  The most widely accepted view of memory in the brain holds that synapses are
the storage sites of memory, and that memories are formed through associative
modification of synapses. This view has been challenged on conceptual and
empirical grounds. As an alternative, it has been proposed that molecules
within the cell body are the storage sites of memory, and that memories are
formed through biochemical operations on these molecules. This paper proposes a
synthesis of these two views, grounded in a computational theory of memory.
Synapses are conceived as storage sites for the parameters of an approximate
posterior probability distribution over latent causes. Intracellular molecules
are conceived as storage sites for the parameters of a generative model. The
theory stipulates how these two components work together as part of an
integrated algorithm for learning and inference.
