Memory

It is a well-known common fact that the brain is involved in memory. But which part of the brain? That would be the hippocampus. The hippocampus is a small organ located with the brain’s medial temporal lobe, and is considered to be the center of emotion and memory.

Dr. Joel Voss, a researcher at Northwestern University, attended Loyola University Chicago to give a talk about his latest researches, which included one research he and his colleagues did about Targeted enhancement of cortical hippocampal brain networks and associative memory. In this research it is stated how the “influential notion that the hippocampus supports associative memory by interacting with functionally distinct and distributed brain regions has not been directly tested in humans.” (p.1054) This is why in this research study they used targeted noninvasive electromagnetic stimulation to modulate human cortical-hippocampal networks and tested effects of this manipulation in memory. Their goal was to strengthen the hippocampal brain networks and see if this would strengthen associative memory. Results of this experiment were positive when it was discovered that “the increase in performance for baseline to Post-Tx was greater for stimulation than for sham.” (p.1055)

            In a study by researchers at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, they talk about how exercise may help the memory grow stronger. As mentioned earlier, memories are coded into brain cells in the hippocampus, and if they weren’t written into those cells, then they wouldn’t be available for long term memory. For the research, they used healthy, male mice. After a month of normal life, they exposed some of the mice to stressful experiences, like for example, a mild restraint. To see how this affected their memory, “the researched had some mice from each group learn a maze with a treat in one hidden corner.” (Reynolds) After three days of the exposure to a stressful situation, they saw that they had reduced the effectiveness of the memory in the stressed-out mice, compared to those mice from control group. So, we see how stress weakens the brain’s availability to retain information, whereas regular exercise can counteract those effects by bolstering communication between brain cells.

            We can see the correlation between these two experiments when we compare how in the experiment conducted by Dr. Voss and his colleagues it was stated, as mentioned before, that “multiple-session stimulation increased functional connectivity among cortical-hippocampal networks and tested effects of this manipulation in memory.” (p.1044) Basically, what we want for a better memory is a really strong synapse, which are the connection in between neurons. Just like TMS treatment, which was used in Voss’s experiment, we are able to strengthen our memory if we exercise regularly. 

Sources: 

·     Memory Enhancement: Targeted enhancement of cortical-hippocampal brain networks and associative memory. Wang J.X., Rogers L.M., Gross E.Z., Ryals A.J., Dokucu M.E., Brandstatt K.L., Hermiller M.S., Voss J.L. (2014) Science, 345 (6200) , pp. 1054-1057.

·     Reynolds, Gretchen. “How Exercise May Help the Memory Grow Stronger.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/well/move/how-exercise-may-help-the-memory-grow-stronger.html.