IF HAPPY memories aren鈥檛 enough to cheer you up when you鈥檙e depressed, a new
computer model of the brain might at least explain why.
Edmund Rolls and Simon Stringer at Oxford University modelled the emotional
and memory centres of the brain as a neural network. While the memory centre has
many different states, corresponding to many different memories, the mood centre
has a much more limited repertoire. This means that mood has a strong effect on
what memories you recall, but memory has a lesser effect on changing your mood
(Network: Computation in Neural Systems, vol 12, p 89).
鈥淲hat could be happening in depression is the projections from mood to memory
are working even more effectively,鈥� says Rolls.
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