The basis of memory / by W.R. Bousfield.

  • William Robert Bousfield
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The basis of memory / by W.R. Bousfield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and the relative functions involved are clearly justified. The question as between the one basis of memory and the other, involves a principle which is theoretically of fundamental importance. According to the engram hypothesis, the body is a machine every sensory thrill of which clogs the machine by storing up impressons in its irritable substance ” which involve permanent fixations. Sensory experiences are supposed to demobilize the cells through which the experience came, and turn such cells from their active uses to passive storehouses of the past. The acquisition of habits is supposed to partially demobilize the nerves and syn¬ apses involved, so as to make easy paths for the facilitation of particular habits at the expense of the voluntary purposes of the nervous system. The other view is that the body is a machine which is being constantly regenerated so that every cell is constantly restored by metabolism to functional activity. The cerebral cells are structures through which sensory impressions pass.
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