have binary-like properties: it is either present or it is not (all-or-none type of signal). The intensity of the activation of a neuron is coded in the frequency of the firing.

However, the processing in the nervous system is much more complex. For example, the system works in a higly parrallel way. Also, when the signals of many neurons come together they can have very complex interactions. Furthermore, the behaviour of the nervous system is influenced by the "climate" (e.g. hormonal levels) in the body.

The neurons communicate with each other through neurotransmitters at the synapases. Learning seems to take place at the level of the synapses, where the receptor sites may become more sensitive for the neurotransmitter, or less sensitive and the neurotransmitters may even be blocked alltogether.
In this way the neural pathways and the transformations on the neural signals are altered. This is thought to be the mechanism at which learning and memory takes place.
However, this does not constrain the how memory functions at a somewhat higher level of description: that of the semantic level. We know what biological processes underly learning and memory, but how the contents of memory are stored is still not known.

I hope this helps.