Jonah Lehrer checks out some new research:
The conventional assumption is that memory loss occurs because our memories vanish, because cells die and the hippocampus gets tired. But what if memory loss is actually triggered by the steady degradation of the frontal cortex, a brain area associated with memory retrieval? (The frontal cortex starts to lose cell density at about the same time we start to lose our memory – in our mid-thirties.) This suggests that our memories are still there, waiting to be found, like a misfiled piece of paper. The struggle of aging, then, isn't simply a matter of holding on to the past – the brain has a seemingly infinite hard drive. Instead, the challenge is remembering where all of our memories are.
I knew I'd find that somewhere.
The Dish 