Philosopher and parapsychology researcher Dr. Stephen Braude sees fatal flaws in the “memories stored in brain” model.

photo by: Scott Huettel

Today we welcome Dr. Stephen Braude to Skeptiko. Dr. Braude is the former chairman of the philosophy department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is also past president of the Parapsychological Association and is currently the editor in chief of the excellent Journal of Scientific Exploration.  He’s the author of several great books including one that we’re going to talk about today because it pulls together many of the ideas Dr. Braude has been working on over the years: Crimes of Reason: On Mind, Nature, and the Paranormal

Alex Tsakiris: Let’s go back to memory trace for a minute because I want to make sure that I properly characterize what you’re saying… Is memory stored in the brain?

Dr. Stephen Braude: I would say no. I’d say the whole idea of storage is a mistake. It’s a mistake to treat memories as kinds of things, like they’re objects. I think it’s still acceptable to say that the expression of memory is something mediated by neurophysiological processes. But to say it’s mediated by it doesn’t mean to say it’s explained in terms of it.

Alex Tsakiris: How can neuroscience get this so wrong?

Dr. Stephen Braude: I wish I had a good answer to that. There’s something really seductive about the idea there has to be this trace left within us otherwise it looks like magic; that we’ve got this causation over a temporal gap.

Click here for forum discussion

Click here for Dr. Braude’s website

Read Excerpts From Interview:

Alex Tsakiris: Let’s go back to memory trace for a minute because I want to make sure that I properly characterize what you’re saying. If at the end of the day, the idea of memories being stored in the brain is incoherent [and] logically incomplete, what does that say about neuroscience? I made some assumptions about what I think it means about neuroscience because I’ve spent a great deal of time battling this neuroscience nincompoopery and reductionistic mind-equals-brain [idea]. Maybe we’re saying something different. What do you think that says about neuroscience’s understanding of memory?

Dr. Stephen Braude: If memory can’t be explained in terms of traces left behind in the brain or some other physical location–

Alex Tsakiris: Is memory stored in the brain?

Dr. Stephen Braude: I would say no. I’d say the whole idea of storage is a mistake. It’s a mistake to treat memories as kinds of things, like they’re objects. I think it’s still acceptable to say that the expression of memory is something mediated by neurophysiological processes. But to say it’s mediated by it doesn’t mean to say it’s explained in terms of it.

Alex Tsakiris: Explain what you mean when you say ‘mediated’. And explain why that explains those really cool fMRI pictures we see on the science news site....