Welcome to the April 2018 A to Z Blog Challenge. On my blog we will be exploring the mysteries of memory. To kick if off right, the first post looks at the amygdala, a part of the human brain with a primary role processing memory.
More specifically, the amygdala helps form and story memories associated with
emotional events. Thus, if the amygdala is damaged,this can interfere with memories, particularly those attached to emotion.
But that’s not all. Our charming amygdala is a key player in memory consolidation. For a memory to last over the long-term, it has to be assimilated into the brain slowly. The amygdala regulates that assimilation.
Its all connected of course. The stronger the emotional arousal related to an event, the greater likelihood the memory will be retained.
In my current WIP, The Scent of Memory, I have to figure out the best ways to wipe out past memories of cyborg soldiers. If I do this by tampering with the amygdala, then a by-product would likely be the dampening of their emotions. If the cyborg faces a situation that plays with his emotions, them perhaps his memories will return.
I recently attended a MELT workshop and they explained a bit about emotion processing/retention and how stress basically causes your amygdala to not function properly.
Male brains tend to slow down their emotional processing and ‘not remember’ when impacted by stress, while female brains tend to speed up, remembering EVERYTHING, and it all piles up — often negatively. “Back when we were in the fourth grade, you borrowed my yellow jelly pen and never gave it back…” (for instance).
It’s fascinating research.
Good luck with your story!
That is fascinating and it explains a lot. Stress really throws everything a curve ball. Thanks for dropping by.
Of course I know that memory and emotions are connected, but I never thought it was though an actual body part that can be manipulated.
The human mind is so mysterious.
It really is. The more I dig in deeper, the mysteries deepen. Thanks for visiting.
My daughter just referred to the amygdala in the research paper she’s writing about anxiety. She mentioned that it would be detrimental to tamper with it to decrease memories and the anxiety associated with those memories, since the decrease in fear would allow us to venture into dangerous behaviors we *used* to know were dangerous.
I’d love to see some of this in sci-fi.
Thanks for dropping by, Linda and sharing that insight. You could write a few books on that idea. In a few later posts, I will look at memory and science fiction (f, J and s).
Loved this new information! Thanks for sharing that. Got me thinking about some things… looking forward to your posts!