The memory of some people is arranged in an amazing way: supplementing a story or memory with embellished details, they themselves soon begin to believe what they have invented. Perhaps this is not at all a tendency to tell lies, scientists say. In the brain of some people, there is no para-belt groove that literally separates truth from falsehood.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK have discovered a structure in the brain that is responsible for the ability to distinguish the imaginary from the real. The most intriguing thing is that not everyone has this structure. The para-girdle sulcus, or paracingulate sulcus, is a paired formation that forms in the late stages of fetal development and does not always appear. Such features in the structure of the cortex are not uncommon. The brain of each person is individual, the size and shape of the furrows can vary significantly.
Some differences are normal, while others potentially lead to the development of mental disorders. The absence of a para-girdle sulcus does not seem to be such a destructive sign, but it has a curious effect on perception. The researchers conducted an experiment, during which they tested the properties of the memory of the subjects.
They let volunteers listen to a set of predictable word pairs, such as black and white or man and woman. After the participants had memorized all the pairs well, the scientists read out one word from the pair to them, asking them to mentally recall the second. The volunteers were then asked what words they heard from the experimenters.
As it turned out, some participants remembered quite well which words of the pairs were spoken aloud, and which they only "thought out". But others tended to confuse what was actually spoken with words that sounded only in their imagination. These last "inventors" were those who had no para-girdle gyrus at all.
Those participants who had a furrow in at least one hemisphere were much better “friends” with memory. It is curious that the subjects who were inclined to "think out" were confident that they were doing well with memorization. They stated that they never complained about memory.
Scientists have wondered that the absence of a para-girdle sulcus could potentially be associated with schizophrenia. It is known that schizophrenics experience hallucinations that are indistinguishable from reality for them. Previously, information has already appeared that the para-girdle sulcus in those suffering from this ailment is very weak, if at all present. Perhaps it is her absence that provokes them to accept the “voices in their own head” as real.
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The features of the brain structure of schizophrenics have long been of interest to scientists. This mysterious disorder is difficult to correct, schizophrenics experience difficulties with social adaptation and often commit suicide. The positive image of a "compensated" schizophrenic, shown, for example, in the movie "A Beautiful Mind" is a great rarity.
Even the reasons for the appearance and development of schizophrenia for doctors remain vague. It is only known for certain that a tendency to this disease is inherited - but no more. The exact mechanisms that give rise to the disease are still unknown.
In 2008, scientists from Vanderbilt University in the United States discovered other unusual properties of memory in people with schizophrenia. The researchers conducted a series of memory experiments with the patients while simultaneously recording their brain activity using MRI and near-infrared spectroscopy. (The latter technique is based on the study of the brain by registering its electromagnetic radiation at a wavelength in the range from 800 to 2.5 thousand nanometers.)
The experiment showed that in schizophrenics, much more extensive areas of the cortex are involved during memory work than in healthy people. If, to memorize some information, an ordinary person would only need the work of the right hemisphere, in a patient with schizophrenia, in the same case, both were activated at once, and the connections that arose between the activated areas were much more complex and diverse than in healthy people. (It is quite logical: schizophrenics are known for their ability to strange, paradoxical associations and illogical, from the point of view of others, jumping thoughts).
Another characteristic feature of the "schizophrenic brain". When information is erased from the memory of a healthy person, the intensity of the work of the cortex is comparable to when, when trying to recall, the subjects were not sure of the correctness of their recollection. In schizophrenics, however, the activity did not change and remained the same when forgetting or remembering - both right and wrong. It is hoped that discoveries in the field of the brain will help to better understand the nature of mental disorders and become the basis for effective methods of treatment.
YANA FILIMONOVA