Robert Moss
Big Question
“What is the next big breakthrough you are waiting for in mental health?”
Iam obviously biased about the next major breakthrough based on my own area of interest. As many readers are probably aware, there are two massive projects which have some of the competitive fervor of the cold war “space race.” The massive European Union’s Human Brain Project (Markram, 2012) and the proposed United States Brain Activity Map Project (Alivisatos et al., 2013) have both stated that they hope an understanding of the brain code will lead to improved treatment for psychological disorders. A major criticism of both projects is that they rely on new technology and data mining without any theoretical model to guide them.
Since 1984 I believed the cortical column (i.e., macrocolumn) is the binary unit (“bit”) involved in all cortical processing and memory storage. This was the same time that much of the work on hippocampal memory storage was ongoing and it was difficult to reconcile how memory storage could occur in both locations. This confusion is still present today as witnessed by Miller’s (2012) Science article last year. He noted the controversy, but said there is some consensus tied to episodic memories. These are purportedly encoded and stored initially in the hippocampus with long-term storage occurring in other areas, including the neocortex. I sharply disagree with this view.
It took 22 years for enough empirical support to emerge to publish the first refereed article on the columnar brain model (Moss, 2006). The next year (Moss, 2007), I was able to publish a theoretical article on how the brain model related to the treatment of negative emotional memories. With the updated columnar model paper last year (Moss, Hunter, Shah, & Havens, 2012) and the detailed paper on how this relates to psychotherapy that has just been published (Moss, 2013) I am hopeful these have hit at a time that the fields of neurophysiology, neuropsychology, and psychotherapy are ready for integration.
I believe the breakthrough will most logically occur if the massive projects demonstrate the column is the cortical “bit” and that the circuits of columns are arranged in a consistent and logical fashion to allow higher cortical functions to occur. The fMRI technology already exists which has allowed the identification of columns in several cortical areas in humans. Based on this model the suggested role of hippocampal neurons is as a pacemaker in a hippocampo-thalamo-cortico-hippocampo circuit, with the goal being the strengthening of synaptic connections among the columns involved in the original processing of the information. The 2013 article explains a number of applied aspects in relation to psychotherapy. A few of these points are as follows:
- All complex sensory memory storage occurs at the cortical level. This contrasts with proposals that there is subcortical negative emotional memory storage tied to such things as traumatic memories. However, it explains why psychotherapy at the cortical level can impact such memories.
- The left lateral ventral frontal region (some of you know part of this as Broca’s area) is the location of active verbal-thinking or self-talk (i.e., verbal interpreter). This area has limited connections intrahemispherically, and very limited connections interhemispherically. Data support the location of the non-verbal sensory aspects of negative emotional memories as being in the posterior cortical regions of the right hemisphere. Since there are no direct connections between the right posterior and left frontal cortices, there is no direct way that the verbal interpreter can influence the non-verbal emotional memories. Thus, it is possible to verbally think one way about a situation, but feel differently about the same situation, based on memory activation. The verbal interpreter has traditionally been regarded as “conscious” and the right hemisphere functioning as “unconscious.” The suggested cortical design can explain why it is necessary to use therapies involving experiential techniques and visual imagery to successfully impact problematic emotions resulting from right hemisphere memories. It also has implications for how we define consciousness. In the 2013 article I suggested a definition of consciousness as “referring to the outputs of cortical action columns, based on receptive column information, that allow meaningful external and internal interactions.” In this regard, internal self-talk is only one small part of consciousness.
- Based on the hemispheric design, the right frontal area contains the action columns involved in the non-verbal aspects of interpersonal interactions (i.e., “personality”). The right posterior sensory columns are the major ones which determine what feels positive versus negative when those memories are activated in current situations/interactions. Therefore, just as we have a native interpersonal spoken language based on our left hemisphere receptive and action memories, we also have a native interpersonal emotional language based on right hemisphere memories. The right hemisphere memories are the ones which explain both personality (i.e., a relatively stable pattern of behaviors) and personality disorders.
