Love, Mystery, and Borrowed Memories

Achanta et al. - iScience

By: Brianna Lisi  

February 2025

Valentine’s Day is all about affairs of the heart— romance, passion, and maybe a few cheesy love songs. But what if the heart held more than just emotions? What if it carried memories, quirks, and even personality traits? It sounds like the premise of a sci-fi romance novel, but for heart transplant recipients, it’s a reality that’s equal parts fascinating and bizarre.

Getting a new heart isn’t just a second chance at life— it sometimes can include a personality reboot. Many heart transplant recipients report feeling an overwhelming sense of joy and even a newfound appreciation for socializing. Others describe unexpected emotional turbulence, including mood swings, anxiety, or even an identity crisis. With that said, who wouldn’t feel a little weird after getting a heart that belonged to someone else?

Recipients have also reported unexpected changes in food cravings, music tastes, and even fears — often discovering later that these shifts align with their donor’s past habits, experiences, or even their cause of death. Take, for example, a McDonald's enthusiast who received a heart from a teenage vegetarian and suddenly couldn’t stand the sight or smell of a cheeseburger. Or a man who received the heart of a teenage violinist, who before the transplant didn’t know Bach from Beethoven, and afterward he found himself captivated by classical music. Or a boy who has lived on a lake his whole life but developed a severe fear of water after receiving a heart from a child who drowned in the family pool (Pearsall, P. 2000).

The brain typically steals the spotlight when it comes to memory, but some researchers think the heart could also be playing a role. But how could a heart possibly store memories? It’s thought to be attributed to something called cellular memory, which suggests that memories, emotions, and personal experiences are encoded within cells of the body and can be transferred from one person to another through an organ transplant (Pearsall, P. 2002). Cellular memory is theorized to be transferred by genetic material, such as DNA and RNA, which are the cellular-blueprints that carry the information needed for us to grow and function. Recent studies on sea snails have demonstrated that RNA can transfer learned memories between individuals. When researchers trained a snail to respond to an electric shock and then injected its RNA into an untrained snail, the recipient snail responded to electric shock as if it had learned the response itself (Bédécarrats, A. 2018), possibly suggesting how some transplant recipients could experience new behaviors or memories they never had before.

Achanta et al./iScience

The heart contains its own nervous system which is sometimes referred to as the “heart brain.” This intricate web of nerves communicates using chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, like dopamine and serotonin, which are the same “feel-good messengers” that play a crucial role in brain function and memory formation (Randall, D. 2000). More specifically, the vagus nerve serves as a vital communication bridge between the brain and heart, using the neurotransmitter acetylcholine to regulate heart rate and promote relaxation (Liu W. 2022) – though this may be easier said than done on a jittery first date! Given the strong connection between the heart and brain, the vagus nerve might also play a role in transferring memory-related signals between the two organs.

After a heart transplant, this “heart brain” undergoes neuroplasticity, a rewiring and integration process that allows the transplanted heart to adapt to its new body and reestablish communication with the nervous system for proper functioning (Murphy, D. 2000). Interestingly, neuroplasticity is also a defining characteristic of the brain, which is heavily involved in formation, storage and retrieval of memories - suggesting a potential link between the two processes and raising questions about how cellular memory might be retained or transferred after transplantation.

More studies are underway to better understand cellular memory, but some patient testimonials suggest that these memories – the good, the bad, and the ugly – could be transferred to transplant recipients. Could it explain why some transplantees wake up with a craving for dark chocolate or a sudden fear of heights? Possibly. Could it also mean that your heart has been making decisions behind your back this whole time? Let’s not go there.

Every Valentine’s Day, we wax poetic about the heart being the seat of love. But what if it’s more than just a sweet metaphor? The experiences of heart transplant recipients suggest that the heart isn’t just pumping blood—it might be carrying pieces of a person’s very essence.

Works Cited:

Bédécarrats, Alexis, et al. "RNA from trained Aplysia can induce an epigenetic engram for long-term sensitization in untrained Aplysia." Eneuro 5.3 (2018).

Liu W, Zhang X, Wu Z, Huang K, Yang C, Yang L. Brain-heart communication in health and diseases. Brain Res Bull. 2022 Jun 1;183:27-37. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2022.02.012. Epub 2022 Feb 22. PMID: 35217133.

Murphy, David A., et al. "The heart reinnervates after transplantation." The Annals of thoracic surgery 69.6 (2000): 1769-1781.

Pearsall, Paul, Gary ER Schwartz, and Linda GS Russek. "Changes in heart transplant recipients that parallel the personalities of their donors." Integrative Medicine 2.2-3 (2000): 65-72.

Pearsall, Paul, Gary ER Schwartz, and Linda GS Russek. "Changes in heart transplant recipients that parallel the personalities of their donors." Journal of Near-Death Studies 20 (2002): 191-206.

Randall, David C. "Towards an understanding of the function of the intrinsic cardiac ganglia." The Journal of physiology528.Pt 3 (2000): 406.