4 ms·
It would be interesting if active neurons were suppressing memories but I don't know of any evidence in support of that idea. Most of the articles cited by the
by nickledave 11y ago
It would be interesting if active neurons were suppressing memories but I don't know of any evidence in support of that idea.
Most of the articles cited by the author don't deal with neurons that are directly involved in memory. The articles described the activity of neurons in primary sensory areas: the neurons in cortex that receive direct input from the periphery, or at least are the closest to neurons in the periphery in terms of number of connections between them. One exception is the article she cites about the hippocampus, but this area is required only for forming memories--once the memories have formed, they live somewhere else, but probably not in the primary sensory areas. Okay, maybe memories are a distributed network that includes neurons in primary sensory areas...but it would be weird to also have the main sensory area also be the place where memories live.
- noselfrighteous 11y agoIt might make a lot of sense actually. It could serve to speed up instinctive responses to stimuli which have been encountered before, i.e. whipping your finger away from a hot surface.
- unepipe 11y agoI think I understand what you're getting at, but the example you gave is not a learned act, it's a reflex action. It bypasses your brain entirely, you generally recognize the pain after you reflexively withdraw your hand. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_reflex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_reflex
- etiam 11y agoReflexes can be, and are frequently, modulated by parts of the nervous system more inclined to learning.