The Memory System of the Brain

In The Memory System of the Brain, eminent neurobiologist J. Z. Young presents a bold model of the brain as an adaptive computer designed for the maintenance of life. Drawing on his Hitchcock Lectures delivered at Berkeley in 1964, Young weaves together insights from experimental work on the octopus, comparative anatomy, and emerging computer science to explain how nervous systems code, store, and retrieve information. He situates memory as a functional component of homeostasis, arguing tha...