Reskin Menu

Could the human mind ever run out of memory?

George McKenzie, by email

In one sense, yes. Memory depends on forming new neural connections, and the brain has a finite number of neurones and a limited space in which to add more connections between them. Yet in another sense a healthy brain can never stop learning.

There is really no such thing as ‘a memory’. When we remember a fact or an event that happened to us, many networks of interconnected cells are involved. Sometimes, if we can’t remember an event one way, we can bring it to mind another way using different connections.

As we age, and have more and more to remember, the connections get more complex. When our brains are overloaded the same neurones are used in multiple memories in very flexible ways. So we might become more likely to confuse events, or have other difficulties in remembering, but we can’t really say that we ‘run out of memory’.

Comments: 0
Q&A Tabs
Is time real or an illusion?

Diverse thinkers, from the ancient Greek philosophers through contemporary quantum cosmology and eternal inflation theory, have called time an illusion. For them, the perception of time passing...

Is swallowing your own phlegm harmful?

Phlegm is the mucous secretion of the respiratory passages. The cilia cells that line these passages are continually driving the phlegm upward to the throat, where it triggers the swallow reflex...

Can I get sunburnt through glass?

Ordinary glass absorbs 97 per cent of the UVB rays that cause sunburn and some skin cancers, and 37 per cent of the less harmful UVA radiation. This translates to a protection of about SPF30, so...

What is the record for the most languages spoken by one person?

It depends on how high (or low) you set the bar of fluency. Ziad Fazah, born in Liberia, brought up in Beirut and now living in Brazil, claims to be the world's greatest living polyglot, with a...

Why do we salivate before we vomit?

Vomiting is a deliberate response by the body that evolved as a purging mechanism to remove toxins or foreign bodies from the stomach and oesophagus. Since stomach contents are highly acidic,...

Is time real or an illusion?

Diverse thinkers, from the ancient Greek philosophers through contemporary quantum cosmology and eternal inflation theory, have called time an illusion. For them, the perception of time passing...

Why don't passenger seats on aircraft face backwards?

Air crash investigators have found that flight stewards in rear-facing seats have suffered less severe injuries in accidents than forward-facing passengers. This is because the energy from the...

Does Britain still lead the world in anything?

While Britons have pioneered all sorts of things from the steam engine and the computer to passenger jets and rugby football, we have dismally failed to maintain world dominance in much at all...

Why does time seem to go faster as we get older?

Most people agree that the years seem to pass at an ever-accelerating rate. That’s because traditions, anniversaries and celebrations gradually accumulate and merge, so that the difference...

Can I get sunburnt through glass?

Ordinary glass absorbs 97 per cent of the UVB rays that cause sunburn and some skin cancers, and 37 per cent of the less harmful UVA radiation. This translates to a protection of about SPF30, so...