Body memory

Last updated

Body memory (BM) is a hypothesis that the body itself is capable of storing memories, as opposed to only the brain. While experiments have demonstrated the possibility of cellular memory [1] there are currently no known means by which tissues other than the brain would be capable of storing memories. [2] [3]

Contents

Modern usage of BM tends to frame it exclusively in the context of traumatic memory and ways in which the body responds to recall of a memory. In this regard, it has become relevant in treatment for PTSD. [4]

Overview

Peter Levine calls BM implicit memory or more specifically procedural memory, things that the body is capable of doing automatically and not in one's consciousness. He clarifies 3 types of BM and frames his work in terms of traumatic memory consequence and resolution: [5]

  1. Learned motor actions - Action patterns that can be continuously modified over time by higher brain regions.
  2. Emergency response - Hardwired instinctual behaviors (i.e., fight or flight response, etc...).
  3. Attraction or repulsion - We are attracted to sources of nourishment and growth and repulsed from sources of injury or toxicity.

Nicola Diamond elaborates on the opinion of philosopher Merleau-Ponty and asserts that BM is formed by doing. Whether practicing a bodily activity or forming a reaction to a traumatic memory. [6]

Edward Casey speaks of BM as, "memory intrinsic to the body, how we remember by and through the body", rather than what is remembered about the body. [7]

Thomas Fuchs defines 6 different types of BM: procedural, situational, intercorporeal, incorporative, pain, and traumatic memory. He notes that they are not strictly separable from one another but "derived from different dimensions of bodily experience. [8] : 12  Michelle Summa further refines this definition as an implicit memory. A pre-thematic, operative consciousness of the past expressed through the body. [8] : 30 

Antonio Damasio calls these reactions to memories somatic markers or emotions that are expressed primarily as physical feelings. [9]

These memories are often associated with phantom pain in a part or parts of the body – the body appearing to remember the past trauma. The idea of body memory is a belief frequently associated with the idea of repressed memories, in which memories of incest or sexual abuse can be retained and recovered through physical sensations. [2] It may also be associated with phantom limb sensation but this is less common. [10]

Skepticism

In 1993, Susan E. Smith, presented a paper relating the idea of "Survivor Psychology" at a false memory syndrome conference, stated about BM that, "body memories are thought to literally be emotional, kinesthetic, or chemical recordings stored at the cellular level and retrievable by returning to or recreating the chemical, emotional, or kinesthetic conditions under which the memory recordings are filed. [2] She went on in the abstract of the paper, "one of the most commonly used theories to support the ideology of repressed memories or incest and sexual abuse amnesia is body memories." and "The belief in these pseudoscientific concepts appears to be related to scientific illiteracy, gullibility, and a lack of critical thinking skills and reasoning abilities in both the mental health community and in society at large" [2]

A 2017 systematic review of cross-disciplinary research in body memory found that the available data neither largely support or refute the claim that memories are stored outside of the brain and more research is needed. [11]

In the Encyclopedia of Phenomenology Embree notes that, "To posit body memory is to open up a Pandora's Box", and links the idea to physical associations of memory rather than as a memory stored in a bodily manner. [12]

Cellular memory

Cellular memory (CM) is a parallel hypothesis to BM positing that memories can be stored outside the brain in all cells. [13] The idea that non-brain tissues can have memories is believed by some who have received organ transplants, though this is considered impossible. The author said the stories are intriguing though and may lead to some serious scientific investigation in the future. [13] In his book TransplantNation Douglas Vincent suggests that atypical newfound memories, thoughts, emotions and preferences after an organ transplant are more suggestive of immunosuppressant drugs and the stress of surgery on perception than of legitimate memory transference. In other words, "as imaginary as a bad trip on LSD or other psychotropic drug." [14]

Flatworms

Biologists at Tufts University have been able to train flatworms despite the loss of the brain and head. This may show memory stored in other parts of the body in some animals. [15] A worm reduced to 1/279th of the original can be regrown within a few weeks and be trained much quicker to head towards light and open space for food, an unnatural behavior for a flatworm. With each head removed training times appear reduced. This may just be a sign of epigenetics showing the appearance of memory. [16]

