CL1779A at american.edu (Christopher T. Lovelace) wrote:
>Actually, I didn't say that LTM is _stored_ in the hippocampus (although I
>wasn't really specific and I can see how one could get that impression).
>I just mean that they are _consolidated_ by the hippocampus (which is what
>it sounds like you are saying).
Sorry for that but the idea that LTM are indeed physically stored in the
hippocampus can be found in several textbooks and that idea is wrong. So I
thought you were following this opinion. It is easy to understand how people
get to that idea. If the hippocampus is damaged LTM isn't working properly
anymore so the obvious conclusion would be that that is the place where LTM are
stored.
The truth is of course that almost all memory is stored on the surface (outer
layer) of the neo-cortex. The type of memory on each location depends on what
that specific region is used for.
For people who are comparing brains with computers it is probably also difficult
to understand that the data is the program and that the program is the data.
With computers (the closest thing we have done to building a brain) these two
are always strictly isolated and quit different in structure.
-----------AIR1-research-----------
EMAIL TO: Stephan.Verbeeck at ping.be ---------------------
ADDRESS : Helderbeekstraat 41 Life is but a dream
3582 Koersel (Belgium) ---------------------
TEL : 011/42.16.46
------------------------------------
