Researchers activate previously dormant memory cells! It is my contention that both the upside and the downside of life is, not only contingent on memory but a cause and consequence of it. The research below seems to confirm and ratify my assumption.
Life is a consequence of memory replay!
Your current experience of life is only possible because of the memories from your past, be it a good or a terrifying experience. So, we don't have to change the past, just the way the brain processed it and how that processing got updated over each revisiting of the sensory information stored over time!
Clients will often think they have a panic attack or other anxious feelings for no apparent reason. I say there is always a reason and the speed at which the brain/mind can make new “negative” associations, is measured in milliseconds, maybe micro, nano or even picoseconds! So fast it creates the illusion that your conscious awareness is able to explain your non-conscious perception. Nevertheless, whatever you experience, as a whole, is also being sensed subconsciously, rather than individually, at the level of sensory experience. Meaning you have five, maybe six, sensory experiences which combine into one single event. At any point in the future, when you experience one or more of those sensory stimuli, you have the potential to stimulate “that” panic provoking experience! Your girlfriend dumps you in Starbucks, everything in that place becomes part of the “dumping process, be it music, the aroma, temperature, pictures on the wall etc. Five years later, in Starbucks, having a great time with, your now wife and children, you have an overwhelming feeling of foreboding. You say, “I don’t know why, but I feel really anxious.” Now you know why! It’s nothing to do with Starbucks, your wife or your children, it was an environmental response to an unsolicited memory stimulation; a flashback from the past! C'est la Vie!
Hypnotherapy stands out as one of the most effective strategic life management methods there is, especially in its ability to promote clear thinking and good states of mental wellness. The behaviours that make life challenging are often a result of too much stress, too little or poor quality sleep and too little by way of mental and emotional clarity! So, to get or take back control of your mind and your life, it makes perfect sense to use a methodology that addresses the subconscious brain's role in perpetuating negative, vague and ambiguous states of mind. Hypnosis helps us to create calm relaxing states of mind that make life work better! If you would like to address any concerns you have in this direction, or, if you just want the ability to make your life feel better, then why not make an appointment for a Free Consultation? Hypnosis gives you the ability to have a good life!
My objective is to help people understand how and why we become illogically trapped into emotional experiences that may actually be happening but for reasons, we may never have imagined! If you want to know more about how Hypnotherapy why not make an appointment for a Free Consultation?
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The good news about the “Bad News”
Tübingen neuroscientists have succeeded in activating dormant memory cells in rats. Using weak electrical impulses targeted at previously inactive cells in the hippocampus, the researchers induced the cells to recognize the exact place where the impulse had been first administered. In rodents as well as humans, the hippocampus is the brain area responsible for memory. Therefore, the new study by researchers of the Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) at the University of Tübingen offers insight into the question of how memories are formed within our brains. Their findings are published in Current Biology.
Memory is one of the most important functions of our brain. Not only does it allow us to regale our grandchildren with the exploits of our youth; it is essential for many everyday procedures. Our memory is constantly and immediately active whenever we experience a new thing. For instance, after meeting somebody only once, we still recognise them after hours or days. And even when we go somewhere for the first time -- for instance, the perfume section of a department store, a particular office in a building, or the toilet in a restaurant -- we will usually be able to find our way to the exit without a problem.
So our memory is not only constantly alert, but it also constructs new recollections very quickly -- often during the first interaction. The reason for this alacrity of memory formation is the fact that for every person, every place -- and probably a lot of other concepts, too -- there are individual memory cells that are specifically assigned to that memory. One subtype of these neurons called granule cells is situated in the hippocampus, a centrally located brain area. Whenever memory concepts like "my living room" or "Angela Merkel" are activated -- e.g. by stepping into the living room or by seeing a photo of the German chancellor -- the small number of granule cells associated with that memory become activated in the form of electrical discharges. The large majority of the remaining neurons, however, remain dormant.
Up to now, the mechanisms through which individual granule cells are assigned to specific memories were not understood. The question of whether 'silent' granule cells can become activated under certain circumstances proved particularly intriguing. The Tübingen research team led by Dr Andrea Burgalossi worked on the assumption that granule cells that receive electrical impulses can be 'unsilenced and thus become memory cells. To confirm their hypothesis, they inserted hair-thin microelectrodes into the dentate gyrus of rats -- an area within the hippocampus that is responsible for memories of space and location -- allowing them to send weak electrical impulses to individual granule cells.
The rats were allowed to explore a simple labyrinth, and at a specific location within this labyrinth, individual granule cells were stimulated with weak electrical pulses (in the nano-ampere range) via the micro-electrode. The same electrode allowed the researchers to measure the subsequent activity of the stimulated cells. The result: whenever the rats arrived at the same spot within the labyrinth where the original impulse had been administered, stimulated granule cells now fired spontaneously. The electrical impulse had thus induced the individual granule cells to form a place memory.
Moreover, Dr Burgalossi and his team found that the duration and temporal pattern of the impulses administered play a large role. The impulses formed more durable place memories when they followed the natural theta-rhythm of the brain -- a periodic increase and decrease in electrical potential which takes place roughly 4 to 12 times per second. Another finding could turn out to be of equal importance: rats that were new to the labyrinth reacted much more keenly to the induced place memory than rats that had been given the run of the labyrinth beforehand. Apparently, memory cells can be activated more easily when the brain is exposed to novel information.
These new insights into memory formation shed light on one of the most important functions of the human brain. And though there is still much to do before fundamental findings like these can offer new strategies for the treatment of brain diseases which affect memory formation (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson, dementia), they represent an indispensable first step on the way.
Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Universitaet Tübingen. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
1. Maria Diamantaki, Markus Frey, Patricia Preston-Ferrer, Andrea Burgalossi. Priming Spatial Activity by Single-Cell Stimulation in the Dentate Gyrus of Freely Moving Rats. Current Biology, 2016; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.053
