Limbic Memories

Posted by Jonathan Moore on 7 June 2010 | 0 Comments

Have you ever had an occasion where you smelled a smell or heard a sound and immediately you remembered something (good or bad) from the past? I will often smell a particular flower and be taken back to playing in the schoolyard when I was in year 1. (Quite some time ago now!)

It is amazing how powerful this can be and how easily we can remember when our senses are stimulated. This is because our senses, our memory and our emotions are intimately linked in the limbic part of our brain (see last email). All of us can probably remember where we were when we found out about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, or maybe where you were when JFK was assassinated, or other times associated with heightened emotional experiences such as, falling in love, the birth of a child or the death of a loved one.

The reason for this is that these emotions are generated within the limbic region of the brain, the same part that is responsible for generating memories. Each time this part of the limbic brain (called the hippocampus) is stimulated it produces new neurological (nerve) pathways. This stimulation may be in the way of smell, sight taste or other senses, emotions or actions (eg: driving a car). The more intense the stimulation (a major event) or the more often the memory is repeated, the stronger the nerve pathway becomes and the better the brain/body remembers.

Chiropractic adjustments repeatedly stimulate the nervous system resulting in new pathways being formed (neurogenesis) and therefore a more organised nervous system.

In order to build great long-term memories, add an emotion or another stimulus to the event. For example, every time you learn something new, ring a bell. From then on, when you hear a bell ring the same tone, your nervous system will have a better chance at remembering what you have learned.