What Cells Remember: Toward A Unified Field Theory of Memory

Abstract: The accepted neurological dictum is that memory resides in the cortical neurons of the brain. Evidence from studies on genetics, epigenetics, organ transplants, immunology, unicellular organisms, planarian flat worms, nano computers and clinical psychology is cited here in support of the hypothesis that memory can also be stored in all the cells of the body, not just nerve cells. The relevance of this theory to pre- and perinatal psychology is explored.Keywords: epigenetics, nanotechnology, immunology, unicellular organisms, cell memoryLearning and memory are two of the most remarkable faculties of our mind. Learning is the biological process of acquiring new knowledge about the world, and memory is the process of retaining and reconstructing that knowledge over time. Most of our knowledge of the world and most of our skills are not innate but learned. In large part what we have learned and what we remember and forget defines who we are. In this paper, I want to address the question: where is all this information stored? Some years ago, after the publication of my book, The Secret Life of the Unborn Child (Verny & Kelly, 1981) I received the following letter:We have four children, the one I'm writing about is Ingrid, our third. Their ages are eleven, ten, four, and two. Ingrid is very bright and always has been able to reason well. At 15 months she was completely fluent and spoke in long sentences. One evening, when Ingrid was three years old, we were just sitting at the dining room table and remembering some pajamas I wore when I was pregnant with her. Just kidding we asked her if she remembered the pajamas and her answer floored us, "I couldn't see what you were wearing I could only hear what you were saying. " We just couldn't believe it so we began questioning her. What was it like? 'Dark and crowded. " What else? "It was like a big bowl of water. " What did you think when you were born? "I could stretch, it wasn't crowded anymore. " This child could carry on a conversation without ever saying she saw things - only what she heard and how it felt. We said, "What was your favorite food? " "I didn't get any food. " She never answered the questions wrong. I know she really knew what she was saying.I heard many accounts like these that supported the proposition I advanced in my books that a child's central nervous system is sufficiently developed by the age of six months in utero (end of second trimester) to be capable of laying down rudimentary memories (Verny & Kelly, 1981; Verny, 1987; Verny & Weintraub, 1991; Verny & Weintraub, 2002). However, in the course of these past three decades, other narratives have come to my attention which cannot be explained in the same fashion. Interesting examples of even earlier memories can be found in the famous Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing's book, The Facts of Life (1976). He reported that a few of his patients spoke of their body image or had dreams in which they would spin, revolve, float, fly; be dashed against rocks; be washed ashore and be washed away again, before journey's end (Laing, 1976, p 45). One can make the case, as improbable as that may seem, that this is what a blastocyst would experience as it is tumbling down the oviduct.The next stage of the blastocyst's journey would be implantation in the uterine wall. There are people who have a lifelong fear of being sucked in, drawn in, dragged down or who long to be rescued, revived, welcomed, or who are preoccupied with getting into a club, a university or any place that is difficult to get into. Laing (1976) relates how one of his patients in a therapy session said, "I feel I am clinging to crumbling rocks liable to be swept away in the torrent. Hanging on for dear life, trying to get a foothold, never seeming as though I can get into what I'm doing" (p. 46). Again, one can see how a "memory" such as this may accurately reflect on the experience of a difficult implantation. …