One of the fundamental problems in studying memory is that it doesn’t exist at all how we imagine it. Brains store data in a way which is completely incoherent with our experience. Rather than storing the letter “A” for example, it stores a metaphorical representation of “A” which is reconstructed into the conscious experience.
I want to understand more about how these representations are translated into the storage format brains use. How do brains decompose maps into consistent signatures which can be retrieved by other systems?
Also, read some recent work which asserts that all progenitor cells (including neural progenitor cells and embryonic stem cells) are glia, and that all of these cells have the ability to reverse their specialization with a single signal. This is important because it redefines “Nervous System” cells as a whole as being in the same tree. Neurons are not a special class of cell, they are a type of glial cell. This gives us a more consistent view of things from a developmental perspective.