However, in the 1950s and 1960s James McConnell flatworm experiments measured how long it took to learn a maze. McConnell trained some to move around a maze and then chopped them up and fed them to untrained worms. The untrained group learned faster compared to a control that had not been fed trained worms. McConnell believed the experiment indicated cellular memory. [17] The training involved stressing the worms with electric shock. This kind of stress releases persistent hormones and shows no evidence for memory transfer. Similar experiments with mice being trained and being fed to untrained mice showed improved learning. It was not a memory that was transferred but hormone enriched tissue. [17]

Current usage and research

In epigenetics there are various mechanisms for cells to pass on "memories" of stressors to their progeny. Strategies include Msn2 nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling, changes in chromatin, partitioning of anti-stress factors, and damaged macromolecules between mother and daughter cells. [18]

In adaptive immunity there is a functional CM that enables the immune system to learn to react to pathogens through mechanisms such as cytoxic memory mediation in bone marrow, [19] innate immune memory in stromal cells, [20] fungal mediation of innate and inherited immunological response, [21] and T and B-cell immune training. [22] In this regard CM is essential for vaccine and immunity research.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immune system</span> Biological system protecting an organism against disease

The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinters, distinguishing them from the organism's own healthy tissue. Many species have two major subsystems of the immune system. The innate immune system provides a preconfigured response to broad groups of situations and stimuli. The adaptive immune system provides a tailored response to each stimulus by learning to recognize molecules it has previously encountered. Both use molecules and cells to perform their functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immunology</span> Branch of medicine studying the immune system

Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of immune systems in all organisms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epigenetics</span> Study of DNA modifications that do not change its sequence

In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable changes in cell function that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix epi- in epigenetics implies features that are "on top of" or "in addition to" the traditional genetic basis for inheritance. Epigenetics most often involves changes that affect the regulation of gene expression, and that persist through cellular division. Such effects on cellular and physiological phenotypic traits may result from external or environmental factors, or be part of normal development. It can also lead to diseases such as cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stress (biology)</span> Organisms response to a stressor such as an environmental condition or a stimulus

Stress, either physiological, biological or psychological, is an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition. Stress is the body's method of reacting to a condition such as a threat, challenge or physical and psychological barrier. There are two hormones that an individual produces during a stressful situation, well known as adrenaline and cortisol. There are two kinds of stress hormone levels. Resting (basal) cortisol levels are normal everyday quantities that are essential for standard functioning. Reactive cortisol levels are increases in cortisol in response to stressors. Stimuli that alter an organism's environment are responded to by multiple systems in the body. In humans and most mammals, the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are the two major systems that respond to stress.

An immune response is a physiological reaction which occurs within an organism in the context of inflammation for the purpose of defending against exogenous factors. These include a wide variety of different toxins, viruses, intra- and extracellular bacteria, protozoa, helminths, and fungi which could cause serious problems to the health of the host organism if not cleared from the body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planarian</span> Flatworms of the Turbellaria class

A planarian is one of the many flatworms of the traditional class Turbellaria. It usually describes free-living flatworms of the order Tricladida (triclads), although this common name is also used for a wide number of free-living platyhelminthes. Planaria are common to many parts of the world, living in both saltwater and freshwater ponds and rivers. Some species are terrestrial and are found under logs, in or on the soil, and on plants in humid areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polly Matzinger</span> French-born American immunologist

Polly Celine Eveline Matzinger is a French-born immunologist who proposed the danger model theory of how the immune system works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cell-mediated immunity</span> Immune response that does not involve antibodies

Cell-mediated immunity or cellular immunity is an immune response that does not involve antibodies. Rather, cell-mediated immunity is the activation of phagocytes, antigen-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, and the release of various cytokines in response to an antigen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reactive oxygen species</span> Highly reactive molecules formed from diatomic oxygen (O₂)

In chemistry, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are highly reactive chemicals formed from diatomic oxygen. Examples of ROS include peroxides, superoxide, hydroxyl radical, singlet oxygen, and alpha-oxygen.

