Memory
Recent studies also support the possibility of a critical period for the development of neurons that mediate memory processing. Experimental evidence supports that notion that young neurons in the adult dentate gyrus have a critical period (about 1–3 weeks after neuronal birth) during which time they are integral to memory formation. Although the exact reasoning behind this observation is indefinite, studies suggest that the functional properties of neurons at this age make them most appropriate for this purpose; these neurons : (1) Remain hyperactive during the formation of memories; (2) are more excitable; and (3) More easily depolarizable due to GABAergic effects. It is also possible that hyperplasticity makes there neurons more useful in memory formation; if these young neurons had more plasticity than adult neurons in the same context, they would be able to be more influential in smaller numbers. The role of these neurons in the adult dentate gyrus in memory processing is further supported by the fact that behavioral experiments have shown that an intact dentate gyrus is integral to hippocampal memory formation. It is speculated that the dentate gyrus acts a relay station for information relating to memory storage. The likelihood of a critical period could change the way we view memory processing because it would ultimately mean that the collection of neurons present is constantly being replenished as new neurons replace old ones. If a critical period does indeed exist this could possibly mean that: (1) Diverse populations of neurons that represent events occurring soon after one another may connect those event temporally in the memory formation and processing; OR (2) These different populations of neurons may distinguish between similar events, independent of temporal position; OR (3) Separate populations may mediate the formation of new memories when the same events occur frequently.
Read more about this topic: Critical Period
Famous quotes containing the word memory:
“Perhaps a man like you can’t realize what it is to have a conscience and no memory at all. Do you imagine it’s pleasant to be ashamed of something you can’t even remember?”
—Orson Welles (1915–1985)
“These Flemish pictures of old days;
Sit with me by the homestead hearth,
And stretch the hands of memory forth
To warm them at the wood-fire’s blaze!”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“With the holders holding my hand nearing the call of the bird,
Comrades mine and I in the midst, and their memory ever to keep, for the dead I loved so well,
For the sweetest, wisest soul of all my days and
lands—and this for his dear sake,
Lilac and star and bird twined with the chant of my soul,
There in the fragrant pines and the cedars dusk and dim.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)