[Verse 1]
Picture neurons holding hands in a circle, singing to each other,
One fires, wakes a neighbor, wakes another, wakes another,
The stimulus is gone now, but the echo keeps on going,
This is recurrent excitation, a loop that's self-renewing.
[Chorus]
Round and round the signal spins, a wheel that never halts,
Loop it, keep it, that's the trick — memory in the vaults,
No new spark required once the circuit starts to hum,
The bump stays lit, the thought persists, reverberating on and on.
[Verse 2]
Goldman-Rakic watched the frontal cortex, patient and precise,
A monkey holds a number in the dark, no cue, just loops and ice,
Persistent activity, the neurons chattering in place,
Holding a phone number, a direction, a remembered face.
[Verse 3]
Hopfield drew a basin, like a marble finding home,
Drop it anywhere nearby, it rolls down on its own,
Attractor networks settle into patterns they once knew,
Show a half-torn photograph, the whole scene reassembles too.
[Chorus]
Round and round the signal spins, a wheel that never halts,
Loop it, keep it, that's the trick — memory in the vaults,
No new spark required once the circuit starts to hum,
The bump stays lit, the thought persists, reverberating on and on.
[Verse 4]
Deep inside a fruit fly's brain, a doughnut made of cells,
The ellipsoid body cradles light, a compass casting spells,
Seelig and Jayaraman watched a single bump of glow,
Sliding round the ring attractor, tracking where the head will go.
[Verse 5]
Wang built a model, synapses slow and NMDA-fueled,
Recurrent excitation tuned so the bump stays cool,
A Mexican hat of wiring, near neighbors cheer each other's climb,
While distant cells apply the brakes, sharpening the signal over time.
Lesion one small patch of cortex, the whole bump can disappear,
Proof the memory isn't stored in a single spot, but shared out far and near.
[Bridge]
But loops left wild and unchecked will gallop, never resting,
Quiescent calm turns frenzied, a storm that keeps suggesting,
Inhibition is the rein, the quiet counterweight,
Too little, and the circuit seizes — runaway, irate.
Balance keeps the bump alive, not frozen and not flaring,
A tightrope walk of chemistry, excitation gently sharing.
[Chorus]
Round and round the signal spins, a wheel that never halts,
Loop it, keep it, that's the trick — memory in the vaults,
No new spark required once the circuit starts to hum,
The bump stays lit, the thought persists, reverberating on and on.
[Outro]
So when you hold a thought in mind after the world's gone still,
Thank the loop, the ring, the net — the neurons' quiet drill,
Reverberating, circling, a whisper that won't cease,
That's how memory keeps its shape, and calls it inner peace.