Memory transfer was a biological process proposed by James V. McConnell and others in the 1960s. Memory transfer proposes a chemical basis for memory termed memory RNA which can be passed down through flesh instead of an intact nervous system. Since RNA encodes information living cells produce and modify RNA in reaction to external events, it might also be used in neurons to record stimuli. This explained the results of McConnell's experiments in which planarians retained memory of acquired information after regeneration. Memory transfer through memory RNA is not currently a well-accepted explanation and McConnell's experiments proved to be largely irreproducible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cell therapy</span> Therapy in which cellular material is injected into a patient

Cell therapy is a therapy in which viable cells are injected, grafted or implanted into a patient in order to effectuate a medicinal effect, for example, by transplanting T-cells capable of fighting cancer cells via cell-mediated immunity in the course of immunotherapy, or grafting stem cells to regenerate diseased tissues.

Neuroimmunology is a field combining neuroscience, the study of the nervous system, and immunology, the study of the immune system. Neuroimmunologists seek to better understand the interactions of these two complex systems during development, homeostasis, and response to injuries. A long-term goal of this rapidly developing research area is to further develop our understanding of the pathology of certain neurological diseases, some of which have no clear etiology. In doing so, neuroimmunology contributes to development of new pharmacological treatments for several neurological conditions. Many types of interactions involve both the nervous and immune systems including the physiological functioning of the two systems in health and disease, malfunction of either and or both systems that leads to disorders, and the physical, chemical, and environmental stressors that affect the two systems on a daily basis.

Cellular memory can refer to:

The cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway regulates the innate immune response to injury, pathogens, and tissue ischemia. It is the efferent, or motor arm of the inflammatory reflex, the neural circuit that responds to and regulates the inflammatory response.

Neuroinflammation is inflammation of the nervous tissue. It may be initiated in response to a variety of cues, including infection, traumatic brain injury, toxic metabolites, or autoimmunity. In the central nervous system (CNS), including the brain and spinal cord, microglia are the resident innate immune cells that are activated in response to these cues. The CNS is typically an immunologically privileged site because peripheral immune cells are generally blocked by the blood–brain barrier (BBB), a specialized structure composed of astrocytes and endothelial cells. However, circulating peripheral immune cells may surpass a compromised BBB and encounter neurons and glial cells expressing major histocompatibility complex molecules, perpetuating the immune response. Although the response is initiated to protect the central nervous system from the infectious agent, the effect may be toxic and widespread inflammation as well as further migration of leukocytes through the blood–brain barrier may occur.

Immunological memory is the ability of the immune system to quickly and specifically recognize an antigen that the body has previously encountered and initiate a corresponding immune response. Generally, they are secondary, tertiary and other subsequent immune responses to the same antigen. The adaptive immune system and antigen-specific receptor generation are responsible for adaptive immune memory.

Epigenetics of anxiety and stress–related disorders is the field studying the relationship between epigenetic modifications of genes and anxiety and stress-related disorders, including mental health disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and more. These change can lead to transgenerational stress inheritance.

Trained immunity is a long-term functional modification of cells in the innate immune system which leads to an altered response to a second unrelated challenge. For example, the BCG vaccine leads to a reduction in childhood mortality caused by unrelated infectious agents. The term "innate immune memory" is sometimes used as a synonym for the term trained immunity which was first coined by Mihai Netea in 2011. The term "trained immunity" is relatively new – immunological memory has previously been considered only as a part of adaptive immunity – and refers only to changes in innate immune memory of vertebrates. This type of immunity is thought to be largely mediated by epigenetic modifications. The changes to the innate immune response may last up to several months, in contrast to the classical immunological memory, and is usually unspecific because there is no production of specific antibodies/receptors. Trained immunity has been suggested to possess a transgenerational effect, for example the children of mothers who had also received vaccination against BCG had a lower mortality rate than children of unvaccinated mothers. The BRACE trial is currently assessing if BCG vaccination can reduce the impact of COVID-19 in healthcare workers. Other vaccines are also thought to induce immune training such as the DTPw vaccine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neoblast</span> Planarian regeneration proliferative cells

Neoblasts (ˈniːəʊˌblæst) are non-differentiated cells found in flatworms called planarians. Neoblasts make up about 30 percent of all cells in planaria. Neoblasts give planarians an extraordinary ability to regenerate lost body parts. A planarian split lengthwise or crosswise will regenerate into two separate individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannes Gräff</span> Swiss neuroscientist

Johannes Gräff is a Swiss neuroscientist. He currently works as an Associate Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). His research focuses on the neuroepigenetic bases of physiological and pathological memory formation.

