History Main / EatBrainForMemories

* In ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun'', Drinking alzabo gland extract then eating human flesh gives its consumer the memories of whoever was eaten.

* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' and ''VideoGame/Prototype2'' have Mercer and Heller eat entire people, including their brains, in order to assimilate their memories. This is used to learn new skills, such as piloting helicopters, and to understand pieces of Web of Intrigue, linking together the grand conspiracy behind Gentek.

* Liv of ''Series/IZombie'' is a zombie who stays civilized and intelligent by eating the brains of corpses that come into the morgue where she works. She also helps the police by eating murder victims and picking up bits of their memories and skills. HilarityEnsues as she picks of their quirks and neuroses along the way. This is the case with all zombies, unless they eat a paste made by mixing multiple brains together, which apparently neutralizes the memory and personality transfer.

In fiction, some creatures are somehow able to obtain the memories of other beings by consuming their grey matter. The possibility of this in real life is unlikely, most evidence suggests that memories are "stored" in the connections between brain cells, which would be destroyed in the process of eating a brain usually. Though there are some hypotheses that memory is at least partially stored as chemicals inside the cells, which might survive something's digestive processes; empirical research into this trope has been controversial, with a famous 1955 study on apparent cannibalism-based memory transfer in planarians being a frequent subject of debate among both neurobiologists and microbiologists.

* Yoma in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' normally ate human entrails but could also devour a person's brain to absorb their memories and impersonate them. The impersonation was so convincing that a number of ignorant villagers believe that Yoma are contagious and cast out certain characters who had close contact with them.

* There's at least one version of the Creator/DCComics SuperVillain Grodd who did this. In ''ComicBook/TheBlackRing'', Lex Luthor uses it against him by allowing him to capture and eat an underling [[FeedTheMole who had been misinformed about Luthor's plans]].

[[folder:Fan Fics]]
* Naruto in ''FanFic/HeHadNoFingers'' gains access to a person's memories when he eats their brain, which is a big help in interrogations.

* ''Film/TheThing1982''. A Thing can do this when it consumes a human being and converts it into a Thing. The new Thing has all of the memories of the original person.
* In ''Film/WarmBodies'', zombies hunger for brains because they experience the memories when they do, which is the closest they can come now to feeling alive. [[spoiler:Besides feeling love, that is.]]

* Creator/DeanKoontz's ''{{Literature/Phantoms}}''. A gigantic protoplasmic monster consumes human beings and absorbs their memories from their brains. It's theorized by Dr. Flyte and the rest of the protagonists that the reason the Ancient Enemy believes itself to be Devil himself (and thus goes through so many hoops to obtain a "disciple" in Flyte and act so scary) is because of the many humans it absorbed that in their final moments believed it to be something unholy, so it pretty much started to believe its own hype.
* Creator/PiersAnthony's ''Firefly''. A small protoplasmic monster dissolves and absorbs the interior of people's bodies. It gains their memories and personality from their brains.
* In ''Literature/TheRunelords'', Reavers share a racial memory by eating the brains of their dead. At one point, a child eats a Reaver brain and gains the same benefit, providing an insight into their planning and purpose.
* ''Literature/SpotsTheSpaceMarine'': Fiddlers (humanity's allies) absorb the memories of their predecessors by consuming them alive. The Crabs (enemies) do the same and attempt to do so to captured human marines, though the Fiddler liason who reveals this bit of information believes that their biology is incompatible.

* The ''Franchise/StarTrek'' original series novel ''Dreams of the Raven'' has the titular Raven aliens able to gain access to their victims' knowledge and memories (to the point of being able to vocally imitate them perfectly) by eating their brains.

* In the Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures novel ''Venusian Lullaby'', the native intelligent race of Venus can do this, and sharing out the deceased's brain is an important part of their funeral customs.
* Ghouls have this ability in ''The Throne Of Bones'', often to the point of forgetting their real identities in favor of that of the person consumed. Eating other parts of a corpse has a lesser effect.
* Dragons in ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'' have a version that goes beyond just brains and is integral to their species. Dragons carry ancestral memories, which are somehow even contained in the cases (like cocoons) serpents build to mature into dragons (and which they eat when they emerge). A dead dragon will be devoured by its mates to pass on the knowledge, and even a human body eaten by a dragon will pass on its memories to the dragon.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Liv of ''Series/{{iZombie}}'' is a zombie who stays civilized and intelligent by eating the brains of corpses that come into the morgue where she works. She also helps the police by eating murder victims and picking up bits of their memories and skills. HilarityEnsues as she picks of their quirks and neuroses along the way.
** This is the case with all zombies, unless they eat a paste made by mixing multiple brains together, which apparently neutralizes the memory and personality transfer.
* Murphy in ''Series/ZNation'' discovers he can absorb memories by eating brains, be they human or zombie.

