How much memory do we have and How memory is stored-retrieved in our brain

How much memory our brain can store or how many gigabyte of space is there in our brain?

The concept of storing data in our brain isn’t like storing data in hard drive at all.

In Hard disk, Data is stored digitally in the form of tiny magnetized regions on the platter where each region represents a bit.

How data is stored in hard- drive

But in our brain data is stored as circuit of neurons.

During memory recall, electricity flows through the neural pathway associated with the memory.

Few scientists claim our brain may have up to 100 billion neurons and each can make upto 1000 links, so 100 billion x 1000 = 100 trillion.

Many say, Neurons can combine with each-other to make very complex circuits which increases the estimation of memory many fold, as high as many petabytes, enough to record TV programs in HD for few hundred years.

But they were quick to admit that all this calculations are way too unreliable.

Our brain can't be compared to any other storage devices:

What we store in hard disk is there in form of 0, 1.

But our memory recreate itself on every recall because our brain stores different data in different places like visual data in visual cortex, memory of smell, sound, touch etc are stored in different parts of brain, amygdale stores emotions etc. So, recalling a whole event caused reassemble of data. That is why our memory changes a little every time we recall.

A memory is stored as collection of scattered fragment and reassembled on recall

For us, remembering means reconstruction of memory from scattered fragments.

You can say Jurassic Park 4 movie is 16 gb. But when u recalling whole movie ur brain recreating it on-the-fly, that’s why it may be little different from real one though u didn’t missed a scene.

Say, u try to recall Jurassic park 3 after that, brain would use many common fragments to recreate it.

So, in your hard drive Jurassic Park 3 and 4 may be 14gb + 16gb, but in your brain those are fragmented data and brain have enough capacity to reconstruct them to a full movie. That is why every time you recall the movie some of the details would be little different or absent.

In 2012, IBM successfully simulate 530 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses using Blue Gene/Q super computer, still it was 1500 times slower than human brain, ignoring the fact, our brain process much complex inputs and routines.

Brain vs IBM super computer and brain win by miles

Our brain is so efficient that recalling memory is rethinking and reconstructing it on-the-fly from tiny bits and pieces, not lame like just reading data from a disc.

That means our brain can’t be measured in gb or tb.

Forgotten, lost memories have been successfully retrieved through hypnosis which is evident that we normally don’t forget long-term memories.

We don't lose long-time memory, we lose retrieval cues

As our brain is constantly changing with every information and memory, we sometimes lose retrieval cue to some memory.

Watch to understand how our memory works and How memory is stored-retrieved and memory capacity of our brain:

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