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We all have memories that we'd rather forget to a greater or lesser extent, so it might also be good that our brains have the trait of forgetting certain memories. If the brain can really remember anything that has happened in the past, then we have some new and very important information: such as the name of the new person we know today, where the car is parked, and so on, there may be no place to store.
But at the level of neurons, what exactly happens in our brains that causes us to slowly forget the things we once remember?
New research suggests that our brains forget through a mechanism called anti-memory. Specifically, our neurons are able to produce an electrical current that is exactly the opposite of the radio waves that appear when the memory is formed, thus "flushing" out the originally formed memory.
The conjecture about "anti-memory" comes from the theory that two types of brain cells in a healthy brain— "activating neurons" and "inhibiting neurons," can interact to allow the brain to function normally. In keeping with their name, the two types of neurons are able to generate electrical currents to activate or inhibit brain activity.
Scientists speculate that in the case of this balance out of control, overactivated neurons can lead to the development of psychiatric disorders such as sheep epilepsy, schizophrenia, autism and so on.
In a recent study, researchers from the Universities of Oxford and London wanted to understand how this mechanism relates to the retention of information corresponding to our brains.
When we learn something new, it's mainly to activate the connections between neurons, which helps us generate new memories. But at the same time this change can cause the activation/inhibition balance to go out of range. To regulate this imbalance, inhibitory neurons begin to make connections. In fact, this inhibiting connection does not completely destroy our memories, but "silences" them.
Previously, scientists have tested the "anti-memory" hypothesis on animal or theoretical models, but it is unclear whether this will have an effect on human memory.
To get to light on this problem, the researchers used techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe the activity characteristics of the volunteers' brains. The volunteers were asked to look at several pairs of objects of different shapes, which would allow them to generate associative memories of pairs of objects.
"After 24 hours, the memory of this correlation became blurred. There are two explanations: one is that the brain silences it by anti-memory; the other is that the brain simply forgets." Helen Barron, a neuroscientist from the University of Oxford, said.
The next day, some volunteers began to be tested to determine which case it was. If the memory is silenced, then as long as the inhibitory activity is reduced, this part of the memory will be re-released.
Using directed transcranial current stimulation, the scientists were able to reduce the secretion of specific neuroproducts in the volunteers' brains, including GABA, which is associated with inhibitory signaling.
"We found that lowering inhibitory signals in the cerebral cortex was able to re-release silent memories," Barron said. "The observations are consistent with the equilibrium hypothesis. When people are in the process of learning and memory formation, they will see an increase in excitatory neuronal connections, and then, in order to maintain balance, there will be reverse inhibitory connections."
"This finding has the potential to be applicable to clinical treatments, including the treatment of patients with schizophrenia and autism." Barron said. The results were published in the journal Neuron.
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(Article source: China Brain Science Network, the copyright of the article and the picture belongs to the original author)