Unravelling the brain ’s inner GPS earned a trio of scientists theNobel Prize in medicinelast class , but of course of instruction that did not check the closing to this complex story . scientist have now added another of import bit to this puzzle , gathering evidence of a form of episodic computer storage journal in which the metre and localisation of specific memories are record .
Researchersdiscoveredthat a part of our mental capacity ’s learning and memory centre – the hippocampus – seems to keep a log of where and when certain events occur . Furthermore , they also find that the distance between these memories , both in footing of space and metre , was ruminate in their neuronal representation . In other words , the greater the length between the events , the further apart they appeared in the hippocampus .
“ What we ’re piece up here is not the whole memory , but the introductory gist – the where and when of the experience , ” extend investigator Per Sederberg said in astatement . “ This could be view as the remembering hub , where we have these world-wide , large - exfoliation delegacy of our experience . ”
The study builds on the fairly late find of so - calledplaceand grid cells in rat hippocampi that create a map of the surround surroundings and bestow a sentiency of place . Since laboratory animal are confined to small area and hokey berth , researchers wanted to expand on what we know by probe human memory from real - living event .
To do this , scientists from Ohio State University gathered a small group of nine women and dangled a smartphone from their necks for one calendar month . During this period , a specially designed app took photos randomly throughout the day while also ca-ca a note of hand of the prison term , locating and whether the user was move or stationary , among other things .
To study the memory take form during this sentence , images of brain activity were taken using an functional magnetic resonance imaging motorcar while the voluntary were presented with a random choice of their pic and enquire to try and commend detail of the experience shown . They then put the brainpower data point into yoke , comparing bodily process from outcome that were a minimum of 100 metre ( 328 feet ) and 16 hours aside . Since it ’s unmanageable to identify what dimension of experience represent the “ total memory , ” Sederberg explains to IFLScience , the researchers center on the most documentary cadence potential with the information , which was when and where the installment was experienced .
As distinguish inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , they found that the similarity of activity convention displayed in the anterior hippocampus while experiences were relived reflected how far apart the memory board were in term of space and time . So the more unlike the pattern , the further apart they were . But if participants could n’t remember inside information of the event pictured , this relationship was not observed . moreover , they did not find oneself this result when looking for spatial or temporal selective information independently ; both had to be included to notice this effect .
“ The biggest surprise was how entwined spacial and temporal information was in our data , ” Sederberg tells IFLScience . “ In hindsight this make sensation given that the basis of an autobiographic memory is the sentence and place where the instalment took place . ”
According to Sederberg , the fact that the location of space and time information was in the anterior hippocampus provides some of the first direct support for an emerging theory that this region is vital for representing the gist of our experiences . And since this is one of the first areas to degenerate in Alzheimer ’s , the findings could suggest that , at least in the other stages of dementia , individuals may still be able to form new memories , but are ineffective to regain them . This is something he hopes to explore further .
