Texas Gov. Rick Perry made light of his “brain freeze” during a debate last Wednesday, go so far as to appear on “Late Show With David Letterman” laer in the week to poke fun at his memory lapse.
In the middle of a GOP presidential debate, Perry struggled to recall the name of one of the three federal agencies he claims should be eliminated: the Department of Energy. The New York Times took a look at Perry’s gaffe in a story with the headline “The Science Behind Perry’s Brain Freeze: All Too Human.”
According to The Times, when someone is trying to find data that is new or not used often, “the brain’s prefrontal cortex is engaged, and interacts with the medial temporal lobe, the part of the brain that forms and retrieves memories of facts and events.”
The Times compares the medial temporal lobe to a library card system, “pointing to the locations in the brain where different memories are stored and allowing the memory to be recalled.”
But that system didn’t work for Perry during the debate. Experts told The Times that Perry could have been distracted by one of his opponents. Or maybe he was already thinking about his next point, so he lost track of the question at hand.
“Stress also can impair the function of the hippocampus, which is involved in memory retrieval,” The Times wrote.
All in all, although Perry’s opponents tried to make a lot of political hay about his gaffe, we think it only shows that he is like the rest of us.
