One Memory, Three Modules
Single Memory Processed In Three Separate Parts Of The Brain
UCI researchers have found that a single brief memory is actually processed differently in separate areas of the brain … The results were published this week in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In a study using rats, researchers Emily L. Malin and James L. McGaugh of UCI’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory demonstrate that while one part of the brain, the hippocampus, is involved in processing memory for context, the anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the cerebral cortex, is responsible for retaining memories involving unpleasant stimuli. A third area, the amygdala, located in the temporal lobe, consolidates memories more broadly and influences the storage of both contextual and unpleasant information.
“These results are highly intriguing,” said McGaugh, a member of the National Academy of Sciences who pioneered the study of drug and stress-hormone influences on memory. “It is the first time we have found this fragmentation in the brain of what we would think of as a single experience. For example, different aspects of an experience, such as a car accident, would be processed by different parts of the brain. The experience is fragmented in our brain, even though we think of it as one event.”
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I think fragmentation is a poor choice of words. It tends to suggest coming apart for no purpose. I prefer analysis. You use that term when you intentionally take something apart to produce specific parts for specific a specific purpose.
And, by the way, that car accident only becomes one event by the power of language to make one entity out of a collection of details. There was a context, where it happened. The context has little emotional tone. If it is a familiar place to a particular person, it may have the warm and comfortable feeling: “I have been here a lot and feel at home here.” Probably the hippocampus is at work on this part.
There was an unpleasant event. Of course that should be stored somewhere else. You want to have the event connected to alarm bells, tensing of the body, release of adrenaline. And evolution wanted the event connected to the context and to anything that could warn you about the prospect of a repeat.
One event? It seems few days ago since I was talking about the concept of Linguistic Determinism. You might well think of one event if that is the language you choose.
But here I think the best language is that of document management. Imagine that a company has an important document. A contract, for example. One event. Do you think they will store it in one place? No. They will send copies to everyone who may have to act on it. That’s what the brain is doing. Storing copies where they will be needed. Some people may wish they had filing systems that worked as well.
UCI researchers have found that a single brief memory is actually processed differently in separate areas of the brain … The results were published this week in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In a study using rats, researchers Emily L. Malin and James L. McGaugh of UCI’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory demonstrate that while one part of the brain, the hippocampus, is involved in processing memory for context, the anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the cerebral cortex, is responsible for retaining memories involving unpleasant stimuli. A third area, the amygdala, located in the temporal lobe, consolidates memories more broadly and influences the storage of both contextual and unpleasant information.
“These results are highly intriguing,” said McGaugh, a member of the National Academy of Sciences who pioneered the study of drug and stress-hormone influences on memory. “It is the first time we have found this fragmentation in the brain of what we would think of as a single experience. For example, different aspects of an experience, such as a car accident, would be processed by different parts of the brain. The experience is fragmented in our brain, even though we think of it as one event.”
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I think fragmentation is a poor choice of words. It tends to suggest coming apart for no purpose. I prefer analysis. You use that term when you intentionally take something apart to produce specific parts for specific a specific purpose.
And, by the way, that car accident only becomes one event by the power of language to make one entity out of a collection of details. There was a context, where it happened. The context has little emotional tone. If it is a familiar place to a particular person, it may have the warm and comfortable feeling: “I have been here a lot and feel at home here.” Probably the hippocampus is at work on this part.
There was an unpleasant event. Of course that should be stored somewhere else. You want to have the event connected to alarm bells, tensing of the body, release of adrenaline. And evolution wanted the event connected to the context and to anything that could warn you about the prospect of a repeat.
One event? It seems few days ago since I was talking about the concept of Linguistic Determinism. You might well think of one event if that is the language you choose.
But here I think the best language is that of document management. Imagine that a company has an important document. A contract, for example. One event. Do you think they will store it in one place? No. They will send copies to everyone who may have to act on it. That’s what the brain is doing. Storing copies where they will be needed. Some people may wish they had filing systems that worked as well.
posted by Selby Evans at 10:36 AM
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