Cellular memory (the transfer of characteristics and behaviors from the donor to the recipient via the cells of the transplanted organ)

Question:
I am looking for some information on cellular memory, such as in cases of people who have received transplants and then seem (or think) that they are taking on behaviors or characteristics of the donor.

Answer:
Organs are not capable of transferring memory to a person's mind in any conventional sense. That is, medical science tells us that the "hard drive" for human memories is located in the brain. So if a phenomenon of transferred memories exists it is supernatural.

Books have been written and movies made about transplant recipients that took on characteristics of the donors, but it is impossible to assess the validity of the reports since pure circumstance could explain it.

There are several possible logical explanations for why poeple might assume characteristics of their donors: Side effects of transplant medications may make people feel weird and different from before the transplant. For example, prednisone makes people hungry:

The recipient of an organ transplant develops a love of pastry and finds out the person that donated their organ loved pastry as well. They think there is a connection, but really it is just the prednisone making their body crave sweets.

The patient watches a TV show while recovering from a transplant that shows older adults rollerblading and decides that it looks like fun, but doesn't make a conscious decision to do anything about it because they are still recovering from the transplant. Months later they are shopping and they see rollerblades and decide to give it a try since it was something they were incapable of doing for heath reasons before the transplant. They like it and get good at it. Later they find out that the donor was a young person that liked to rollerblade. It is easy to understand how the patient and family might believe that the new organ had something to do with Mom's new-found love of rollerblading. In actuality, the only thing the new organ gave her was the health to try rollerblades. The idea came from a TV show she forgot she ever saw.

A transplant is a profound experience and the human mind is very suggestible. Medically speaking, there is no evidence that these reports are anything more than fantasy.