Question

Background

I am a computer programmer who is fascinated by artificialintelligence and artificial neural networks, and I am becoming morecurious about how biological neural networks work.

Context & what I think I understand

In digesting all I have been reading, I am beginning tounderstand that there are layers to neural networks. A front-linelayer of neurons may receive, for example, a visual stimulus suchas a bright light. That stimulus is taken in by the front-lineneurons, each of which produce a weighted electro-chemical responsethat results in a binary decision to pass an electrical chargethrough its axon to the dendrites of the tens of thousands ofneurons to which it is connected.

This process repeats through layers channeling the electricalsignals and focusing them based on their permutations untilultimately a charge is passed to a focused response mechanism suchas the nerves that control shrinking of the pupils.

Hopefully I got that correct.

Preamble to the question ;)

Assuming that I am not completely off-base with my basicunderstanding of how a biological neural network operates, I ambeginning to grasp how an input (stimulus) results in an output(response) such as motor movement or reflexes. That would just seemto be basic electricity of open and closed circuits.

HOWEVER, what confuzzles me still is how a memory is stored. Theanalogy to an electrical circuit breaks down here, for in a circuitI can't really stop the flow of electrons unless I dam up saidelectrons in a capacitor. If I do that, once the electrons arereleased (accessed), they are gone forever whereas a memoryendures.

So. . .

How the heck are memories constructed and stored in the humanbrain? Are they stored in a specific region? If so, where?