My Memory Lane

How are memories retained in a limited amount of physical space in the mind?

Taking into consideration the vast expansive of knowledge to be acquired in one’s lifetime, how are memories retained in a limited amount of physical space in the mind? “Where actually are the images when they are not actually in mind? If an image is by its nature an act of consciousness, whereby we apprehend objects not immediately present to our senses, how to images exist outside of consciousness during intervals when they do not function in remembering, imagining, or other acts of knowing? Their return to consciousness seems to imply that they have been retained, but where and how is the problem not solved by the metaphor of things stored away in a capacious barn.” Please list ANY sources (fiction, nonfiction, film, music, etc.) you know that discuss Memory and Imagination or that use it as a recurrent theme throughout its work. A good example would be the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," but I'm looking for more readings. Thank you! First, those millions of active cells die, and they never reproduce (stuck in Interphase). Second, If there is no physical limitation... If the brain is capable of folding over and on itself infinitely, then how do you explain the increasing difficulty of learning new things--like learning a new language--as time progresses, and consequently as memories bulid up in the mind?

Public Comments

1. On the road to true enlightenment you find that space is meaningless. Mass is meaningless. Size is meaningless. Time is a convenient illusion. Human communication is meaningless. You are meaningless. The only transcendent reality is thought. With the physical world and the self non-transcendent illusions and thought the only realm of reality is it really hard to understand that all the functions of the mind can occupy such a small space? All that truly exists is thought. The physical nodes of its operation are only created in the delusion of the physical universe. But I'm sure you would have found the answer for yourself someday.
2. There is no such thing as limited physical space for memory in your brain,with practice and exercise of the brain,any amount of things can be remembered
3. limited?!!!! you 're talking about millions of active cells
4. To answer your first question, the brain has BILLIONS and not MILLIONS of neurons, and therefore is capable of encoding a vast amount of information. Think about an iPod; it is pretty small but can hold thousands and thousands of songs. Your brain is far more dense than a flash memory card on an iPod. During your life, you will remember many things, but you will forget many things too. Your brain isn't called upon to remember everything. To answer your additional submission: the brain is not capable of "folding up on itself" an infinite number of times. The difficulty of learning new things (especially after adolescence) is because your brain starts removing excess neural connections in the brain while simultaneously generating a fatty tissue (called a myelin sheath) around each neuron. The myelin sheath allows brain signals to travel faster. This process of trimming excess connections and increasing myelination allows the brain to increase in efficiency while decreasing in flexibility.