How much can the human brain remember?

ByPinkPersimon

Many people often have the desire to "have more memory," but in the world there are people with memory that is so high that they can not normally be thought of. The UK · BBC communicates its current status as to why they have had extremely high memory power, and also those who are not so equipped with high memory ability as well.

BBC - Future - What's the most we can remember?
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150401-whats-the-most-we-can-remember

As the capacity of the memory card in the digital camera becomes full, no more can be recorded, but the human brain seems to be slightly different. Human brain can increase memory by training, Lu, a Chinese graduate student who was 24 years old at that time, memorized the number of the circumference rate of 69,980 digits, took 24 hours I recited from the beginning and succeeded in making up the world record.

Having the ability to go far beyond such recordsSavan's syndromePeople. Savan's syndrome is a symptom of a person who exerts extremely superior ability only in a specific field among those who have mental retardation or developmental disorder, recalling details of complex scenes from name and date, There are people who show superhuman abilities, such as being able to transcribe landscapes that have only been seen once and quite accurately later.

That mechanism is left with many mysterious parts, many are Savan's syndrome which seems to be caused by congenital cause, but in rare cases there is a person who was ordinary until then and the symptoms of Savan's syndrome There are cases that will show up. Orlando Serrell started to show symptoms of Savan's syndrome at the age of 10 when the baseball's ball hit the left head, so that he could learn any number of car's license plate and be able to calculate a complex calendar It was.

ByMykl Roventine

The human brain consists of as many as 100 billion nerve cells (neurons), among which it concerns long-term memoryPyramidal cellIt is thought that just about 1 billion neurons are called. According to Professor Paul Reber of Northwestern University of America, if this pyramidal cell can only store one piece of information per piece, our brain quickly becomes full capacity and eventually the situation that the neuron is used up It will tell me that it will fall.
In the current brain science, from neuronsDendriteIt is thought that protrusions such as branches of trees called stretches and neurons deliver information with other neurons via this dendrite. And it is thought that memory information is kept in the place where these neurons are connected. Each neuron has connection with multiple neurons, and about 1000 neurons form one neuron network.

The structure of a neuron network with a structure like a spider web makes it possible for the human brain to store a large amount of information. Professor Reber said about its storage capability, "Based on a reasonable calculation method, its data capacity will reach as much as several petabytes." Although 1 petabyte is enough capacity to play MP3 song continuously for 2000 years, in fact it is somewhat difficult to compare the human brain and the memory chip of the computer in the same row. Professor Reber understands that as well as that, in addition, the human brain says "There is a tremendously wide space for memory."

ByBirth Into Being

Then, do people with unparalleled memory ability have special brains? The answer is "No". Members of memory, including Mr. Lu who has a world record of the circle ratio of about 70,000 digits, remembers a lot of information and keeps training to remember, so that general People. American memory championship "USA Memory ChampionshipDellis, who won the title in "Intellectual athlete's memory ability was very bad, but practice changed everything. If you do training it will be impossible for an ordinary person before a few weeks We will be able to do things, and we have that ability. " When Dellis started training the brain for the first time a few years ago, it took 20 minutes to remember a pair of cards, but now it seems that you can remember 52 cards within 30 seconds.

ByShonk

Like other memory champions, the memory method Dellis uses is a memory technique that has been validated for a long time, "Memory Palace(Palace of Memory)"is. This is a way to imagine the house that you know well and set the memory by arranging what you want to memorize in that space. Pi Pi Champion Lu also uses a similar memory technique to convert mere number lines into meaningful stories.

Anyone with the power of will will be able to raise memory, but then it is possible to demonstrate superhuman abilities without putting too hard training. Professor Allen Snyder of the University of Sydney, Australia, has something we should call "inner Savan", suggesting that if we have appropriate technology it is possible to activate it It is. According to Professor Sydney, in general, human intelligence is to be doing "conceptual thinking" at a higher level than a myriad of "low level" individuals. This is the ability to avoid danger by recognizing the "Lion" as a whole, for example, when you see the lion in the meadow, not being distracted by the parts such as "mane" and "nose" On the other hand, people with Savan's syndrome have "access privilege" to detail information, but say that they can not grasp the concept of "car" from words such as handles, wipers, headlights.

Based on the case of Serrell who received a baseball ball on the left head and became Savan Syndrome, Professor Snyder is conducting experiments. In the experiment, people with dysfunction due to autism and Savan's syndrome participated and suppressed the nerve activity of the left frontal lobe by having a cap to generate the magnetic field, where the ability to draw and the number of cards It was found that the ability to count is improved. However, the memory verification test is relatively simple, and further improvement is needed in the future. Some scientists are skeptical of Professor Snyder's experimental results, but it seems that fundamental research by Professor Snyder is indispensable for elucidating the mechanism of the brain in the future is.

One of the factors that determine the limits of the brain that we know at the present time is the intrinsic limit mechanism of the brain. Although it seems that there is a certain kind of "bottleneck" in the brain, it is thought that it has a function to regulate the flow of information, but Professor Snyder said "I do not know well" but " There is something to do with saving information processing, "he says.

In addition, Professor Reber says that the limit mechanism of memory in life is not "storage capacity" like hard disk but "download speed". Professor Reber says that "This is not the state where the brain is filled with memory, but the state where the speed of the information coming from the outside exceeds the speed at which it is sent out from the brain" I will.