In several years of our life, a traumatic, fearful memory is often remembered ever-so-clearly in our minds compared to a happy, jolly one.
Well this is linked with the formation of fearful memories in the emotional centre of our brain -- the amygdala and we have a theory behind the mechanism.
What happens:-
Stress neurotransmitter norepinephrine functions fear processing in the brain by stimulating a certain population of inhibitory neurons in the amygdala to generate a repetitive bursting pattern of electrical discharges.
The bursting pattern alters the frequency of brain wave oscillation in the amygdala from a resting state to an aroused one, prompting the formation of fear memories.
Cell and molecular biology professor Jeffrey Tasker, explains, referring to an example of an armed robbery, "If you are held up at gunpoint, your brain secretes a bunch of the stress neurotransmitter norepinephrine, akin to an adrenaline rush.”He added, "This changes the electrical discharge pattern in specific circuits in your emotional brain, centred in the amygdala, which in turn transitions the brain to a state of heightened arousal that facilitates memory formation, fear memory since it's scary.
Whats its purpose?
I think ,its purpose is to survive longer and have more offspring.
Basically, if you are in a dangerous situation, your brain stores every detail it can, so that, if you survive, and you run into anything like this again, you can recognize and avoid the danger better.
Likewise, when people are dying and their life flashes before their eyes, their brain is frantically free associating to see if there is anything they’ve learned in their entire life that might help save them.
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Dr. Gursimran
Dr. Gursimran has always been a passionate and ambitious student of medicine, a novelty seeker. He likes adrenaline rush events and always wanted to make difference in the lives of people. So, he chose healthcare as his profession.