Posted on 12/25/2005 6:46:45 PM PST by voletti
To recall memories, your brain travels back in time via the ultimate Google search, according to a new study in which scientists found they can monitor the activity and actually predict what you'll think of next.
The work bolsters the validity of a longstanding hypothesis that the human brain takes itself back to the state it was in when a memory was first formed.
The psychologist Endel Tulving dubbed this process "mental time travel."
How it works
Researchers analyzed brain scans of people as the test subjects watched pictures on a computer screen.
The images were divided into three categories: celebrities like Jack Nicholson and Halle Berry, places like the Taj Mahal and the Grand Canyon and everyday objects like tweezers and a pocket mirror.
Later, without any images and while their brains were still being scanned, the subjects were asked to recall as many of the images as they could. The researchers found that the patterns of brain activity associated with each picture "reinstated" themselves seconds before the people could verbally recall the memories.
On average, the time between beginning brain activity associated with the memory and the subjects verbally stating the memory was about 5.4 seconds.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Tweezers and a pocket mirror are everyday objects? Must be in menopause, LOL!
I knew they were gonna say that.
If they'd just help me find my car eys in the morning.......
thanks for posting this item
"Did you know that middle aged men like us have a memory span of less than five seconds?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you, can you repeat that?"
"Did you know that, ... um ... never mind."
well, i cannot rememeber anything
so any information on memory recall is important
anyways
This theory has been around for a long time, and there is probably a lot to be said for it. I believe it has been called "neuro-associative conditioning" or "neural-linguistic programming" in the past (Bandler, et.al.).
I am a guy,the answer is sex,that should not be that difficult to determine.
heck they would probably not want to know what im thinking cause my thinking changes so much not even I can keep track of all the intelligent data that goes in and out of my thought process.....LOL
At this moment im thinking of my SON.
Eeek 2 seconds later im thinking of why my finger hurts.
Eeeek another thought process change now im thinking Tomorrow is Monday.
Pinky and the Brain.
While I'm doing something else, I have these brief experiences from my past, Sometimes as if my life is passing before my imagination.I almost have to shake my head back to the present.
It is really wierd and somewhat unnerving. Does this normally happen when one gets older? Is this pre-alzheiner's maybe?
[begin Karnac mode]
[holds envelope up to forehead]
I think... I'll post something inane on this thread.
[end Karnac mode]
Amazing!
I think they were looking in teenaged girls' purses.
Same thing's happened to me in the past months. I've even found myself momentarily transported to dream sequences when an appropriate trigger comes along. I have no real explanation, save maybe sleep deprivation from too much international travel. If it's pre-Alzheimer's, please don't tell me!
What does this mean for people who are trying hard to recall someone's name...it just won't come to them...and it takes more than 5.4 seconds to bring it back. Sometimes the name will snap back in my mind after 5.4 hours...or 5.4 days...hehehe.
Do you know the first thing lost? No? Damn! I can't remember either.
I sure wish I had an explanation for the sudden memory experience. Maybe we could get a grant and write a best-seller. :-)
But someone already did.... in another post just yesterday.
Remember? :-)
BTTT
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