Is there a limit to how much the brain can remember?

Question

i would think that since memory is formed by how the brain is wired, and the brain is limited, there would be a limit....

when i'm studying for exams and such, i wonder whether learning information that i don't need for the exams will mean that i remember less of what i do need to know?

i haven't seen this question asked in this section and would appreciate your thoughts on the issue, as they may well differ from what people in Psychology are saying, as u may know more about the brain's anatomy than they do.

thank you

Answer 1

This is an absolutely fascinating question.

There's a famous passage from the Sherlock Holmes books in which Watson teaches him something that it seems incredible that he doesn't already know and Holmes says that now that he knows, he will do his best to forget it because everything new that he learns pushes out something that he knew before, and he doesn't want any extraneous fact knocking around in his skull.

We no longer think that's true (and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may have been a doctor, but I'm not sure he was a very good one).  There is very good evidence to show that there is no real limit.  There may be a practical limit, and trying to take in too much information too quickly may result in losing a lot of it in the long term, but when you think about how much you *know*--not just facts, but processes and directions and prices and scores and the schedule of your favorite reality show--you have to realize that you can always learn more.

Brains are plastic, meaning that they remodel themselves in intricate ways that we absolutely do not completely understand.  I doubt very much that there is any hard limit to how much a brain can take in.  Don't worry about cramming, although the phenomenon of forgetting most of it right after the exam is pretty common too.  Maybe one of these days you'll discover something really groundbreaking by asking questions like this.  ;-)

And good luck on the exams in question, by the way.

Answer 2

There is no limit to what the brain can learn as long as you continue challenging yourself everyday into your elderly years instead of "slowing down."

Answer 3

Great question - complicated answer.  In short, no one knows.  There are so many different definitions of what 'memory' actually is.  There are certainly some savants (autistic persons) with incredible capacity for memory that in limited topics can easily reach into the millions of individual facts.  There some scientific estimates of specific types of memory for the average human:

Language:  25,000-50,000 words

Picture recognition:  >10,000

Facts:  100,000

Since no one really fully understands what is happening in the brain to create a memory, it is impossible to answer.  Most can always assimilate new information, and it doesn't necessarily "push out" old memories.  There is more likely an endless possible number of connections that can be made, but many insignificant memories will be 'lost' if your brain doesn't use them or have them linked to some other important emotion/experience, etc.

Answer 4

I don't know exactly how much the brain can remember, but memory is made by creases in the brain's surface. The deeper the crease, the stronger the memory. When you sleep, your brain tries to sort things out and throw out what it doesn't think is important, so that you can remember more important things for later. There is also stuff that you can remember for a short while then forget later (i.e. cramming for a test), but if that later is after exams, then oh well! The capacity of your memory really depends on your genes and your brain surface area, etc.

When you're studying, just remember to make your brain think it's very important stuff, by, for example, reviewing over and over again, or telling yourself a joke about it...(sometimes it works!) It's not that the unrelated stuff you learn will push out whatever's in your brain about exams, it's just that your brain might or might not discern which is the important information. For me, it makes no difference if I study other stuff or not.

I don't have any real knowledge about psychology, but this is what I'm learned for myself.

Oh and also, good luck on exams, and remember to sleep well before because your brain needs the rest to drill in the knowledge you just sent in. You might want to refamiliarize yourself with the material the morning of the exam too (just a brief, cursury look over, or just one fact...it always helps me). Sleeping definitely helps, especially when it comes to practicing and instrument; this is from my personal experience.

Good luck on exams!!!

Answer 5

Yes there is a limit. As we get older, all that knowledge and memories are shifted to fat cells around the waist to take the overflow from the brain.

Actually, we get more selective about what we remember. Things that are unimportant are forgotten pretty fast.

Immediate recall is limited to 7+/-2 items. THat is why there are hyphens in telephone numbers- we "clump" information. 407-555-1212 is only  3 items

It is normal to forget about 50% of everything you read or hear within 30 minutes. Repetition helps hard-wire important information in. So you cram for an exam, pass the test, but never use that information again- it soon fades because it has not been reinforced by repetition.

Answer 6

The brain can and does increase the number of neurons and connections.  It tends to increase around what you are studying so it is probably not a simple zero sum game where you loose some memory when you learn something new.  There is a limit though so I guess that is why some of us filter what we remember by how interesting it is to us.  When I see how much memory some of the savants have, I don't think most of us need to worry about overfilling the tank.

Answer 7

It would be nice to know that, but the actual mechanism of memory storage in the brain is not known, yet.

I can tell you that the memory is infinite, I have read thousands of pages of pharmacology and physiology in days past and had no problem recalling them (some word for word).

On the other hand, my wife will tell you that memory is finite and for her to remember something new, she has to forget something else first.

Perhaps, we are both right.

It is my firm belief that the soul does not reside in the brain but rather in the spirit world and that most memory is with the soul and not just an array of bits in molecules in a brain cell.

Sorry to get religious on you when you are just trying to find a better way to study, but I can't seem to sort out what is important to remember and what  needs to be forgotten.

I find it easier just to remember everything and pick out the important stuff as I need it.

Old Doc