Finding the Elusive Memory in the Brain
From the fascinating article, “How to See a Memory” by Helen Shen comes this exciting new information about how memories are created and recollected.
“Memory, it turns out, is a highly distributed process, not relegated to any one region of the brain. And different types of memory involve different sets of areas. Many structures that are important for memory encoding and retrieval, such as the hippocampus, lie outside the cortex — and Lashley largely missed them. Most neuroscientists now believe that a given experience causes a subset of cells across these regions to fire, change their gene expression, form new connections, and alter the strength of existing ones — changes that collectively store a memory. Recollection, according to current theories, occurs when these neurons fire again and replay the activity patterns associated with past experience.” https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00107-4
This new information provides additional rationale for the effectiveness of Reminiscence Therapy in improving recall. Photos and stories are powerful tools for improving memory. So our work at 7Memories.com has significance in not just leaving a legacy, but in helping to improvie memory. Click here for more about Reminiscence Therapy.
Remember: Left untold, your story will be like a library burning to the ground.