All Words > Engram

illustration Engram

Engram

[EN-gram]

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Greek, early 20th century

1.

A hypothetical permanent change in the brain accounting for the existence of memory; a memory trace.

Examples of Engram in a sentence

"The grant money was dedicated to more study on how memories are encoded on an engram."

"You may remember your dreams as an engram, or just a memory trace."

About Engram

In Greek, “en” means within and “gramma” means a letter or a record. So engram means that something is recorded within, and that made sense to the German researcher Richard Semon when he was studying the formation of memory in the early 20th century. He proposed a term, engram, to describe how a memory could be encoded upon the brain and retrieved later.

Did you Know?

Close your eyes. Try to remember your last birthday. Can you remember the taste of the cake and the colors of your wrapped presents? There’s a theory that memories are encoded through physical changes in your neurons, and these changes are called engrams. That almost-tangible sense memory that comes along when you bring up thoughts of a moment in the past is thanks to engrams.

illustration Engram

Recent Words

What's the word?