Before you read any further, focus on one of your favorite memories. Do you think it’s a single memory? It contains colors, smells, physical sensations like a breeze in your face, laughing with someone, how hungry you were… Your brain turns these micro-second-long sensory experiences into a mosaic we call a memory.

In an article in Wired from July 2017, Nick Stockton tells us: 

“Every sensory experience triggers changes in the molecules of your neurons, reshaping the way they connect to one another. That means your brain is literally made of memories, and memories constantly remake your brain.”

“…you come to realize that there is no one place in the brain where memories are stored,” says Kukushkin. This is because of a property called plasticity, the feature of neurons that memorize. The memory is the system itself.

Have I piqued your interest yet? Check out Stockton’s article for more information.