December 19, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - The closer New Yorkers were to the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the more vivid their memories are of the disaster.For people close to the scene, memory of the event involves an emotion-recording portion of the brain, while those who were farther away involved other parts of the brain in the recollection, researchers report in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
All 24 study participants were in Manhattan on 9/11. Three years later, the recollections of those in lower Manhattan, closer to the towers, were more vivid, detailed, and confident than those who were farther away, said Elizabeth Phelps, a professor at New York University.
"The downtown subjects also reported seeing, hearing, and smelling what had happened. Subjects who were, on average, around midtown Manhattan reported experiencing the events second hand, such as on television or the Internet," explained Phelps.
I am so glad that the National Academy of Sciences has employed Captain Obvious to do its research.
Posted by peninah at December 19, 2006 06:38 AM | TrackBackI don't see any evidence to support the whole different-part-of-the-brain theory, but if that's the case, that's pretty interesting in and of itself.
Posted by: AlanLaz at December 19, 2006 07:45 AMLeave it to you to take a tongue in cheek post and turn it serious;)
BTW, stupid me didn't check my stupid voicemail until 5:30 this morning (as I was waiting by the door wondering where the heck AlanLaz was). I am such an idiot.
Posted by: peninah at December 19, 2006 08:06 AMNoooo! I feel so bad!
Posted by: AlanLaz at December 19, 2006 01:04 PM