Question: What is memory an thought and/or where it is in the brain??

Evan Keane answered on 23 Jun 2011:

Woah! This is not my area of expertise at all (my girlfriend is a psychologist so I will ask her for her professional opinion!) but as far as I know scientists think that different parts of the brain (like the hippocampus, the amygdala and the striatum, etc.) are responsible for different things. Like spatial memories (things you’ve learned like don’t want walk into walls, how to keep your balance and climb stairs) are stored in one part, and emotional things you learnt are in another part and language ability in another.

I don’t think any of this is known for sure and the reason any of this stuff I just mentioned is thought to be true is from observing people who have had damage in different parts of their brain and seeing what things they can or cannot do/remember which they could before. I’m sure it is much more complicated than what I describe also (for instance I remember reading last week that even language is not in one part of the brain – apparently verbs are stored in one area and vocabulary in another part!). It would be great if we understood better how the human brain works. It is very complicated and we only understand bits and pieces so far. Sounds like a good area for you to work on as a scientist! 😉