OK guys,

I agree, Mike.

Sooo... no need to get your knickers in a twist, everyone, as we say in the UK, lol. Let's not be so sensitive about the psychological components that we dismiss a potentially very beneficial experiment, though I'd like to know more about it, hopefully when it's fully published, I will.

People in chronic pain speak of experiences they suffer on a daily basis: anger, frustration, depression, worry, worthlessness, and hopelessness. They deal with extremely unpleasant sensory and emotional experiences, which often last a lifetime. Welcome to the limbic system. As Mike says, does it much matter how we achieve escape from these things?

So, to clear up what I think may be a few misunderstandings...

Firstly, a "memory trace" is not a scrap of memory. The first live "memory trace" was only seen as recently as mid 2004. They think that memory is made up of small pieces of transient data, some of which they can "see" now on an fMRI - that *is* a "memory trace - which exist for a short while – usually seconds, sometimes hours, but then it's gone. Then they think it gets shuttled elsewhere, but that mechanism is still a mystery. A full "memory" is made up of a zillion retrieved pieces of data. The brain is not like a computer's hard drive, with hard data being written to a central data bank. The brain stores stuff all over the place.

And no need to get all emotional over the phrase “emotional brain”. The "Emotional Brain" is just another name for the Limbic System, as used by medics, just like you might use the phrases Sympathetic/Autonomic/Central/Peripheral Nervous System. We're talking a little psychology here and a large dollop of physiology, biomechanics and biochemistry.

The Limbic system, otherwise known as "The emotional brain" is a group of interconnected deep brain structures, common to all mammals, and involved in olfaction, emotion, motivation, behavior, pain and various autonomic functions.

It comprises the endocrine system and the autonomic nervous system. The limbic system is embryologically an older part of the brain and developed to manage 'fight' or 'flight' chemicals. It's an evolutionary necessity. It also influences the formation of memory by integrating emotional states with stored memories of physical sensations.

Here is a very nice extract from "The Brain Encyclopedia" by Carol Turkington.

The Limbic System

Far from being a state of consciousness divorced from the physical brain, a person's emotions are produced by chemicals exquisitely intertwined with the physiological processes of the body so that in the truest sense what affects the body affects the mind and emotions, and vice versa.

The center of emotions in the brain can be found in the limbic system where the vast panoply of emotions is regulated through the release of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters: Pleasure may be linked with chemical signals produced by the release of noradrenalin, and pain is associated with many neurotransmitters. Mood appears to be linked with serotonin and dopamine.

In response to a variety of stimuli, emotions arise in the limbic system, travelling along neural pathways to the frontal lobes of the cortex, where feelings are monitored and interpreted. These two brain structures next influence the hypothalamus, which transmits the messages that trigger appropriate physical responses.

And the endocrine system, within the “emotional brain”, is one of the body’s main systems for communicating, controlling and coordinating the body’s work. It works with the nervous system, reproductive system, kidneys, gut, liver and fat to help maintain and control body energy levels, reproduction, growth and development, internal balance of body systems, called homeostasis - hormones etc, and responses to surroundings, stress, and injury.

OK, so that's the "emotional brain" and this research posted by Mike, says it is demonstrating a result with regards to that.

I think the originating Press Office at Northwestern University has "sexed it up" too much with that "Old memory" headline. That isn't what the researchers called it.

But anyway, I would like to know very much more about their experimental processes, especially about this “build-up” of memory because I have absolutely no idea what they can be meaning here, I can't find any research about it. This area of brain research - actually all brain research - is still very much in its infancy. As well as the limbic system, there are at least 25 other areas of the brain that are involved in pain, its transmission and ramifications, and further work is ongoing, so I'd like to know how they have unravelled it.

Also, an fMRI cannot show what's happening on the neuronal and micro level, so I can't see how they can categorically state what's happening in their experiment.

But anyhow, I have lots more to say about this – it’s absolutely fascinating, I think. I don't really care about the details, though - if it works, great! I'll take almost anything if it makes me feel better. lol! Though I won't hold my breath waiting, lots more work to be done there I reckon.

I'm just interested in the whole subject.....but this is faaaar to long, so enough. For now…

all the best!