1. Sign our petition calling on Cochrane to withdraw their review of Exercise Therapy for CFS here.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Guest, the 'News in Brief' for the week beginning 18th March 2024 is here.
    Dismiss Notice
  3. Welcome! To read the Core Purpose and Values of our forum, click here.
    Dismiss Notice

A New Theory for How Memories Are Stored in the Brain

Discussion in 'Other health news and research' started by Hoopoe, Mar 5, 2021.

Tags:
  1. Hoopoe

    Hoopoe Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    5,234
    Summary: A new theory of memory visualizes the brain as an organic super-computer that runs complex binary code with neurons acting like mechanical computers. The theory is based on the discovery of the protein molecule, talin, which contains switch-like domains that change shape in response to pressure in mechanical force by a cell.

    In a paper published by Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, Dr Ben Goult from Kent’s School of Biosciences describes how his new theory views the brain as an organic supercomputer running a complex binary code with neuronal cells working as a mechanical computer.

    He explains how a vast network of information-storing memory molecules operating as switches is built into each and every synapse of the brain, representing a complex binary code. This identifies a physical location for data storage in the brain and suggests memories are written in the shape of molecules in the synaptic scaffolds.

    Dr Goult, a reader in biochemistry, said: ‘This research shows that in many ways the brain resembles the early mechanical computers of Charles Babbage and his Analytical Engine. Here, the cytoskeleton serves as the levers and gears that coordinate the computation in the cell in response to chemical and electrical signalling. Like those early computation models, this discovery may be the beginning of a new understanding of brain function and in treating brain diseases.’

    https://neurosciencenews.com/memory-storage-theory-17914/


    This is also interesting because of a possible connection to ME/CFS. One study identified talin-1 and filamin-a in circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) as potential biomarkers, and various other studies have also found abnormalities related to the cytoskeleton.
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31759091/
     
    Michelle, spinoza577, Barry and 2 others like this.
  2. alktipping

    alktipping Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,197
    seems like he has only recently found the star trek universe (Data)
     
    Mithriel likes this.
  3. Sean

    Sean Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    7,041
    Location:
    Australia
    Now that is interesting.

    I have long wondered what the role of the extracellular matrix is in ME, particularly the amorphous component, and how that affects the way the body handles mechanical forces.
     
  4. Mithriel

    Mithriel Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,815
    I've often thought that people with ME would make good test subjects for how the brain functions the same way they use stroke victims.

    My memory is dreadful but the way it has deficits gives an insight into how memories are stored. Say I have decide to buy something from a catalogue. I will remember the price and that it was in the top righthand of the page but will not be able to remember what it was. Every element is stored separately and I can retrieve position more easily than the actual noun.

    When I am in a crash, I often get a sudden random memory which lasts for just a few seconds but is complete with the emotions, temperature and all the rest of the experience. It is too short to have any context but occasionally I can tease out when it was. These are not distressing experiences, most are pleasant and from my childhood. It must be the same mechanism as PTSD flashes.

    The idea that we reconstruct memories does not fit my experience very well as they are so complete and I was not looking for the memory in the first place, but it does match details being stored in different places as the ME is causing problems in one place but not another.
     

Share This Page