How to Prevent Age-Related Memory Loss

How does aging affect memory?

Our memories make us unique. They are stored in different parts of the brain. We talk about the short-term and long-term memory and the brain stores these information differently.

As we age, the blood supply to the brain decreases and with it, the ability to deliver the nutrients necessary to support cognition. Brain cells die systematically and the body produces less of the chemicals needed by the brain to function optimally. This process begins quite early in the life of an individual, usually in the mid-twenties and accelerates in the fifties and sixties. As we are getting older, these physical changes affect the way memories are stored and retrieved. Aging does not usually affect the short-term memory. We also do not forget ancient memories or the skills that we have learned and performed over a long time. We do not forget wisdom or the knowledge acquired from our life experience, and we do not forget how to learn new things, although it may take a bit longer to do so. We may, however, forget our appointments, or what we did or said just two days ago or last week. We may forget details of a conversation we had recently, or personal details of people we know. We may forget things we were supposed to do or buy, or misplace our belongings and forget where we put them.

For many people such memory lapses are considered to be the normal part of aging, but they do not have to be so. There are many ways to improve the memory, concentration, and learning skills. We do not have to resign ourselves to processes that can be reversed to a considerable degree. The brain is capable of producing new brain cells and new neural connections at any age. With a little nutritional help and self-discipline, one can improve his or her cognitive skills enhancing at the same time the overall quality of life.

There are many factors that play a role in the way our memories are formed and retrieved. Stress and malnutrition may affect our memories independently from the aging process. Hormonal imbalance, especially during the menopause, may also seriously affect memory of aging women. To a great degree these problems can be alleviated with nutrition, supplementation, and memory training therapy.

Stress management is very important as the stress hormone cortisol has the capacity to negatively impact memory. Scientists found out that cortisol shrinks the dendrites impairing the communication between neurons in the brain. Fortunately, when stress is under control and the levels of cortisol decline, dendrites regenerate and return to their optimal function. The importance of sleep cannot be underestimated. Sleep plays important role in memory consolidation. Insufficient sleep affects learning as well as some memory tasks.

Food for thought

Like every other cell in the body, brain cells need a steady supply of nutrients and oxygen. Our life styles can affect our cerebral function. We can either deprive our brains of vital nutrients, or deliver everything the brain needs in order to function properly. Various studies suggest that nutrition rich in vitamins and antioxidants may help preserve cognitive function and slow or even reverse memory decline. Certain foods are considered to be perfect memory boosters. They contain high amounts of memory enhancing nutrients:

• Walnuts are rich in the essential omega-3 fatty acids which are the absolutely necessary food for the brain. Insufficient amounts of omega-3 in the body are related to the diminished cognitive function.
• Cold water fish such as salmon, halibut, and mackerel is rich in the vital omega-3 essential fatty acids. Adding fish to our diets does not only prevent us from heart disease and stroke, but also considerably improves our mood and memory function.
• Blueberries contain anthocyanin, a compound that can boost the neurons activity by amplifying the signals that are necessary to activate processes responsible for the memory function.
• Red onions contain flavonoid fisetin which is known to stimulate the pathways responsible for the long-term memory. They also contain quercetin and anthocyanin, two compounds that are known to enhance memory.
• Apples are well known for their health improving qualities. They are also well researched memory boosters. Apples and apple juice prevent decline of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain.
• Grapes, especially the Concord variety and pure juice made of them were found in a recent study to support learning and memory function in adults with early memory loss symptoms. Persons who drunk the pure Concord juice demonstrated improved short-term memory retention and spatial, non-verbal memory. This effect was attributed to the high amount of antioxidants in Concord grapes.
• Cruciferous vegetables were shown in a recent Harvard study to improve our memory function. Vegetables such a broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage seem to slow dawn the age-related memory decline and improve the overall cognitive function.
• Leafy green vegetables such as Swiss chard, spinach, and kale, are rich in Vitamin B9 also known as folic acid or folate. Vitamin B9 helps reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. It is necessary to break down the amino acid homocysteine which is toxic to the nerve cells. 
  

 

Memory protocol

There are many scientifically tested nutrients that can considerably improve memory and prevent memory decline. There are many products on the market containing memory boosting herbs and nutrients. Some of them deliver the combination of nutrients that act in synergy, others use a single herb. Depending on one's condition and the overall health, it may be necessary to supplement for a longer period of time in order to see considerable results. Below is the list of most important nutrients and herbs that can be used to improve memory and learning.

