Do memories occupy a physical space in the brain?
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Sort of, but with billions of neurons it’s impossible to track it down where a particular memory is.
We know where the different types of memories are mainly due to studying brain injuries. Your working memory is housed in the prefrontal cortex. Episodic and sensory memory will likely be stored in the hippocampus. Not all long term memory is stored there though, it’s believed that some of it gets transferred to the cerebral cortex. An injury to your hippocampus causes amnesia, but you don’t lose everything. I believe more episodic memories stay in the hippocampus.
Now these neurons are only able to be recalled through the paths between the neurons called axons. These neurons will be activated and depending on how much activation will determine the strength of the path making it easier to recall. It’s why you have to recite a phone number (from working memory) over and over, while something traumatic (episodic in hippocampus) will get a very strong activation. You can’t recall every episodic memory because your brain can’t remember the path, just like you can’t remember every phone number.
It’s been a long time since I took neuropsych so take that with a grain of salt, plus I haven’t kept up with the research since which is constantly getting better.
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