418 research outputs found
Long-Term Memory: Scaling of Information to Brain Size
The material bases of information - paper, computer discs - usually scale
with information quantity. Large quantities of information usually require
large material bases. Conventional wisdom has it that human long-term memory
locates within brain tissue, and so might be expected to scale with brain size
which, in turn, depends on cranial capacity. Large memories, as in savants,
should always require large heads. Small heads should always scale with small
memories. While it was previously concluded that neither of these predictions
was invariably true, the evidence was weak. Brain size also depends on
ventricle size, which can remain large in some survivors of childhood
hydrocephaly, occupying 95% of cranial volume. Yet some of these have normal or
advanced intelligence, indicating little impairment of long-term memory. This
paradox challenges the scaling hypothesis. Perhaps we should be looking further
afield?Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure; submitted to Biological Theory 20th Feb 2013; a
requested revision was submitted 28th July 201
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