How traumatic memories get hidden in brain

New York, August 18: Scientists have discovered the mechanism in our brain that makes stressful or fear-related memories iccessible. The result could eventually lead to new treatments for patients with psychiatric disorders, the researchers said. “The findings show there are multiple pathways to storage of fear-inducing memories, and we identified an important one for fear-related memories,” said principal investigator professor Jele Radulovic from Northwestern University. Some stressful experiences - such as chronic childhood abuse - are so overwhelming and traumatic that the memories hide like a shadow in the brain. A process known as state-dependent learning is believed to contribute to the formation of memories that are iccessible to normal consciousness. The best way to access the memories in this system is to return the brain to the same state of consciousness as when the memory was encoded. Two amino acids, glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), direct its emotiol tides and control whether nerve cells are excited or calm. (IANS)