Nutrients:

• Posphatidyl choline (PC) is a precursor to acetylcholine in the brain. Acetylcholine is the key chemical for memory and its deficiency is considered to be the most common cause for deteriorating memory. Eating foods rich in PC, such as egg yolks and sardines, or supplementing with lecithin granules can considerably improve memory function and learning.
• Phosphatidyl serine (PS) is a phospholipid that is an essential part of cell membranes in the body. The highest concentration of PS are found in the brain where it is believed to play a role in preserving and improving cognitive function in aging adults. It is believed that PS plays a key role in the communication between cells. Studies suggest that people in their fifties may not be able to synthesize sufficient amounts of PS and may have to supplement in order to preserve their memory function. People with learning difficulties and age related memory impairment profit greatly from supplementation with PS.
• Quercetin is a flavonoid with strong antioxidant properties. Studies demonstrated that quercetin may be able to prevent age related memory impairment as well as the outbreak of Alzheimer's disease. Quercetin has the ability to inhibit the formation of amyloid beta protein. It can also destabilize the existing amyloid beta protein. Amyloid beta protein is the main constituent of the amyloid plaque in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.
• DMAE is a precursor to choline that easily crosses the brain-blood barrier. It helps the brain to accelerate the production of acetylcholine that is indispensable for optimal memory function.
• CoQ10 is an enzyme that naturally occurs in the body. Its production diminishes with age. Studies demonstrated that CoQ 10 can considerably slow down, but does not actually cure, the progress of dementia in people affected by the Alzheimer's disease.
• Omega-3 are the essential fatty acids indispensable for the optimal memory function. Omega-3 helps curb inflammation in the brain that may be responsible for memory impairment and the Alzheimer's disease.
• Vitamin B12 is a nutrient found in meat, fish, and dairy products, especially yogurt. It is also manufactured by the bacteria in the human intestines. Vitamin B12 has many functions in the body. Among others, it is essential for the metabolism of the nerve cells and necessary for the optimal health of the entire nervous system. Studies demonstrated that vitamin B12 may prevent the age related brain volume loss in older people. Adequate blood levels of this nutrient may prevent age-related memory impairment.

Herbs:

• Ginko biloba has been used in Chinese Traditional Medicine for thousands of years to improve memory function and treat dementia. The herb improves micro circulation in the body and helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to the brain. Studies demonstrated that ginko biloba is safe and very effective in treating symptoms of mild dementia, but are rather inconclusive about its function in improving memory of healthy, young adults.
• Huperzine A is an extract of a plant Huperzia serrata or club moss. This herb has a long tradition in China and has been used to successfully enhance memory. Studies demonstrated that Huperzine A interferes with the enzyme acetylcholinesterase that is responsible for the break down of acetylcholine making acetylcholine available in the brain. Acetylcholine is involved in memory and learning and its shortage in the brain is one of the characteristics of Alzheimer's disease.
• Vinpocetine is an extract of Vinca minor or periwinkle. It has the ability to improve the blood flow and circulation. Like ginko biloba, it helps to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the brain. It also enhances the energy production in the brain cells. Studies demonstrated that vinpocetine supplements improve concentration, learning, and memory recall.

Mental activity:

Aging brain needs stimulation! Studies demonstrated that people who know how to speak a foreign language may add as many as 40 years to their cognitive health! It does not matter whether they learned the language as children or much later in their lives. Although it may be more difficult to master a language in our 50s or 60s, it is never too late to give it a try.

Curiosity kills boredom. Activities such as reading, creative writing, or puzzle solving may help delay the age related memory loss, especially if they are performed daily.

Pathological changes in memory

There are, however, pathological changes in memory that are not the part of a normal aging process. A person may forget things that he or she was doing repeatedly over a longer period of time, or be unable to recall complex processes. There may be a difficulty in learning new things or difficulty making choices because the alternative solutions have been forgotten or do not appear at all in a person's mind. A person may forget things more often and has a difficulty to keep a track of what is going on. These and similar memory problems may indicate the onset of Alzheimer's disease and have to be taken seriously.

