Game changing results: Brain uses the cortex for making
sensory associations, not the hippocampus
‘Where’ and ‘how’ memories are encoded in a nervous system
is one of the most challenging questions in biological research. The formation
and recall of associative memories is essential for an independent life. The
hippocampus has long been considered a centre in the brain for the long-term
storage of spatial associations. Now, Mazahir T. Hasan at the Max Planck
Institute for Medical Research and José Maria Delgado-Garcìa at the University
Pablo de Olavide of Seville, Spain, were able to provide first experimental
evidence that a specific form of memory associations is encoded in the cerebral
cortex and is not localized in the hippocampus as described in most
Neuroscience textbooks. The new study is a game changer since it strongly
suggests that the motor cortical circuits itself, and not the hippocampus, is
used as memory storage.