Memories......In The Corners Of My Mind

Tony Peake has written and lectured on the extraordinary neuro-scientific work of Wilder Penfield in memory stimulation and neural activity around Déjà vu, which made the reports in yesterday’s “Times” and the US journal “Annals of Neurology” particularly interesting.

Electrical stimulation in the deep brain of a patient caused them to experience vivid memories and feelings of Déjà vu. These findings could lead to new treatments for degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

The procedure involves electrodes being implanted in the brain under local anaesthesia. They are then stimulated by a “pacemaker” device stitched into the chest that sends electrical pulses to the brain to interfere with neural activity at a particular site.

In this case the electrodes were implanted in an area of the limbic system called the hypothalamus. When the electrodes were stimulated by electrical impulses the patient began to experience sudden feelings of Déjà vu. He had a perception of being in a park with friends when he was 20 years old. As the intensity of the stimulation increased, details in the scene became more vivid.

Later, when the electrodes were stimulated for a second time, the patient experienced a similar effect. After three weeks of constant electrical stimulation the patient also performed better in memory tests.

These findings mirror Penfield’s and Tony’s work in this area and also my own research and writings on Neurogenesis (the creation of new brain cells), deep within the hypothalamus in an area of the brain called the Dentate Gyrus. I’m hoping that scientific evidence will also be found to show that electrical impulses controlled in the Dentate Gyrus can stimulate Neurogenesis to help treat Mental Health disorders.

I hope that Tony will post a comment relating to his book and the similar work in this area by Wilder Penfield.

A Dark Philosopher
Karl L Le Marcs