<p>Some people have great memories. Some people have horrible memories. There are even people with hyperthymesia who remember everything. I was told that anybody can have a good memory if they practice method of loci and that people that have “better” memories don’t have more storage space; just a better organization. Recently I discovered a factoid that each connection between a dendritic branch and an axon encodes one memory. I don’t have an official source for that but since the human brain has 86 billion neurons and there are 5-7 dendrites so logically there should be space for 602,000,000,000 memories. Yet it still doesn’t make sense. How can a memory of being afraid at your first scary movie equate with your memory of the Bill of Rights? I just don’t know what to think anymore. Does everyone have varying storage space sizes and you just have the luck of the draw if your memory pool is “bigger”?</p>
<p>Sources: <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncir.2016.00023/full" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncir.2016.00023/full</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.albany.edu/faculty/cafrye/apsy601/Ch.02cellsofthenervoussystem.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.albany.edu/faculty/cafrye/apsy601/Ch.02cellsofthenervoussystem.html</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-14T06:38:20.333Z
*"How can a memory of being afraid at your first scary movie equate with your memory of the Bill of Rights?"* Who said they equate? How did they say they came to that conclusion?
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-14T06:38:47.423Z
Welcome to Psychology.SE. We work differently to many SE sites, where we have a strict policy that all questions should [show evidence of prior research](https://psychology.meta.stackexchange.com/q/993). Please help us to help you and [edit] your question to provide more information on what you have read on this subject, and any problems you are having understanding your research. If you found nothing, what did you Google? This helps to provide an answer which will be more helpful.
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-14T06:57:16.777Z
Added sources but some of the original information I was unable to find.
Max
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-14T14:07:50.333Z
For each source, a quotation of the exact text that is relevant should be included.  The links need to be provided so that those people that want to can verify the claims in the question; but each individual reader shouldn't have to follow each link and search each document to find the relevant information. ¶ There's potential for a good question here, but it isn't asked in the way that Stack Exchange sites expect it to be.
Ray Butterworth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-14T19:08:07.050Z
Like I said; a lot of the stuff I gleaned from months of searching the internet.
Max
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-15T00:17:07.503Z
I think this is asking 2 questions: Is memory capacity limited, and can memory capacity be improved.  Both have been asked before - eg: [Is there a practical limit to the amount of knowledge a human can learn?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/38/7001), [Can a person remember so much details...?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/10464/7001), [Can people improve their memory by training themselves to recall previously forgotten memories?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/15787/7001), [Best ways to improve memory](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/12492/7001).
Arnon Weinberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-15T00:54:58.867Z
I disagree. My question is purely why do some people have better memories than others if they have the same storage space…..or do they. An example would be me. I do not have hyperthymesia but most of my memories are flashbulb and I remember things from when I was 1-2. I very rarely forget something. Yet my brother is smarter than me and his memory is pits. I want to know how the brain of a good memory person is different.
Max
<memory><theoretical-neuroscience><neuroanatomy><long-term-memory><mirror-neurons>
Why do some people have better memories than others?
Max
# Why do some people have better memories than others?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-11-14)

Some people have great memories. Some people have horrible memories. There are even people with hyperthymesia who remember everything. I was told that anybody can have a good memory if they practice method of loci and that people that have “better” memories don’t have more storage space; just a better organization. Recently I discovered a factoid that each connection between a dendritic branch and an axon encodes one memory. I don’t have an official source for that but since the human brain has 86 billion neurons and there are 5-7 dendrites so logically there should be space for 602,000,000,000 memories. Yet it still doesn’t make sense. How can a memory of being afraid at your first scary movie equate with your memory of the Bill of Rights? I just don’t know what to think anymore. Does everyone have varying storage space sizes and you just have the luck of the draw if your memory pool is “bigger”?

Sources: <https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncir.2016.00023/full>

<https://www.albany.edu/faculty/cafrye/apsy601/Ch.02cellsofthenervoussystem.html>

**Tags:** memory, theoretical-neuroscience, neuroanatomy, long-term-memory, mirror-neurons

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: *"How can a memory of being afraid at your first scary movie equate with your memory of the Bill of Rights?"* Who said they equate? How did they say they came to that conclusion?  
> **username_1**: Welcome to Psychology.SE. We work differently to many SE sites, where we have a strict policy that all questions should [show evidence of prior research](https://psychology.meta.stackexchange.com/q/993). Please help us to help you and [edit] your question to provide more information on what you have read on this subject, and any problems you are having understanding your research. If you found nothing, what did you Google? This helps to provide an answer which will be more helpful.  
> **username_0**: Added sources but some of the original information I was unable to find.  
> **username_2**: For each source, a quotation of the exact text that is relevant should be included.  The links need to be provided so that those people that want to can verify the claims in the question; but each individual reader shouldn't have to follow each link and search each document to find the relevant information. ¶ There's potential for a good question here, but it isn't asked in the way that Stack Exchange sites expect it to be.  
> **username_0**: Like I said; a lot of the stuff I gleaned from months of searching the internet.  
> **username_3**: I think this is asking 2 questions: Is memory capacity limited, and can memory capacity be improved.  Both have been asked before - eg: [Is there a practical limit to the amount of knowledge a human can learn?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/38/7001), [Can a person remember so much details...?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/10464/7001), [Can people improve their memory by training themselves to recall previously forgotten memories?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/15787/7001), [Best ways to improve memory](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/12492/7001).  
> **username_0**: I disagree. My question is purely why do some people have better memories than others if they have the same storage space…..or do they. An example would be me. I do not have hyperthymesia but most of my memories are flashbulb and I remember things from when I was 1-2. I very rarely forget something. Yet my brother is smarter than me and his memory is pits. I want to know how the brain of a good memory person is different.  

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## 0 answers

