Answers.Body: <p>Second question first: Data is stored in an ANN in the form of weights in the adjacency matrix between neurons. During training, these weights are updated by a learning algorithm (such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backpropagation" rel="noreferrer">backpropagation</a>).</p>
  
  <p>First question: according to award-winning neuroscientist Tim Bliss:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>“It’s been accepted really since the turn of the 20th century, since the time of the Spanish neuroscientist Ramón y Cajal, that really the only place where memories can be stored is at synapses, the junctions between nerve cells.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>A protein called the NMDA receptor plays a key roll in the strengthening of synaptic connections (which is more broadly achieved by a form of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebbian_theory" rel="noreferrer">Hebbian Learning</a>).</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-08-17T12:11:09.200Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-08-17T12:11:09.200Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: NietzscheanAI
Body: <p>Do scientists know by what mechanism biological brains/biological neural networks store data?</p>
  <p>I only have a vague notion that we store data in our brains by altering synapses.</p>
  <p>I also would love a decent description of how a vanilla artificial neural network stores data.</p>
  <p>So, my 2 questions are</p>
  <ol>
  <li><p>How is data stored in a biological neural network?</p>
  </li>
  <li><p>How is data stored in an artificial neural network?</p>
  </li>
  </ol>
  
Tags: <neural-networks><comparison><biology>
Title: How do artificial neural networks store data compared to biological neural networks?
UserDisplayName: Conor Cosnett
ThreadText: # How do artificial neural networks store data compared to biological neural networks?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-08-17)
  
  Do scientists know by what mechanism biological brains/biological neural networks store data?
  
  I only have a vague notion that we store data in our brains by altering synapses.
  
  I also would love a decent description of how a vanilla artificial neural network stores data.
  
  So, my 2 questions are
  
  1. How is data stored in a biological neural network?
  2. How is data stored in an artificial neural network?
  
  **Tags:** neural-networks, comparison, biology
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2016-08-17. Score: 7
  
  Second question first: Data is stored in an ANN in the form of weights in the adjacency matrix between neurons. During training, these weights are updated by a learning algorithm (such as [backpropagation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backpropagation)).
  
  First question: according to award-winning neuroscientist Tim Bliss:
  
  > “It’s been accepted really since the turn of the 20th century, since the time of the Spanish neuroscientist Ramón y Cajal, that really the only place where memories can be stored is at synapses, the junctions between nerve cells.
  
  A protein called the NMDA receptor plays a key roll in the strengthening of synaptic connections (which is more broadly achieved by a form of [Hebbian Learning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebbian_theory)).
  
  
  ---
  
  