Researchers pinpointed the exact location in the brain where memories are generated with impressive precision.
To accomplish this a research team employed an ultra-accurate type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) reported. The researchers hope the study will help provide insight into how Alzheimer's disease affects the brain.
Researchers already knew the cerebral cortex is where memories are primarily stored, and the "control system" that generates memories and controls their content is located in inner regions of the hippocampus.
In the new study the team located the generation of human memories in certain neuronal layers within the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex.
"We were able to determine which neuronal layer was active. This revealed if information was directed into the hippocampus or whether it traveled from the hippocampus into the cerebral cortex. Previously used MRI techniques were not precise enough to capture this directional information. Hence, this is the first time we have been able to show where in the brain the doorway to memory is located," said Professor Emrah Düzel, site speaker of the DZNE in Magdeburg and director of the Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research at the University of Magdeburg.
To make their findings the researchers looked at the brains of participants who had undergone a memory test using a technique dubbed "7 Tesla ultra-high field MRI."
"This measuring technique allows us to track the flow of information inside the brain and examine the areas that are involved in the processing of memories in great detail," Düzel concluded. "As a result, we hope to gain new insights into how memory impairments arise that are typical for Alzheimer's. Concerning dementia, is the information still intact at the gateway to memory? Do troubles arise later on, when memories are processed? We hope to answer such questions."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Nature Communications.
