This discovery may be useful for treating pathologically intrusive memories or for recovering apparently lost memories.
New findings were revealed about How the brain stores memoriesaccording to a study carried out by researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland and published in Science. This research was done with mice and showed that memories They are kept in a very peculiar way.
The study showed that a single event is stored in the brain in multiple parallel “copies”, that remain active for different periods of time, are modified and, in some cases, are eliminated. Vilde Kveim, the first author of the study, said that “the dynamism with which memories are stored in the brain is proof of the brain plasticitywhich supports its enormous memory capacity.”
The study also noted that copies of a memory are stored in the hippocampus, a region of the brain crucial for learning from experience.
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How the brain works to store memories
Different memory copies have different temporal characteristics:
- Neurons that develop earlier are responsible for long-term memory, whose initial copy is very weak, but strengthens over time. Initially, memories are vague and imprecise, but over time they become more solidly consolidated in memory, allowing clearer access and recall.
- Neurons that develop later produce very strong memory copies at the beginning, but these fade over timebecoming inaccessible to the brain after long periods.
- Neurons that generate a buffer copy are relatively stable over time. “The three different memory copies differ primarily in the ease with which they can be changed or adapted to new experiences in the environment,” Donato said.
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Memories stored temporarily and for a short period can be modified and rewritten. “When we think back on it shortly after an experience, late neurons activate and integrate new information into the original memory,” Donato explained. Memories recalled after a long time are more difficult to modify.
Donato also emphasized the importance of this balance between the persistence and modification of memories“The challenge the brain faces with memory is quite daunting. On the one hand, it must remember what happened in the past, to help us understand the world we live in.”
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