* In ''TabletopGame/HcSvntDracones'' Nymphs, the insect analogues used for environmental maintenance on terraformed Mars and Venus, were designed to gain memories from eating each others' brains to exchange information between colonies and preserve maintenance directives over many generations. 40 years ago some scientist thought it would be a good idea to create a sapient Nymph. It ate him.
* In ''TabletopGame/MyriadSong'' the carnivorous plants known as Morphir can be fed the brains of sentient animals and they will grow buds that when smoked as a drug cause hallucinations of the brain-donor's memories. The brains of ''sapient'' animals (i.e. humans) produce particularly strong buds, and gradually make the Morphir plant itself intelligent, and mobile, and playable as characters. Not all Morphir characters can suck out people's brains and access their memories, but it's not hard for them to take the abilities as Gifts.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''

* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' has Mercer and Heller eat entire people, including their brains, in order to assimilate their memories. This is used to learn new skills, such as piloting helicopters, and to understand pieces of Web Of Intrigue, linking together the grand conspiracy behind Gentek.
* In ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' Hiver princesses and queens can eat the brains of their deceased subjects and imprint them on new embryos. Allowing a form of reincarnation, with the possibility of moving up in the HiveCasteSystem.
* It's implied that the Combine Advisors of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' can do this with their 'tongue' appendage, burrowing into the victim's neck to do...something with their brains. Human brains are far too small to sustain an Advisor, which is the size of a bus, and it's often suspected that what they're ''really'' after is information. If true, this makes [[spoiler:Eli Vance's death from being brainsucked by an advisor]] all the more harrowing...now they know ''everything''. [[spoiler:At least until [[HumanoidAbomination The Gman]]'s "[[CosmicRetcon nudge]]" in ''VideoGame/HalfLifeAlyx''.]]
* The "Medium?" legacy in ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'' eventually gains the ability to consume the bodies of the dead to receive their memories. They can use the strongest such memories on their [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence path to ascension]], while lesser memories make them money in their NotSoPhonyPsychic routine. This also feeds their HorrorHunger; going too long without doing so has [[NonstandardGameOver unpleasant consequences]].
* In ''VideoGame/BoardGameOnline'' a player can eat a human brain to learn a new feat and move a few spaces forward.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' Carbosilicate Amorphs evolved from an ancient civilization's pseudo-organic memory storage devices; they've developed into {{Blob Monster}}s whose entire bodies are brains (and muscle, all at once) and they can exchange memories by breaking off bits of themselves and feeding them to other Amorphs. And as cannibalism was the only way for tribal Amorphs to kill one another without plasguns wars often brought tribes closer together.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS23E20TheSpyWhoLearnedMe The Spy Who Learned Me]]"
-->'''Burns:''' Oh pish, when I was in Africa I had my skull cracked open by cannibals and I'm still kicking.\\
'''Smithers:''' Sir, that was your partner, you betrayed him ''to'' the cannibals.\\
'''Burns:''' Oh right, I have his memories because I ate his brain.

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'', Valkyrie once interrogated a prisoner by making him think that her friend [[LadyOfWar Tanith Low]] had the power to do this, and would do so if he refused to talk.

* It's implied that the Combine Advisors of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' can do this with their 'tongue' appendage, burrowing into the victim's neck to do...something with their brains. Human brains are far too small to sustain an Advisor, which is the size of a bus, and it's often suspected that what they're ''really'' after is information. If true, this makes [[spoiler:Eli Vance's death from being brainsucked by an advisor]] all the more harrowing...now they know ''everything''. [[spoiler:At least until [[HumanoidAbomination The Gman]]'s "nudge" in ''VideoGame/HalfLifeAlyx''.]]

* It's implied that the Combine Advisors of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' can do this with their 'tongue' appendage, burrowing into the victim's neck to do...something with their brains. Human brains are far too small to sustain an Advisor, which is the size of a bus, and it's often suspected that what they're ''really'' after is information. If true, this makes [[spoiler:Eli Vance's death from being brainsucked by an advisor]] all the more harrowing...now they know ''everything''.

* The "Medium?" legacy in ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'' eventually gains the ability to consume the bodies of the dead to receive their memories. They can use the strongest such memories on their [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence path to ascension]], while lesser memories make them money in their NotSoPhonyPsychic routine.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Illithids (aka Mind Flayers) gain memories, skills, and even class levels by eating brains.

** Some SpaceMarines can do this, due to their omophagea organ, DependingOnTheWriter.
** Tyranids, most infamously lictors ( Tyranid StealthyColossus scouts) but anything with feeder tendrils might show this ability. This is pretty much their only way of gathering intel, as they never talk with their food.

* In ''TabletopGame/MyriadSong'' the carnivorous plants known as Morphir can be fed the brains of sentient animals and they will grow buds that when smoked as a drug cause hallucinations of the brain-donor's memories. The brains of ''sapient'' animals (i.e. humans) produce particularly strong buds, and gradually make the Morphir plant itself intelligent, and mobile, and playable as characters. Not all Morphir characters can suck out people's brains and access their memories, but it's not hard for them to take the abilities as Gifts.
* In ''TabletopGame/HcSvntDracones'' Nymphs, the insect analogues used for environmental maintenance on terraformed Mars and Venus, were designed to gain memories from eating each others' brains to exchange information between colonies and preserve maintenance directives over many generations. 40 years ago some scientist thought it would be a good idea to create a sapient Nymph. It ate him.

SubTrope of CannibalismSuperpower and BrainFood. SisterTrope of GeneticMemory, where the memories are instead recorded in the ''[[ArtMajorBiology genes]]''. Compare YouAreWhoYouEat.

In fiction, some creatures are somehow able to obtain the memories of other beings by consuming their grey matter. The possibility of this in real life is unlikely, most evidence suggests that memories are "stored" in the connections between brain cells, which would be destroyed in the process of eating a brain usually. Though there are some hypotheses that memory is at least partially stored as chemicals inside the cells, which might survive something's digestive processes.