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The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
Inquiring the librarian about the location of memory
Gabriel Berdugo-Vega1, Johannes Graeff1
1Laboratory of Neuroepigenetics, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne (EPFL-EPFL-SV-BMI-UPGRAEFF), Station 19, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Where memories are stored in the brain is an age-old question in psychology and neuroscience alike. In particular, whether hippocampus-encoded memories are transferred to the cortex or remain hippocampus-dependent over time has not been definitely answered. New evidence from fMRI studies in humans suggest that while hippocampo-cortical connections lose weight during declarative memory consolidation, the hippocampus - alongside corticocortical connections - stays equally engaged between recent and remote memory recall. These findings lend experimental support for the indexing theory of memory consolidation, which postulates the hippocampus to act as a librarian to retrieve the cortical books of memory.
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