Organ transplant patients could inherit memories and personalities from their donors

Experts have been investigating after individuals who received a new organ noticed strange changes in their emotions, memories, and tastes.

The trend was most common in those who had heart transplants, but others who had received new kidneys or lungs even noticed differences.

In a review that was published earlier this year, researchers pinpointed a case study in which a nine-year-old boy received a heart from a three-year-old girl who had drowned in her family's pool.

Despite the boy having no idea how his donor had passed away, his mother revealed that he became "deathly afraid of water".

The experts wrote in their research: "Emerging evidence suggests that heart transplantation may involve the transfer of the donor's personality traits and memories to the recipient, challenging conventional views of memory and identity.

"Additionally, the heart's neural network and bidirectional communication with the brain support the concept of a heart-brain connection in memory and personality."
However, not all academics agree on the issue as scientists at Canada's McGill University say that the cases are coincidental and attribute any changes to a psychological response to major surgery.

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