• Question: can we inherit memories/thoughts

    Asked by FUDGECAKE to Deborah, Euan, Maheen, Rob, Stu on 21 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Rob Stanley

      Rob Stanley answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      No we can’t.

      But instincts seem to be inherited in lots of animals (otherwise how does a spider know how to make a web) and so may well be in us too. This sort of inheritance is likely an evolutionary strategy. We seem to have some natural ability to learn things like language too.

    • Photo: Maheen Siddiqui

      Maheen Siddiqui answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      Hi FUDGECAKE,

      No we cannot inherit any memories or thoughts. When you are born and your brain starts to develop, your own (“new”) memory and thought structures form. Scientists have a few theories on how our memory structures form but they are not 100% sure yet. But its something that develops independently to your parents.

    • Photo: Deborah Prunty

      Deborah Prunty answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      We can’t, sorry. Our brains are blank slates when we are born, and we build up our own mental pathways from scratch.

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