Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: David Reichard on 19/09/2016 04:13:15
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To bypass the inability to form new memories,can short-term knowledge be fitted into a false "old" memory of the distant past?Specifically,create a false memory of a past event which does not conflict with the subject's remembered past.Include in it the memory of having learned a skill,or the location of places and objects within a building,for example.Is this practically achievable?
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... can short-term knowledge be fitted into a false ... memory...
Fantastic false stories can be created to memorize a new list in order by associating it with a journey you are familiar with : the method of Loci (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JnDBYf9odc).
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The hippocampus is one area of the few areas of the brain that can grow new neurones as an adult.
It's function was not known, until an attempt to cure severe epilepsy in a patient ("HM (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649674/)") produced an unfortunate man who seemed quite normal - except he could not form memories.
The hippocampus occurs on both sides of the brain - loss of one side can be compensated by the other. Unfortunately, Alzheimer's disease affects both sides.
Relocating memories to areas that don't form new neurones does not sound like a very promising strategy.
There has been a proposal to monitor electrical activity in the hippocampus and produce an electronic hippocampus. But at this time, direct brain interfaces are highly experimental (some would say "bleeding edge technology").
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocampus
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What areas of the brain support recall of old life memories in a person who has dementia and cannot form new short-term memories?I have also noticed that people who have short-term memory problems can form habitual or reflex memories which they are consciously unaware of.What areas support that process,which forms NEW patterns?