Although Alzheimer's disease affects aging individuals, it should not be considered as an inevitable consequence of aging. Not all aging people develop Alzheimer's disease. There are many elderly people who stay active and have rather good memories. Many writers and scientists, for instance, retain their ability to think clearly and creatively, to form new memories, and to remember the details they need for their work, until old age. Research demonstrated that healthy, well-nourished, intellectually active people show no signs of deteriorating memory. It must be understood that mental decline is not an inevitable sign of aging and can be reversed. We can boost memory and retain alertness at any age. Nutrition, physical exercise, and intellectual challenge are the vital elements of cognitive health.  

By Dominique Allmon

*Information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose, treat or cure a disease. 

How to Prevent Age-Related Memory Loss by Dominique Allmon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Chronestesia

 Paul Citroën holding the painted portrait of Nico Jesse
1953

The ability to remember the past and imagine the future can significantly affect a person’s decisions in life. Scientists refer to the brain’s ability to think about the past, present, and future as “chronesthesia,” or mental time travel, although little is known about which parts of the brain are responsible for these conscious experiences. In a new study, researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural correlates of mental time travel and better understand the nature of the mental time in which the metaphorical “travel” occurs.

Mental time travel consists of two independent sets of processes:

1. those that determine the contents of any act of such ‘travel’: what happens, who are the ‘actors,’ where does the action occur; it is similar to the contents of watching a movie - everything that you see on the screen;

2. those that determine the subjective moment of time in which the action takes place - past, present, or future.

In cognitive neuroscience, we know quite a bit (relatively speaking) about perceived, remembered, known, and imagined space. We know essentially nothing about perceived, remembered, known, and imagined time. When you remember something that you did last night, you are consciously aware not only that the event happened and that you were ‘there,’ as an observer or participant (‘episodic memory’), but also that it happened yesterday, that is, at a time that is no more. The question we are asking is, how do you know that it happened at a time other than ‘now’?

In their study, the researchers asked several well-trained subjects to repeatedly think about taking a short walk in a familiar environment in either the imagined past, the real past, the present, or the imagined future. By keeping the content the same and changing only the mental time in which it occurs, the researchers could identify which areas of the brain are correlated with thinking about the same event at different times.

The results showed that certain regions in the left lateral parietal cortex, left frontal cortex, and cerebellum, as well as the thalamus, were activated differently when the subjects thought about the past and future compared with the present. Notably, brain activity was very similar for thinking about all of the non-present times (the imagined past, real past, and imagined future).

Because mental time is a product of the human brain and differs from the external time that is measured by clocks and calendars, scientists also call this time “subjective time.” Chronesthesia, by definition, is a form of consciousness that allows people to think about this subjective time and to mentally travel in it.

Some previous research has questioned whether the concept of subjective time is actually necessary for understanding similarities in brain activity during past and future thinking compared with thinking about the present. A few past studies have suggested that the brain’s ability for scene construction, and not subjective time, can account for the ability to think about past and future events. However, since scene construction was held constant in this study, the new results suggest that the brain’s ability to conceive of a subjective time is in fact necessary to explain how we think about the past and future.

Until now, the processes that determine contents and the processes that determine time have not been separated in functional neuroimaging studies of chronesthesia; especially, there have been no studies in which brain regions involved in time alone, rather than time together with action, have been identified. 

The concept of ‘chronesthesia’ is essentially brand new. Therefore, the most important result of the study is the novel finding that there seem to exist brain regions that are more active in the (imagined) past and the (imagined) future than they are in the (imagined) present. That is, some evidence for chronesthesia has been found.

At this stage of the game, it is too early to talk about potential implications or applications of understanding how the brain thinks about the past, present, and future.

This study is the first swallow of the spring, and others will follow. The findings are promising, but they have to be replicated, checked for validity and reliability, and, above all, extended to other conditions and situations, before the scientists can even begin thinking about their implications and practical applications.

More information on the subject: Lars Nyberg, et al. “Consciousness of subjective time in the brain.” PNAS Early Edition.

Lost Memories

Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That's part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at least that's where I imagine it - there's a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in awhile, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you'll live forever in your own private library. - Haruki Murakami in "Kafka on the Shore"

Image: Found in the mud within the exclusion zone, April 7, 2011 in Minamisoma, Japan


Image source here

How to Nourish Your Brain

 

Brain food

Food for Thought or How to Use Nutrients for Cognitive Health

As we age our bodily functions deteriorate. We might not be as flexible as we have been in our forties or fifties. Our brain is aging, as well. And while wisdom is generally attributed to old age, it is old age that often brings the undesirable loss of mental acuity and in worst cases, dementia.

