Is there a new type of phantom memory?

The largest scientific discovery complemented the leading theory of memory, after researchers discovered that the brain is able to "silently" store information, creating ghostly memories that do not possess a neural nature.

Two types of memory

The existence of two types of memory is widely recognized. The first of these is known as working memory. It is activated when we process new information, store it in our mind and focus on it, so as not to forget. This process is largely controlled by the hippocampus, in which the neurons function continuously. We maintain our concentration on what we are trying to remember.

Nevertheless, long-term memories are stored in the cortical areas of the brain and are ciphered in certain neural pathways, called engrams. They become active only when we extract these specific memories.

The third type of memory

In a new scientific study published in the journal Science, neurophysiologists report the discovery of a third type of memory, which they call "priority long-term memory." The main difference between this species and the two main ones discovered earlier is that data related to a new type is actually capable of being stored anywhere in the brain and can be called up as needed.

Interesting experience

A team of scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging to monitor the brains of participants. Subjects considered a number of words, faces and forms. Thanks to the MRI algorithm, researchers were able to identify specific patterns of cerebral hemisphere activity associated with each of these stimuli.

Then the subjects were shown pair subjects, which simultaneously caused two different types of brain activity. When participants were asked to focus only on one of these items and ignore the other, one of these patterns disappeared, indicating that it was removed from the working memory.

Scientists believe that working memory requires that neurons continuously function. Nevertheless, despite this, the subjects still remembered this forgotten object. People's answers to questions about what they saw indicate that the images of objects still exist in some part of their brain, although no neurons seem to indicate this fact.

"People have always thought that neurons have to function constantly so we can keep something in mind," explained co-author Bradley Postle. "But we observe how people almost do not remember anything, without showing any activity connected with neurons."

The mechanism of the third type of memory is not fully understood

The authors of the study also found that by stimulating the brain with magnetic impulses that were associated with these disappeared memories, they were able to resurrect the patterns of activity that occurred at a time when participants initially focused their attention on these subjects. This made them remember these incentives.

Although researchers can not accurately explain what process is happening in the brain's hemispheres, they suspect that phantom memory is based on "actively silent" mechanisms, through which information is somehow preserved in synapses between neurons, even when these neurons show no activity .