The documentary film The Mystery of Memory narrates the story of scientific discoveries on how memory works. It describes an experiment that accidentally revealed the neuron structure, Cahal’s theory that neurons had distant spaces between them, which was later proven, and Kandel’s evidence that chemical reactions affect neurons, resulting in memory formation (The Mystery of Memory, 2011). The documentary focuses on the neuroscience of memory and analyzes the case of Jill Price, the lady with a unique ability to remember every detail and every day of her life. It reveals that emotions and stress hormones significantly affect memory formation, explaining why people have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after extremely stressful events, and mentions how the illness can be treated with exposure therapy. The documentary examines the brain’s ability to form and retrieve a memory, highlights the importance of neurobiology, and focuses on the problems of PTSD treatment and neuroscience backwardness, concluding that human memory is still a mystery.
Memory neuroscience is a thrilling area that still has a lot to discover. Memory formation and retrieval is a broad topic, and a better understanding of it can help science enhance human memory and treat many brain diseases. The Mystery of Memory mentions that “the amygdala helps us remember what to be afraid of, and in that way, helps keep us safe” (2011, 21:45). Linking brain structure to its function can reveal much about regulating specific processes in the brain and treating illnesses. For instance, scientists from the University of California implanted electrodes in certain brain parts of people with epilepsy (“Neuroscience: Memory Boost,” 2018). The system allowed bioengineers to “influence the firing patterns of multiple neurons in the hippocampus” (p.13). Such a device can determine individuals’ memory formation patterns and recode these models, improving their memory skills. Neurobiological research is vital as it can help people with epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, or other brain diseases enhance memory formation and retrieval abilities and possibly cure them.
Investigating the mystery of memory has much more practical applications than medicine. As mentioned in the documentary, neuroscience is not yet developed, but its future is promising (The Mystery of Memory, 2011). Thoroughly discovering the processes of memory formation could allow people to learn how to create false memories, which is a significant step in human development. Creating artificial memories can be used for improving robotics and constructing artificial intelligence that is closer to humans than ever. Memories can be created for entertainment purposes, rewriting individuals’ experiences, so they are more satisfied with their lives. Medical applications of false memories would be changing negative experiences to positive ones, helping people with PTSD, depression, and other trauma-related mental illnesses forget about their traumas.
Surprisingly, humanity is not as far away from reaching the milestone of creating artificial memories as one might think. Investigating engram, “the neural substrate for storing and recalling memories,” helped scientists find a way to impose events that have never happened (Josselyn & Tonegawa, 2020). They conducted an experiment on mice, putting them in a new context and the context they had experienced before. Even though the mice were never shocked in the first environment, they showed the same response and froze in both contexts, retrieving natural and artificial memory. Therefore, scientists revealed that animals could remember unrelated events in significant and possibly dangerous situations, combining two stimuli to form a new, artificial memory. Even though false memories were about twice weaker than natural ones, the researchers concluded that the identical mechanism works for humans. The experiment explains how people can sometimes remember events that have never happened and provides a basis for understanding how artificial memories can be formed and possibly applied.
PTSD, a disorder that can be developed after a highly traumatic event, is not yet thoroughly investigated by neuroscience. The endocrine system, such hormones as catecholamine and serotonin, hippocampus, amygdala, and cortex dysfunctions are currently known to be related to PTSD development (Sherin & Nemeroff, 2022). However, the illness and its treatment methods still remain a mystery. For instance, scientists studied 80 identical twins, including those who participated in the Vietnam war (Sherin & Nemeroff, 2022, p. 272). They measured twins’ hippocampus sizes, revealing that those with PTSD have a smaller hippocampus than healthy ones. Nevertheless, the brain region of twins who never served in Vietnam was also abnormally small, even though they were not diagnosed with PTSD. Therefore, scientists concluded that PTSD patients tend to have small hippocampus, but it is yet to be found whether hippocampus size is the cause or the consequence of the disorder. The role of the hippocampus, the effect of dopamine levels, and other aspects of PTSD remain unclear for neurobiology.
Further investigating such complex disorders as PTSD is essential to improve treatment for everyone affected. A group of scientists investigated a sample of 200 people with PTSD, revealing the effect of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy on the quality of their everyday lives (Le et al., 2018). Exposure therapy and pharmacotherapy are the two main methods used for PTSD treatment today, so they wanted to investigate the effectiveness of the methods and possibly reveal which is more suitable for different social groups. Researchers assigned the treatment option for half of the patients while asking another half to choose the preferred one. The study revealed that the group that chose the treatment method themselves was more satisfied and found that people with a college degree were likelier to choose pharmacotherapy. However, the most significant conclusion was that “prolonged exposure therapy was associated with significantly higher quality-of-life outcome compared with pharmacotherapy with sertraline” (Le et al., 2018, p. 1560). The finding shows that drug therapy for PTSD still has room for development.
Modern neuroscientists are working toward a better understanding of human brain structure and its memory-related functions. As The Mystery of Memory mentions, neuroscience “is going to help people be more who they have the ability to be and not be shackled by their emotions in ways that are destructive” (2011, 26:53). Researchers are investigating the effect of certain hormones and brain regions on the development of the disorder, and implementing such new approaches as virtual reality therapy for PTSD patients.
Neurobiology has made many discoveries in the last century and is continuing to develop. Such scientists as Cahal or Kandel significantly contributed to the discovery of neuron structure, while modern researchers are conducting experiments and studies to apply the obtained knowledge. They are developing systems that enhance memory formation, finding ways to retrieve artificial memories, investigating the causes and effects of PTSD, and analyzing the effectiveness of PTSD treatment options. Neuroscience is vital as investigating memory processes is necessary for treating people with epilepsy, PTSD, and other mental disorders. Therefore, neurobiology is a complex and exciting science with a promising future.
References
Josselyn, S. A., & Tonegawa, S. (2020). Memory engrams: Recalling the past and imagining the future. Science, 367(6473).
Le, Q. A., Doctor, J. N., Zoellner, L. A., & Feeny, N. C. (2018). Effects of treatment, choice, and preference on health-related quality-of-life outcomes in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Quality of Life Research, 27(6), 1555–1562.
The Mystery of Memory[Film]. (2011). Nobelprize.org.
Neuroscience: Memory Boost. (2018). ASEE Prism, 27(8), 13.
Sherin, J. E., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2022). Post-traumatic stress disorder: The neurobiological impact of psychological trauma. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 13(3), 263–278.