What exactly is the neuroscientific basis for memes and memeplexes?

A meme is a replicating entity subject to differential survival in cultural terms. Some view it as a mental information pattern or simply a replicating bit of data. The transmission of memes from one mind to another occurs through writing, speech, gestures, symbols, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Memes are supposed to respond to selective pressures. Memeplexes are thought to be groups of memes that are often found present in the same individual. There are plenty of definitions available on the web.

How can science prove the existence of memes? To me the best way would be to identify distinct neurobiological patterns in human brains. After all memory consists of neurons and their connections with particular synaptic strengths. As an example, atheism is a memeplex. We know what it is and we support it or not. Even the support must be stored in our brains somewhere. If we’re really passionate about it, we might hope others will support the idea as well. Same for religions. Missionaries even try to fuel replication, while others might prefer to lead by example. Now where are the memes exactly? How can we make them visible?

Let’s use Atheist One as our first test subject. Suppose in the year 2020 we are able to obtain fMRI scans with far superior resolution and we store the brain scan of Atheist One in a large database. Then we use Agnostic One as our second test subject and take her scan too. She has never really thought about God or religions on a deeper level, but at some point in her life this is beginning to change when she falls in love with Atheist One. A year later Agnostic One becomes Atheist Two. Almost everything what Atheist One told her makes total sense. We then obtain a second scan of the woman’s brain who is now known as Atheist Two. Over the years the couple meets a lot of indifferent people and many of them become atheists as well. Replication at its finest. Eventually three of their five children turn out devout atheists when they reach adulthood. Curiously enough one of them becomes a Christian. We keep taking brain scans and continue to compare all of them hunting for the manifestation of memes.

Now here comes the key question. Science proved the existence of bacteria, viruses as well as individual genes. Sequencing a whole genome is a piece of cake in the year 2020. Froogle will offer you the best deals. When people catch a common cold we can see copies of the very same virus. When babies are born we see physical copies of their parents’ genes. Since the idea of memes is based on the concept of genes, we should expect clear evidence of the replication. Will we be able to single out memeplexes or even individual memes in the high-resolution brain scans? Will the meme hypothesis become a widely accepted theory? If not, will memes remain a speculative model with no scientific basis?

What’s your take on memes?