I have burned the memory of my older brothers’ angina intervention, who ate ice cream as if there were no tomorrow. Since then, I have been losing ice cream. This is how the brain amygdala also works: memories with emotional connotations are best remembered, and it is the brain amygdala that deals with them.
But what is the amygdala ? It is a set of neuronal nuclei located deep in the temporal lobes, which are in charge of memory processing, associated with emotion and its consolidation.
A recent study has shown that emotional images prepare the brain to remember things better. That is, when you have to remember something neutral, you do it better after exposing yourself to emotional images . Our brain is modulated according to the experiences that we have previously accumulated.
But the surprise has just been given to us by British researchers from University College London, who would explain why the repetition and escalation of lies desensitize the brain amygdala, and the repetition of this behavior, to which most of us are so accustomed of politicians, encourages further deception in the future.
These scientists performed functional resonance imaging of the brains of 55 people while they participated in tasks in which they could lie for personal gain, by estimating the number of coins in a transparent jar. It was confirmed that the amygdala was activated when people lied for benefit, but the response of the amygdala to the lie decreased with each lie, while the magnitude of the lie increased. The explanation they give is that the amygdala produces a negative sensation that limits the degree to which we are willing to lie, but that the more we lie, this response fades and the more this activity is reduced, the greater the lie will be. our brain accept . But, if we already know, why do we keep voting for them? The explanation is also in our brain.
I propose to do a study comparing the functioning of the amygdala of politicians versus the amygdala of non-politicians , because as the British say: dishonesty is like a slippery slope, where small ethical transgressions pave the way for future bigger transgressions. It would be essential to find a treatment that reactivates the amygdala to its initial function.
Conclution
The bottom line is that our brain modulates with training, for the good and also for the bad. Here’s the proof that your amygdala works: What do you remember where you were on 9/11?
Dra. Cristina Guijarro Castro, advisor to Unobrain. CM Caracas of Madrid and H. Virgen de la Luz, Cuenca