The deterioration of the brain may seem inevitable to some people, yet we can slow it and prevent it with proper nutrition and supplementation. Human brain is a very complex organ and it has nutritional needs that have to be met on daily basis if we want to stay mentally fit until old age. Moreover, our brain needs challenge and exercise in order not to atrophy.

Some foods have the capability to boost the cognitive function. They deliver nutrients to the brain, help produce neurotransmitters and increase the oxygen flow to the brain. Consuming them daily will help you stay mentally fit and agile till old age. Brain supportive foods are:

• complex carbohydrates
• essential fatty acids
• phospholipids
• amino acids
• vitamins and minerals

Complex carbohydrates 

Glucose delivers energy and is the most important nutrient for the brain and the nervous system. The brain consumes more glucose than any other organ in the body and needs a steady flow of it. It is vital to avoid insulin "spikes" and to keep the blood sugar at stable level. Avoid any form of sugar (saccharose) and all foods containing added sugar. Eat whole grains, fresh fruit, and vegetables to maintain optimal blood sugar levels and to secure a steady supply of glucose to the brain. Although fruits contain the simple sugar fructose, fructose is not immediately released into the blood stream as it has to be converted into glucose by the body. Moreover, fresh fruits contain fiber which slows dawn the release of sugar into the blood stream. While choosing your nutrition, watch for foods with low glycemic index (GI) and remember that combining carbohydrates with protein helps prevent insulin from spiking.

Fats

Our brain mass is about 60 per cent fat and it is absolutely necessary to feed our brains with the right fats if we want to maintain optimal brain function. Fats facilitate the circulation of neurotransmitters in the brain. Diet containing very little or no fat at all is detrimental to the brain and our mental health. The brain's fat tissue needs to be replenished constantly, and while saturated and monounsaturated fat, as well as cholesterol are synthesized by the body, essential fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6, must be delivered through our diet. Our diet should include saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats. However, fat should comprise no more than 20 per cent of our daily caloric intake. Hydrogenated fat should be avoided and the consumption of saturated fat reduced in favor of the mono- and polyunsaturated fats. The polyunsaturated omega-3 (especially EPA and DHA) and omega-6 (GLA and AA in particular), should comprise one third of the total fat consumption. Avoid fried and processed foods and reduce the consumption of saturated fat from meat and diary. Instead, eat plenty of seeds and nuts and cold water fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel. Include cold pressed oils such as olive or hemp oil and supplement with high quality, hexane free omega-3 and omega-6 capsules.

Phospholipids 

Our brain could not function without the phospholipids phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylserine (PS). Phospholipids are the building blocks of all cell membranes. They constitute the myelin sheath of nerve cells and facilitate the communication between the brain cells. The body can make its own phospholipids, but we should also include foods such as eggs, butter milk, and organ meats in our diet.

It has to be mentioned that choline is a precursor to acetylcholine - the memory neurotransmitter. Posphatidylserine, the memory molecule par excellence, is needed to maintain the structural integrity of brain cells. It promotes memory and boosts the brain power. Supplementation with lecithin granules and a good PS formula will help you improve your memory and stop the decline of the brain. Studies have demonstrated that PS taken together with DHA is even more effective.

Amino acids 

Amino acids are the building components of neurotransmitters which the brain uses for the communication between cells. There are hundreds of different neurotransmitters circulating in the brain and in the body, but the most important for the mind/brain function are:

• adrenalin
• noradrenalin
• dopamine
• GABA
• serotonin
• acetylcholine

Our mood, memory, and concentration depend on the levels of these neurotransmitters and therefore, our nutrition must provide all the amino acids which body uses to produce neurotransmitters. Enrich your diet with high quality protein sources such as cold water fish, turkey, chicken, nuts, seeds, pulses, and eggs. Supplementing with essential amino acids (isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine ) will help deliver everything your body needs to produce sufficient amount of neurotransmitters.

