How much information on average can the human brain store?

Answer 1

Although the question makes sense, with our current level of technology, and knowledge about how the brain works, it is more or less impossible to give a definitive answer.

For example, about 10Mbits of information are transmitted along each optic nerve PER SECOND. But is transmission speed the same thing as processing speed?

Research reported on the MIT website indicates that under certain circumstances, one measure of processing speed has registered as few as 60 bits per second. And on the other hand, the researcher has made it plain that he was not testing for the maximum processing speed across a variety of tasks. So we cannot assume that his results were representative of brain processing in general.

An estimate on the University of Alberta website suggests that the average "clock speed" of neurons in the brain is a mere 200 firings per second - compare that with the clock speed of even a cheap desktop computer in 2010.

But that's only part of the story, because the brain of an average healthy human being includes around 100 billion neurons, all connected to something like 1000 (or more) other neurons.

100 billion neurons all firing around 200 times per second gives a capacity of 20 million billion firings per second.

Having said that, brain scans show only specific areas of the brain operating at a measurable level of activity at an given time. But does that necessarily mean that the other areas are doing nothing?

What it may show is that the DEGREE of activity is related to the nature of the task, and therefore will be variable throughout the day (and night).

So like I said, the question makes sense. But that doesn't mean we can give a nice neat answer right now.

Answer 2

I would make this simple by giving you an idea about what it means brain storage. When you go out on a date with your girlfriend you can remember every single detail that happened that day before , during and after the date. What you were wearing what she was wearing the place you went to every single detail . you could recall everything that happened as if it was an extremely high definition recording but not just Video and audio, the smell , the weather her perfume what you were thinking how the food tasted how did you feel in your heart , with an extremely wide angle view , you can picture the whole place even if you weren't looking that instance at what happened , you can even see yourself and your date in infinite different angles. even yourself as a third person. So if we had an Extreme definition camera recording in every single angle plus a weather computer recording the weather , and another unknown types of recorders running simultaneously recording the thoughts , the smell, feelings ... etc . recording that single little fleeting date . You would need Infinite storage media to store. and if you could squeeze your mind a little bit you can remember and picture everything you have passed by though your entire lives. it's all stored in your mind using this super recording XD device. So I would say its infinite. The way brain stores data is not bits with ones and zeros. neither analog having infinite possible combinations . it can picture the data using little information about it . which storage media cant do at all. let me give you some example: Imagine a house A door Open that door and get into the hallway rooms to your right and left the walls and their painting Enter a room its a bedroom stand on one hand get up open up the window and look out side Now the idea behind this is when I gave you this little info I bet 80% of what you pictured was your own house. and the bedroom was your bedroom with the same bed the same decoration paint etc. the window and its view is you bedroom's or some other bedroom you have visited before in a hotel or someplace ... You probably never entered that house this way or done a hand stand before yet you pictured it in XD as if it was true using those little few lines of text info. this is how a brain stores data. X-Def video = few text lines = 100 bytes using a normal computer text processor. Tn other terms a 100 byte in a brain = more than 10 GB of XD video on a computer. a simple word "lake" 4 letters 4 bytes you can visualize or imagine an infinite number of lakes more than 10 MegaPixels resolution. lets say this word gave you a picture of at least 100 different 10MP lakes = 1GB How about storing a study textbook of 1 MB into your brain which is extremely the simplest thing your brain can do. it would need more than 268435456 GB of imaging storage on a normal computer . how about what you studied and what you can study and learn ...

Answer 3

"The brain processes 400 Billion bits of information a second. BUT, we are ONLY aware of 2,000 of those." -Dr. Joseph Dispenza, D.C.

"The infinite information that the brain is processing every single second tells us that there's more to the world then we're perceiving." -Dr. Joseph Dispenza, D.C.

"All of our sense of so-called "reality" out there is filtered through our sense organs." -Dr. Candace Pert

These are quotes taken from a highly recommended movie:

Quantum Edition "What The Bleep!? Down The Rabbit Hole" 2006

You should be able to find a copy at a local library... or, purchase this movie online, at most video stores, or you can rent it from places like Netflix or Blockbuster.

NOTE: I am just a FAN. I do not work for them. I believe in sharing powerful information and resources for the benefit of progressing humanity with advanced knowledge, giving you the tools to find your own comprehension.

Answer 4

the human brain's capacity is not able to be measured the same as computer memory.

the human brain contains between 1014-1015 synapses. and each synapse has a certain amount of capacity.

Answer 5

The human brain has the storage capacity to record 11 million books. Now, whether we use it all is debateable.

Answer 6

The brain probably can store up to 10 billion to 100 billion items of information.

Answer 7

your brain can take around 80 messages all at a time

Answer 8

Currently, there is no way to measure how much information the human brain can store on average.

Answer 9

7