The New York Times (11/30, Barry) reports that a group of researchers at Yale University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai “conducted brain scans of 28 people with PTSD” in an attempt to find empirical evidence that “traumatic memories function differently from other memories.”
The scans “found clear differences, the researchers reported,” demonstrating that people listening to sad memories “showed consistently high engagement of the hippocampus.” However, when “the same people listened to their traumatic memories … the hippocampus was not involved.” The findings were published in Nature.
Related Links:
— “Brain Study Suggests Traumatic Memories Are Processed as Present Experience,” Ellen Barry, New York Times, November 30, 2023