Vitamins and minerals

Vitamins and minerals are the important catalysts in all processes that include the production of neurotransmitters or the conversion of glucose into energy for the brain. Without them the brain could not function properly. The most important for the brain function and development are:

• vitamins of the B group, especially B1, B3, B5, B12, and the folic acid
• vitamin C
• calcium
• magnesium
• manganese
• zinc

Research shows that nutrition deficient in vitamins and minerals results in diminished IQ. Consume fresh fruit and vegetables daily. Eat nuts, seeds, pulses, mushrooms, and whole grains. If necessary, supplement with a high quality multivitamin and mineral supplement. 

Antioxidants

Like every other cell in the body, brain cells are subject to oxidative damage. Your diet should include foods rich in antioxidants such as dark leafy vegetables, carrots, sweet potatoes, beets, berries, cherries, prunes, seeds and nuts. Avoid nicotine and stimulants, and reduce alcohol consumption. Limit the consumption of fried and processed foods, foods containing artificial sweeteners, colorants, and preservatives. Eliminate sugar from your diet. If necessary, supplement with a high quality antioxidant formula containing among others high levels of:

• vitamin C
• vitamin E
• CoQ 10
• selenium
• proanthocyanidin
• Alpha Lipoic Acid
• Beta Carotene

Herbs

Some plants and herbs have been identified as effective brain modulators enhancing cognitive health, improving memory and overall brain function:

• Bacopa monnieri
• Eleuthero root
• Ginko biloba
• Gotu kola
• Huperzia serrata, the source of Huperzine A
• Periwinkle plant Vinca minor, the source of Vinpocetine
• Rhodiola rosea
• Reishi mushrooms

These plants contain active agents that are known to promote blood circulation to the brain, relaxation and resistance to stress.

Huperzine A is an alcaloid which inhibits acetylcholinesterase - enzyme that breaks dawn the acetylcholine which is, among others, important for the memory function in the brain.

Vinpocetine helps to improve concentration and memory by enhancing cerebral metabolic function. Ginko biloba enhances the blood circulation to the brain.

Gotu kola is known to improve memory and relieve anxiety. This herb has the capacity to relax the nervous system while stimulating the brain at the same time. This double action results in enhanced concentration.

Rhodiola Rosea has the enormous potential to enhance brain function and mood. It helps to reduce stress which normally interferes with memory function. The herb is known to enhance cognitive function and learning ability. It also increases the resistance to physical and emotional stress and may help protect the brain and the nervous system from oxidative damage caused by free radicals. 

Reishi mushrooms, also known as ganoderma or the mushrooms of longevity, act in the brain as a powerful anti-oxidant. The mycelium in supplements such as has the capacity to reduce inflammation in the brain. According to recent studies, it helps to protect the brain from the damage done by Alzheimer's disease. 

Brain fitness

Like any other body part, brain needs exercise and challenge. Mental activities such as learning a new language, learning to play an instrument, solving puzzles, or reading, all promote the growth of new synapses and activate vast areas of the brain that otherwise remain "idle". Physical activity and exercise promote blood circulation to the brain and help to improve memory and concentration.

Conclusion

Your lifestyle may help you maintain your cognitive function and even improve your intelligence, or on the contrary, diminish it. Old age dementia, but also Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases are probably the most feared, but so are brain tumors. Human brain is a very complex organ. Healthy nutrition, mental stimulation, physical activity, socialization, stress control and relaxation, are the vital elements of a brain-supportive life style. Keeping this in mind and following few simple rules, will help us to retain mental agility until old age.

By Dominique Allmon


*Information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose or cure a disease. 

Nourish Your Brain by Dominique Allmon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Does Memory Reside Outside the Brain?

By Leonardo Vintiñi

 

After decades of investigation, scientists are still unable to explain why no part of the brain seems responsible for storing memories.  

Most people assume that our memories must exist somewhere inside our heads. But try as they might, medical investigators have been unable to determine which cerebral region actually stores what we remember. Could it be that our memories actually dwell in a space outside our physical structure?

Biologist, author, and investigator Dr. Rupert Sheldrake notes that the search for the mind has gone in two opposite directions. While a majority of scientists have been searching inside the skull, he looks outside.

According to Sheldrake, author of numerous scientific books and articles, memory does not reside in any geographic region of the cerebrum, but instead in a kind of field surrounding and permeating the brain. Meanwhile, the brain itself acts as a “decoder” for the flux of information produced by the interaction of each person with their environment.