References

  1. ↑ Cosier, Susan. "Could Memory Traces Exist in Cell Bodies?". scientificamerican.com. doi:10.1038/scientificamericanmind0515-14b . Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Smith, Susan E. (1993). "Body Memories: And Other Pseudo-Scientific Notions of "Survivor Psychology"". Issues in Child Abuse Accusations. 5. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  3. ↑ Scott O Lilienfeld SO; Lynn SJ; Lohr JM, eds. (2002). Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology. The Guilford Press. ISBN   1-57230-828-1.
  4. ↑ Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. (25 September 2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN   978-1-101-60830-2.
  5. ↑ Peter A. Levine, Ph.D. (27 October 2015). Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past: A Practical Guide for Understanding and Working with Traumatic Memory. North Atlantic Books. ISBN   978-1-58394-995-5.
  6. ↑ Nicola Diamond (1 April 2013). Between Skins: The Body in Psychoanalysis - Contemporary Developments. Wiley. ISBN   978-0-470-77816-6.
  7. ↑ Edward S. Casey (15 September 2009). Remembering, Second Edition: A Phenomenological Study. Indiana University Press. p. 147. ISBN   978-0-253-11431-0.
  8. 1 2 Sabine C. Koch; Thomas Fuchs; Michela Summa (1 January 2012). Body Memory, Metaphor and Movement. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN   978-90-272-1350-1.
  9. ↑ Francois Ansermet (24 April 2018). Biology of Freedom: Neural Plasticity, Experience, and the Unconscious. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-0-429-91143-9.
  10. ↑ Price, Elfed Huw (2006). "A critical review of congenital phantom limb cases and a developmental theory for the basis of body image". Consciousness and Cognition. 15 (2): 310–322. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2005.07.003. PMID   16182566. S2CID   165404.
  11. ↑ Riva, Guisseppe (2018). "The neuroscience of body memory: From the self through the space to the others". Cortex. 104: 241–260. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.07.013 . PMID   28826604.
  12. ↑ Lester Embree (29 June 2013). Encyclopedia of Phenomenology. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 456. ISBN   978-94-015-8881-2.
  13. 1 2 Carroll, Robert Todd. "cellular memory". skepdic.com. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  14. ↑ TransplantNation. Douglas Vincent. pp. 9–. GGKEY:H80NKZZSRW7.
  15. ↑ Shomrat, Tal; Levin, Michael (2 July 2013). "An automated training paradigm reveals long-term memory in planaria and its persistence through head regeneration". Journal of Experimental Biology. 216 (20): 3799–3810. doi: 10.1242/jeb.087809 . PMID   23821717.
  16. ↑ Anthony, Sebastion (11 July 2013). "Decapitated worms can regenerate their brains, and the memories stored inside". Extremetech. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  17. 1 2 Bruce Hood (2009). Supersense: From Superstition to Religion - The Brain Science of Belief. Constable. ISBN   978-1-84901-030-6.
  18. ↑ Xue Y, Acar M (2018). "Mechanisms for the epigenetic inheritance of stress response in single cells". Curr Genet. 64 (6): 1221–1228. doi:10.1007/s00294-018-0849-1. PMC   6215725 . PMID   29846762.
  19. ↑ Di Rosa F, Pabst R (2005). "The bone marrow: a nest for migratory memory T cells". Trends Immunol. 26 (7): 360–6. doi:10.1016/j.it.2005.04.011. PMID   15978522.
  20. ↑ Crowley T, Buckley CD, Clark AR (2018). "Stroma: the forgotten cells of innate immune memory". Clin Exp Immunol. 193 (1): 24–36. doi:10.1111/cei.13149. PMC   6038004 . PMID   29729109.
  21. ↑ Quintin J (2019). "Fungal mediated innate immune memory, what have we learned?". Semin Cell Dev Biol. 89: 71–77. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2018.05.023 . PMID   29842944.
  22. ↑ Rosenblum, Michael D.; Way, Sing Sing; Abbas, Abul K. (21 December 2015). "Regulatory T cell memory". Nature Reviews Immunology. 16 (2): 90–101. doi:10.1038/nri.2015.1. PMC   5113825 . PMID   26688349.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.