The science of memories

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (UWM) researcher Fred Helmstetter Ph.D. is trying to understand why human memory is so selective. Why, he asks, is it that amnesia patients can't remember their names or addresses, but can remember how to hold a fork?

Dr. Helmstetter, a professor of psychology at UWM who researches the brain's regulation of memories, emotions and learning, explains that remembering 'what' is not the same as remembering 'how.'

In a recent press release he explains that "different circuits in the brain are activated when you remember what you had for breakfast this morning versus when you fell off a bicycle in second grade."

According to Dr. Helmstetter the human brain is not static. It has, what he calls, neuroplasticity-the ability to grow new cells and to breakdown and rebuild neural connections.

He also believes that memories come in different flavors. Such 'flavors' include "aware," or conscious, memories and the unconscious ones, some of which Helmstetter calls "emotional memories."

Incidentally, studying the part of the brain that controls emotional memory can also provide information about other brain functions. This is because the region of the brain that governs emotional memory also controls fear and anxiety.

Using rats as a model system, Helmstetter has suppressed the expression of whole families of genes that are known to be involved in memory formation and looked at the effect on other emotions like fear. In a recent publication he showed that memory and fear appear to be linked through the expression of proteins in the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) kinase pathway.

Research such as that done by Dr. Helmstetter is important because it has implications for a variety of illnesses including Alzheimer's disease and anxiety disorders.

More information can be found in the press release.

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