public television about a month ago and the program discussed this exact subject. What I can remember is that it discussed how the brain retrieves data and processes it. To answer your ownership of your brain quandry, the program said that when a person tries to remember something and can't, the brain continues to work on retrieving the data AFTER you consciencely decide that you don't know the answer to the question and move on. When the brain finds it, it gives it too you, no matter where you are or what you are doing.

The program talked about two types of memory depositories, one short term and one long term. The short term memory acts as a filter for the long term memory. I'm not quite positive of this, but I think the short term memory holds every sensation that you've experience (taste, feelings etc.) for approximately ten minutes. It "tags" any sensation or memory that is worth saving and discards the rest. Those tagged memories then are categorized and prioritised in the long term memory bank, forever.

The program said the we have the ability to store and retrieve more data than we actually do, but we haven't learned to tap into the other parts of our brain.

Peace

Pseudonym-less Wendell