Hippocampus
If the hippocampus is damaged, it becomes incredibly difficult to form new memories and recall old memories. In fact, it is one of the first parts of the brain that succumbs to Alzheimer's disease.
Useful takeaways from this story.
If the hippocampus is damaged, it becomes incredibly difficult to form new memories and recall old memories.
In fact, it is one of the first parts of the brain that succumbs to Alzheimer's disease.
The types of people who never get lost and are good at finding shortcuts have a very active hippocampus.
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The useful part
If the hippocampus is damaged, it becomes incredibly difficult to form new memories and recall old memories. In fact, it is one of the first parts of the brain that succumbs to Alzheimer's disease. The types of people who never get lost and are good at finding shortcuts have a very active hippocampus.
How it works
- Taxi cab drivers tend to have a large hippocampus, indicating that if you use your spatial skills, your hippocampus can actually grow.
- To prevent information overload, your hippocampus is constantly sifting through incoming sensory inputs and deciding what to save and what to discard.
- For a memory to get into long-term storage, it must be selected by the hippocampus.
- Information with emotional significance or information that relates to something we already know tends to get preferential treatment.
Details worth keeping
In the middle of the brain, connected to the cortex, is the hippocampus. Actually there are two hippocampi, one on each side of the brain. The hippocampus helps to form new memories about experienced events.
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