- Regardless of psychotherapy orientation, effective therapy always involves new frontal columns in one or both hemispheres. This is the level at which techniques leading to “memory reconsolidation” theoretically have their impact. Self-referential and internal stimuli memory storage involves the medial and insular regions while external stimuli memory storage involves the lateral cortex. Thus, the most effective therapy would necessarily lead to frontal activation in lateral, insular, and medial regions.
Obviously, I can only list a few of the points. I invite the interested reader to look at the articles which are posted on my website under current papers. However, I believe this gives some idea as to where I think the field of neuropsychotherapy is headed and why the next major breakthrough is closer than you might think.
References
Alivisatos, A.P., Chun, M., Church, G.M., Deisseroth, K., Donoghue, J.P., Greenspan, R.J., et al. (2013). The brain activity map. Science, 339, 1284–1285. doi: 10.1126/science.1236939
Markram, H. (2012). The human brain project. Scientific American, 306, 50–55. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0612-50
Miller, G. (2012). Mysteries of the brain: How are memories retrieved? Science, 338, 30-31.
Moss, R.A. (2006). Of bits and logic: Cortical columns in learning and memory. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 27, 215–246.
Moss, R.A. (2007). Negative emotional memories in clinical treatment: Theoretical considerations. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 17, 209–224. doi:10.1037/1053-0479.17.2.209
Moss, R.A., Hunter, B.P., Shah, D., and Havens, T.L. (2012). A theory of hemispheric specialization based on cortical columns. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 33, 141–172.
Moss, R. A. (2013). Psychotherapy and the brain: The dimensional systems model and clinical biopsychology. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 34, 63-89.
Given the Broca’s area is the location of active verbal-thinking or self-talk, what of self-talk that is not given in full out words, herd in the mind? For instance, I can think a sentence that I have not fully thought-spoke to myself. Does this activity also involve the Broca’s area, or is it more distributed? My guess would be that it is more distributed, the Broca’s area being the place where articulation is given to ‘pre-thought’, where ‘pre-thought’ are the inarticulate thought-like impressions we perceive in ourselves, such as hunches or insights that we must give words to, in order to express. This is a question.
George, you are asking the right questions to gain a senese of the model. I will address this in reverse order of the points you made. First, the verbal interpreter is only aware of information with which it is directly connected intrahemispherically or , interhemispherically and by experience, has interpreted (whether accurately or not) to be associated with some internal or external cues. A nice example of this latter point has been discussed by Gazzaniga in his article on the verbal interpreter and consciousness in which the split brain research (severing of the corpus callosum) has shown visual information presented rapidly to the right hemisphere can result in a left hemisphere verbal interpretation which is completely inaccurate. This is the reason that I said in my most recent article that the verbal labeling of emotional reactions mediated by the right hemisphere is actually educated guesswork since the left lateral ventral frontal region does not have direct access to the processing of the right posterior lobes.
Intrahemispherically, you may be aware of the evoked potential research discussed in some cognitive psychology texts in which the supplemental motor area (considered intent to act) precedes one’s actual motor response. Although happening in fractions of a second, this shows how one frontal area (action columns in my theoretical model) is online prior to another (i.e., the circuit). As I have indicated in my articles, there are a number of frontal areas which can directly lead to action in the absence of any verbal awareness. That is the reason that I believe any definition of consciousness based only on one’s verbal awareness is too restricted. In your example, pre-thought can mean a number of things, including right hemisphere awareness (perceived as hunches or insights when the verbal interpreter does not have direct access) or earlier left frontal processing which has not yet arrived at the verbal interpreter level. However, whenever words are being actively used, then the columns in the left lateral ventral frontal area are involved. As strange as it may sound, there are individual action columns for every phoneme, syllable, and word you know, just as there are individual receptive or sensory columns in the temporal lobe. Thus, whether you are thinking only of single words or have a well articulated dialogue in mind, the same area of the cortex is theoretically involved. If you have not already done so, you may wish to read the published articles posted on my website. I hope this helps to clarify the model. Bob
Dr. Moss, I’d be interested in how you think of the research on memory reconsolidation, and the work on its therapeutic application in Ecker et al’s, “Unlocking the Emotional Brain”. Specifically, I’d be interested in how your columnar model explains the power of experiential juxtaposition of “old” and “new” incompatible emotional truths.