In his paper "Mind, Memory, and Archetype Morphic Resonance and the Collective Unconscious" published in the journal Psychological Perspectives, Sheldrake likens the brain to a TV set - drawing an analogy to explain how the mind and brain interact.

“If I damaged your TV set so that you were unable to receive certain channels, or if I made the TV set aphasic by destroying the part of it concerned with the production of sound so that you could still get the pictures but could not get the sound, this would not prove that the sound or the pictures were stored inside the TV set.

“It would merely show that I had affected the tuning system so you could not pick up the correct signal any longer. No more does memory loss due to brain damage prove that memory is stored inside the brain. In fact, most memory loss is temporary: amnesia following concussion, for example, is often temporary.

This recovery of memory is very difficult to explain in terms of conventional theories: if the memories have been destroyed because the memory tissue has been destroyed, they ought not to come back again; yet they often do,” he writes.

Sheldrake goes on to further refute the notion of memory being contained within the brain, referring to key experiments which he believes have been misinterpreted. These experiments have patients vividly recall scenes of their past when areas of their cerebrum were electrically stimulated.

While these researchers concluded that the stimulated areas must logically correspond to the contained the memory, Sheldrake offers a different view as he revisits the television analogy:  “… if I stimulated the tuning circuit of your TV set and it jumped onto another channel, this wouldn’t prove the information was stored inside the tuning circuit,” he writes.

Morphogenetic Fields

But if memory does not live in the brain, where does it reside? Following the notions of previous biologists, Sheldrake believes that all organisms belong to their own brand of form-resonance - a field existing both within and around an organism, which gives it instruction and shape.  

An alternative to the predominant mechanist/reductionism understanding of biology, the morphogenetic approach sees organisms intimately connected to their corresponding fields, aligning themselves with the cumulative memory that the species as a whole has experienced in the past.  

Yet these fields become ever more specific, forming fields within fields, with each mind - even each organ - having its own self resonance and unique history, stabilizing the organism by drawing from past experience. “The key concept of morphic resonance is that similar things influence similar things across both space and time,” writes Sheldrake.  

Still, many neurophysicists insist on probing ever deeper into the cerebrum to find the residence of memory. One of the more well known of these researchers was Karl Lashley, who demonstrated that even after up to 50 percent of a rat’s brain had been cut away, the rat could still remember the tricks it had been trained to perform.  

Curiously, it seemed to make no difference which half of the brain was removed - lacking either a left or right hemisphere, the rodents were able to execute the learned actions as before. Successive investigators revealed similar results in other animals.

Picture This

The holographic theory, born from experiments such as those of Lashley, considers that memory resides not in a specific region of the cerebrum but instead in the brain as a whole. In other words, like a holographic image, a memory is stored as an interference pattern throughout the brain.

However, neurologists have discovered that the brain is not a static entity, but a dynamic synaptic mass in constant flux - all of the chemical and cellular substances interact and change position in a constant way. Unlike a computer disc which has a regular, unchanging format that will predictably pull up the same information recorded even years before, it is difficult to maintain that a memory could be housed and retrieved in the constantly changing cerebrum.  

But conditioned as we are to believe that all thought is contained within our heads, the idea that memory could be influenced from outside our brains appears at first to be somewhat confusing.  

Sheldrake writes in his article Staring Experiments:  “… as you read this page, light rays pass from the page to your eyes, forming an inverted image on the retina. This image is detected by light-sensitive cells, causing nerve impulses to pass up the optic nerves, leading to complex electrochemical patterns of activity in the brain.  

All this has been investigated in detail by the techniques of neurophysiology. But now comes the mystery. You somehow become aware of the image of the page. You experience it outside you, in front of your face. But from a conventional scientific point of view, this experience is illusory. In reality, the image is supposed to be inside you, together with the rest of your mental activity.”

While the search for memory challenges traditional biological understanding, investigators like Sheldrake believe that the true residence of memory is to be found in a non-observable spatial dimension.  

This idea aligns with more primal notions of thought such as Jung’s “collective unconscious” or Taoist thinking that sees the human mind and spirit derived from various sources both inside and outside the body, including the energetic influences of several different organs (except, or course, the brain).  
In this view, the brain does not act as a storage facility, or even the mind itself, but the physical nexus necessary to relate the individual with its morphic field. 

Image and article source here