New study showing how the brain retrieves facts and personal experiences may help people with memory disorders
University of York
Scientists
from the University of York say their findings may have relevance to memory
disorders, including dementia, where problems remembering relevant information
can impact on the daily life of patients.
Researchers
say the findings may also have important implications for the development of a
new generation of artificial intelligence systems, which use long-term memory
in solving computational problems.
The
brain's long-term memory stores are categorised into two: factual memory and
memory of personal experiences.
Together,
these two long-term memory stores help us understand and respond to the world
around us.
Decades of clinical and experimental research has shown that these two memory stores are represented across two separate brain regions.
But
the new study suggests that a shared set of brain regions play an important
role in controlling the successful retrieval of weak memories.
Using
functional magnetic resonance imaging technology, researchers studied how these
regions were shown to increase their activity when participants were asked to
retrieve fact memories and personal memories.
Lead
researcher Dr Deniz Vatansever, formerly of the University of York and now
working for the Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence,
Fudan University said: "The new research suggests that despite their
functional differences, successfully retrieving weak information from these two
memory systems might be dependent upon a shared brain mechanism.
"Our
memories allow us to make sense and flexibly interact with the world around us.
Although in most cases, our strongly encoded memories might be sufficient for
the task at hand, remembering to pack a beach towel for an upcoming seaside
holiday, this strong memory may be irrelevant in other instances, such as when
packing for a business trip. As such, we need to tightly control the retrieval
of relevant memories to solve different tasks under different circumstances.
Our results indicate that this control process might be shared across both
factual and personal memory types."
Senior author Prof. Elizabeth Jefferies from the Department of Psychology, University of York, said: "In order to generate appropriate thoughts and behaviours, we have to draw on our memory stores in a highly flexible way.
This new study
highlights control processes within the brain that allow us to focus on unusual
aspects of the meanings of words and to retrieve weakly encoded personal
experiences. This control over memory allows us to be creative and to adapt as
our goals or circumstances change."
The
research was supported by the European Research Council and the National
Natural Science Foundation of China.
