in life. However, the reuse of Emotion Memory can be damaging to the person, though it can be seen as a process of self-preservation.
Here is an example of how reusing emotions can be damaging. An Emotion Memory, like a near-death experience, can be elicited repeatedly for use in later experiences when emotions or content of the later experience are slightly similar to the emotions or content of the near-death experience. When this happens, the old emotion associated with the response to the current situation can distort the emotional intensity of the current situation and create a traumatic response out of a non-traumatic situation. We see this in post-traumatic stress disorder and hypersensitivity.
Because our behavior is caused by collages of memories previously learned, there are usually not many new novel responses to create. For example, when we have to scratch an itch, we have a sequence of collages of previously learned muscle memories that run the muscles to scratch an itch. The memories are reused in a collage to cause the active behavior of scratching the itch on our arm. We don’t have to create a new response to scratch the itch. Most of our behavior is caused by collages assembled from previously learned memories.
Here is the way a trauma memory may form. If you walk around a corner and see a dead body, you will take a deep breath and your heart will start pounding. In addition, your forebrain gets very active, trying to deal with all the sensory experiences and the emotions. All of these and other mobilized brain activities will be included in the content of the memory of the trauma. Some of the other events that are remembered in a severe trauma include bruising, organ activity, chemical effects and trance states. When you remember a trauma, some representation of all neural activity going on at the time will be active and possibly experienced.
Emotion Memories, represented by the stars (see Figure 3-3), are connected to major neural pathways that were active in the Active Experience during the trauma. When we recall a traumatic experience, we recall both the Emotion and the Content Memory. We re-experience, in part, the emotions, pictures, and/or sounds from the trauma. In addition, we experience some representation of all the neural activity in the brain and body that was going on during the trauma. This activity could be increased breathing rate, a gasp, a change in heart rate, physical pain, sensations, or drug effects. All of this takes place in the Active Experience.
Before I describe the Active Experience, let me review several features of your memory. Memories are either active or dormant. The active memories are “awake” and available in the Active Experience for creating our behavior. Dormant memories are inactive, as though “asleep,” but nevertheless ready to be triggered into the Active Experience. Even when a memory is dormant, it is potentially active because it can be elicited or called into the Active Experience. Here is an example. I am going to ask you a question, but you don’t know the answer to the question. Pause here and think about the answer. If I ask when you last rode a bicycle, your response or memory of riding a bicycle becomes active in response to my question. You consciously experienced the memory of riding a bicycle. If you had pain and a fast heart rate associated with that memory, you might experience pain and a fast heart rate after hearing the question.
The Active Experience is a construct to give you a way to think about all active memories and emotions that are available for creating our internal and external behavior. The Active Experience construct helps distinguish between dormant and active responses.
The Active Experience
The Active Experience (see Figure 3-4, next page) is a construct used to represent all neural activity that is available to create events in our conscious and unconscious experience. The neural activity includes active ongoing behavior, Content and Emotion Memories, internal and external stimulation, background processes, and organ and brain functions. Everything else is dormant — namely, not active in the Active Experience. Suppose you learned as a child to slap a fly on your cheek. That memory is dormant until a fly lands on your cheek. Then it wakes up and becomes active — you slap your cheek.
The Basic Neurostructure shown in Figure 3-4 (next page) works on the neural activity in the Active Experience to create collages that cause our internal and external behavior. All active Content and Emotion Memories and other neural activity in the Active Experience are related in some way. The Basic Neurostructure uses some of these active memories to create collages.
Collages of memories run our behavior in the same way that computer programs run computers. The neural activity triggered by the collage of memories that creates activity in our body to make a response is similar to a computer program. The Basic Neurostructure takes the most appropriate Content Memories in the Active Experience in the current emotional context to create a collage. The Content Memories and emotions in the collage create a response. In other words, any response and its memory are a collage of the most appropriate memories assembled from all of this information in the Active Experience. The most appropriate memories in an emotional situation are selected from the active memories in the Active Experience to get more satisfaction and less pain.
The association process
The association process serves an important function. Active memories activate other memories that are similar in content or emotion. The association process prevents dormant memories that are similar, but remotely related, from being activated. It effectively screens out similar memories that are unlikely to be used in a collage. The association process is represented by the “dark line” surrounding the Active Experience (see Figure 3-5). This process is gradually learned after birth and will only allow relevant information into the Active Experience that is related in some way to the stimulation and active memories. If it is too liberal and allows even slightly related memories into the Active Experience, we have “loose associations.” Loose association is a condition that allows content related in someway to be easily triggered into the Active Experience. Here is an example: The sight of a pencil could elicit the thought of a hotdog. On the other hand, “concrete thinking” is a problem where the association process is too restrictive and words are taken literally. For example, suppose someone says, “I’m going to fly down to the store.” A person with concrete thinking or tight associations might ask, “Do you need a ride to the airport?” Besides the association process, we have the dissociation process.
The dissociation process
The dissociation process (see Figure 3-6) helps us in an important way. With the development of volitional behavior, the dissociation process developed naturally to remove active memories and emotions that were unnecessary in our conscious awareness to simplify conscious activity. T he dissociation process, for instance, is at work when you take a walk. It has separated, into the unconscious, all of the sensations that are present in your body when you walk. There is no need for them to be conscious for you to walk. If they were conscious, all of the information would be overwhelming. The dissociation process also helps you read by dissociating traffic noises. It is involved with adapting to our circumstances by dissociating visual or auditory information or any other sensory experience or memory that is unnecessary in our conscious experience. This process helps a person to get more satisfaction and to avoid pain by keeping painful memories or emotions in the unconscious.
The Main Personality is usually who we are, in the simplest sense, from before birth to the present. The Main Personality uses the dissociation process so there is an unconscious and conscious experience (see Figure 3-7). I always draw the Subconscious in the space below the Active Experience, because it appears that the subconscious only accesses
