Do humans ever run out of "memory"?

Question

I may seem a bit weird, or paranoid, but sometimes when I learn too much in one day (I'm still in school, and working on new departments in my job.) I feel like I may soon run out of space in my brain! :)

Is this possible, can we learn 'too' much and ever run out of memory like a computer, so to say?

Answer 1

while drinking tequila, i do feel as though i have ran out of memory.  i dont know if this is a side affect of drinking an absurd amount of smuggled illegal refreshments, or just the fact that during this process i actually do learn so much that my brain (or hard drive if you will) has exceeded it capactiy limitations.  i have been seriously thiniking about running a system defragment on my "hard drive" with a nice bottle of bombay saphire gin to see if this serious problem can somehow be resolved.  after i complete this process i will report back to you or let you "view my results" as soon as i can.  okay, to sum this up i think the answer is no.  i hope you have a wonderful night and try not to learn "too much" to the extent that it hinders your ability to perform the required daily duties of your "departmental" job.  ok, i love you.  bye bye now.

Answer 2

No, old memories get dropped.  

Answer 3

well ive heard that a human brain has a memory of about 7tb, but our memories over our lifetime take a small percentage. So theoreticly yes it is possible. But not in the standard 80 yrs

Answer 4

albert enstein would where the same color cloths so he wont have to fill his mind with unimportant stuff. The brain can hold but so much.

Answer 5

No, the computer metaphor of human cognition only goes so far.  In the brain, when a person learns something neural connections are strengthened to lead to that learning moment.  Because humans have plenty of neurons and neural connections work in such a way that multiple connections can occur for one neuron it is impossible (in a real-life, not theoretical sense) to run out of memory.  Now, a person with a memory disorder can "run out" of memory, however this would not be "running out" of space in the brain, but instead not being able to form neural connections.

The reason you feel that way after a long day at school is because you are fatigued.  It's not that you can't learn the material because you are out of space, it's that you are too tired to rehearse and synthesis the material in order to form the neural connections.  I tried to keep this as simplistic as possible but I am a neuroscientist so I'm a bit bad at simple explanations of a complex concept like learning.

Answer 6

Yes, i think we can hold around 80 gigs worth of memory

Answer 7

no. We cannot stop thinking either.

Answer 8

no...you never run out of "memory", but you do need to give yourself a break...sometimes if your taking in too much information at once it gets overwhelming...just take a break and come back to it another time if you can, and if you cant...just do the best you can ;)

Answer 9

People that live up to 110 still remember everything if they don't have altimeters.  So, by that logic you wont run out of memory up until your much older then 110.

If you are like 40 I think you're safe.

Answer 10

I hope not

But ure right it seems really weird

But if ure dumb u might lose memory

IF URE REALLY DUMB!!

Answer 11

no, knowledge is infinate. thats why you should take advantage of it, and learn as much as you can!  

Answer 12

We run out of memory at the moment of death!