Thanks for bringing up the subject of memory reconsolidation Ken, as I too am very interested to know how this is understood from a cortical column model and if the model can add more weight to our understanding of the process.
Ken and Matthew,
Let me begin by explaining “memory reconsolidation” people do every day without thinking about it along the same lines as done with emotional memories. In relation to the left hemisphere, it is pretty well accepted that the left frontal lobe is involved in our verbal expression, both in spoken and written language. When each of you formulated your questions of me, you had not ever written this same combination of words since you had no prior knowledge of a “columnar model.” However, you had the word columns in the temporal and frontal lobes to combine the new information regarding the theory with what you had previously known in relation to the theories with which you have referred. Additionally, via connections to other intrahemispheric and interhemispheric (left frontal to right frontal, left temporal to right temporal) cortical areas you had the ability to visualize and think spatially (i.e., how an overarching model explain the component parts). When you verbally thought about the theory and when you wrote your questions, you were “recombining” information via the frontal action columns. Once done, you have new verbal memories despite the fact that the old ones still exist. I hope that after you consider my theory and work with it, over time it will make more and more sense. If so, the associated columns of the new columnar theory memories are those to which you will attend. The old verbal memories of the former theory will be used less and less, thus weakening the synaptic connections among those columns. When downstream columns are no longer activated, you will have forgotten many details of the old theory. I hope you can see that the frontal columns were necessary to reformulate the information and that with repeated usage, the new memories become more firmly established and the old ones weaken.
In relation to the right hemisphere, the same process occurs. Obviously, as therapists we are often focused on the non-verbal aspects of detrimental negative emotional memories which continue to impact the lives of our clients/patients. As I have indicated in my articles, both experiential techniques and visual imagery are two ways of accessing right hemisphere columns. When we use the right frontal action columns to reactivate old memories, but then utilize other action columns to manipulate other information, there can be reformulation and improved functioning. For example, the detrimental memories are typically those in which one did not feel in control and felt personally inadequate. However, there have been other instances in which one has seen others be successful in asserting themselves. If I then use the frontal columns associated with both the old memory, but add/activate new columns based on other memories via visual imagery or in my interacting with the imagined other sitting in the chair in front of me, then I am “creating” a new ending to the old detrimental memory. If one now uses the new memory the synaptic connections among the columns increases while the old memory circuit falls into disuse with loss of synaptic connection strength.
The following is an excerpt (page 81-82) from the 2013 article which describes what I believe is happening with effective treatment. “Moss (2001, 2007) advocates for a structured assessment in identifying all potentially relevant relationships (e.g., parents, siblings, school peers, spouse, etc.) since all can contribute to a client’s current emotional functioning and a structured treatment approach (i.e., emotional restructuring) to deal with each. This structured treatment includes abundant imagery, as well as role playing and reversals. It is possible for many clients to experience dramatic changes in both their perceptions and feelings tied to the discussed relationship in a one-to-two-hour session, with immediate impact on current functioning. The impact on current functioning is viewed as the right posterior lobes’ receptive columns tied to the prior or current relationship, which are activated by a number of ongoing situations, leading to the activation of new action column memories stored in the right frontal cortex. The newly formed action column memories are associated with perceptions of control and personal adequacy.”
Although I have highlighted the importance of frontal columns in creating desired changes in past emotional memories, this does not exclude the influence of the hippocampal neurons. In the 2012 article, we discussed the role of the hippocampus as being that of a starter and pacemaker in a hippocampo-thalamo-cortico-hippocamal circuit which allows strengthening of the cortical columnar connections. Once well consolidated, then the hippocampal neurons in that circuit are not needed to maintain that cortically stored memory. However, since they were originally in the memory circuit those same hippocampal neurons activate with the activation of the cortical memory. The beauty of having only one of a few hippocampal neurons capable of long-term potentiation and long-term depression is that single cells can be replaced (i.e., neurogensis) and they can more efficiently interact with other single cells in close proximity. When new columnar circuits tied to new association memories are activated, the new hippocampal cells are also activated via input from the medial temporal cortical columns. Since the old memory hippocampal cells continue to activate, it seems likely this will increase the speed of new association memory formation as well.
Let me know if this makes sense vis-a-vis your question. Bob