That, perhaps, accounts for the forced memory of boot camp, though it doesn’t add much insight into “Crocodile Rock.” It has ways of emphasizing things that are important or dangerous.” “The brain has a much more intense memory of the street. “The brain has ways of saying there are two sets of memories: what you ate for breakfast, and the street you got mugged on,” Privitera says. The hippocampus is also closely connected with the amygdala, which measures and stores emotions that are important to survival. The connection between auras and memory makes sense because seizures are often produced in the temporal lobe and typically involve the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is important to the processing of memory. Another patient’s aura arrived as Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock.” “The song would come into her mind and she couldn’t get it out,” Privitera says. Privitera has had patients whose forced memories involved Marine boot camp and the opening scene from the sitcom Alice, with the actors striding through the swinging saloon-style doors in Mel’s Diner. She had a sense that she was seeing her memories on a movie clip while feeling as though she was in a dream state.” Once a memory has been tapped into by the seizure path, it typically appears as an aura over and over again.Ĭavitt recalls a patient whose aura always unfolded like an old-fashioned film reel. “Depending on how those pathways link up, patients have various experiences of how and what they remember, which is really interesting.”Īuras are, agrees David Ficker, MD, associate director of the Epilepsy Center, “one of the more fascinating aspects of epilepsy.” Forced Memory Reruns “Seizures are tapping into pathways that are connected to the way we remember things,” says Jennifer Cavitt, MD, a neurologist and epilepsy specialist at the UC Epilepsy Center. If it involves the temporal lobe, the individual may experience forced memories.”Ī “forced memory” is a random memory that an individual cannot control. If it involves the visual area, the individual may perceive flashing lights or swirling colors. “So an aura can involve a sensation or a general nondescript feeling, depending on which part of the brain is involved. “Auras, which have been described as far back as Hippocrates, involve a smaller part of the brain and generally don’t involve loss of awareness or consciousness,” Privitera says. Epileptic Aura as a Psychological Experience
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