What is known about the anatomical substrates of human memory?

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What is known about

the anatomical substrates of human memory?

Topics on the relation of different brain regions and human memory were always interested by psychologist. The first published report which described the effects of bilateral medial temporal lobe resection on the function of memory was written by Scoville and Milner in 1957. It was suggested that patients who had suffered damage to the medial temporal lobe (MTL) in the brain resulting in disruption of formation of new memories (Scoville W.B. & Milner B. 1957; Scott T. Grafton, 1995). Similar research such as Case N.A. by Professor Teuber and his colleagues in 1968 also investigated patient with medial temporal lobe resection. Other studies (Mishkin et al. 1983; H. Eichenbaum el at. 2007) were carried out to discuss which parts of the MTL involved in which kinds of memory. Psychologists’ views on medial temporal amnesia were also discussed in this field. These studies were concluded with evidence to support the relation between the MTL and memory process.

This essay firstly illustrates the roles of specific regions in MTL in human brain which were suggested to be important for memory process. Secondly explains and analyses some supporting studies, classic cases and psychologists’ views in this field so as to give evidence on the relation of MTL and memory.  

Medial temporal lobe
The medial temporal lobe contains brain structures lying on the inner side of human

brain (see figure 1). There are several areas in this system, including the ,

parahippocampal gyrus with the entorhinal and  cortices and amygdala. It was

suggested that the MTL, as well as some parts of the thalamus work together to support

memory processing.

 
Hippocampus is buried deep inside and it is said to be the oldest part of the brain.

Functionally, it is important for the forming, and long-term storage, of associative and

sequential memories. It has been particularly involved in the encoding and recovery of

face-name associations as well as the encoding of events. The hippocampus as a part of

the olfactory cortex is also essential to the recall of memories related to smells. Although

it seems not to store information itself, it contributes to the consolidation of

information from short-term to long-term memory (; ).

The dentate gyrus is located in the hippocampus. Being one of the regions of the adult

brain where
, for which is believed to be involved in the formation of new

, takes place, it also plays an important role in memory processing.  

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Parahippocampal gyrus
 

The parahippocampal gyrus is also known as the hippocampal gyrus. It is a

  of the  that surrounds the  and is important in

 and retrieval of . It collects a  flow of information from the

association regions that it transfers to the hippocampus, mainly through the entorhinal

cortex. The
 and  cortices are located at the front of the

parahippocampal gyrus, both of them
d in ing information from

different sensory systems and are generally accepted to be essential in memory

functioning. (
; ; )


Amygdala

Amygdalae are groups of  which deeply located in the MTL as shown in figure ...

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