Do memories occupy a physical space in the brain?
In: 329
If I’m interpreting your question correctly: No.
Think of how a computer’s storage works first: You can definitely say computer data takes up physical space, and you can even point out exactly where that data exists: it’s in the hard drive. Literal arrays of 1’s and 0’s that correspond *exactly* to the information they represent. This data can be copied, deleted, moved around and changed however you like. Its *tangible*.
Your brain doesn’t work like this at all. Even if you had a perfect understanding of the brain, and scanners advanced enough that you could pick out the tiniest signals inside your brain cells, you would never be able to track down and copy your most embarrassing memory onto a hard drive, and this is *not* just because you don’t have a USB port on the side of your head. You can’t just upload a foreign language into your brain the way you can install an app on your phone, and that’s not just because your brain doesn’t have a wifi antennae. Its because there is no “real” information in your head that can be copied, deleted, or edited like on a computer
I’m not enough of an expert to say exactly how the brain does store memories, but hopefully this contrast with computer memory helps put it somewhat in perspective. The brain is insanely weird.
If you want to learn more, read this:
https://aeon.co/essays/your-brain-does-not-process-information-and-it-is-not-a-computer
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