Outstanding question in theoretical models of memory addressed
Date:
February 15, 2022
Source:
Wayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research
Summary:
A research team has discovered that communication between two key
memory regions in the brain determines how what we experience
becomes part of what we remember, and as these regions mature,
the precise ways by which they interact make us better at forming
lasting memories.
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A research team led by faculty members at Wayne State University has
discovered that communication between two key memory regions in the brain determines how what we experience becomes part of what we remember,
and as these regions mature, the precise ways by which they interact
make us better at forming lasting memories.
==========================================================================
The study, "Dissociable oscillatory theta signatures of memory formation
in the developing brain," was published in the Feb. 15 issue of Current Biology.
According to the researchers, it has long been suspected that interactions between the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and prefrontal cortex (PFC),
two regions of the brain that play a key role in supporting memory
formation, are responsible for the robust increase in memory capacity
between childhood and adulthood. To understand the nature of these interactions, they examined rare electrocorticographic (ECoG) data
recorded simultaneously from MTL and PFC in neurosurgical patients,
children and adults, who were trying to memorize pictures of scenes. With
these unique data, the researchers examined how MTL- PFC interactions
support memory development.
"We started by identifying two distinct brain signals -- oscillations
that one can think of as fluctuations in coordinated electrical brain
activity, both in the theta frequency, a slower (~3 Hz) and a faster
(~7 Hz) theta -- that underlie memory formation in the MTL. We then
continued to isolate unique effects that these fast and slow theta
oscillations play in MTL-PFC interactions," said Noa Ofen, Ph.D.,
associate professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences and faculty member in the Institute of Gerontology, Merrill
Palmer Skillman Institute, and Translational Neuroscience Program at Wayne State. "We found that both oscillations underlined MTL-PFC interactions
but in complementary unique ways and were excited to also find that
these distinct signatures of interactions between memory regions dictated whether a memory was successfully formed." The team then asked if those signatures of MTL-PFC interactions directly explain better memory in
older compared to younger individuals, and indeed, they discovered that
MTL-PFC interactions immediately preceding scene onset differentiated top-performing adolescents from lower-performing adolescents and children, thereby showing direct relations to memory development.
Another finding in the study is that there appears to be age differences
in fast and slow theta oscillations -- the slow theta frequency slows
down with age, and the fast gets faster. This is a critical novel finding
that has potentially vast implications for understanding brain development
and understanding age-related differences in recognition performance.
Curious about the underlying anatomical infrastructure that gives rise
to interactions that support memory, the team paired their findings with diffusion-weighted MRI data from a subset of subjects. They discovered
that the neurophysiological signatures of memory development were
linked to the structural maturation of a specific white matter tract --
the cingulum.
"Putting the pieces together, this research reveals that key memory
regions interact via two increasingly dissociable mechanisms as memory
improves with age," said Elizabeth Johnson, Ph.D., assistant professor
of medical social sciences and pediatrics at Northwestern University.
"Findings suggest that the development of memory is rooted in the
development of the brain's ability to multitask -- here, coordinate
distinct slow and fast theta networks along the same tract. This tells
us something fundamental about how memory becomes what it is." The lead authors of the study are Elizabeth L. Johnson, Ph.D., former Wayne State post-doc and assistant professor of medical social sciences and pediatrics
at Northwestern University and Noa Ofen, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and faculty member in the Institute of Gerontology, Merrill
Palmer Skillman Institute, and the Translational Neuroscience Program,
Wayne State University. Other co-authors are Wayne State University
graduate students Qin Yin and Nolan O'Hara; Wayne State University
postdoctoral student Dr.
Lingfei Tang; and Dr. Eishi Asano and Dr. Justin Jeong, Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Wayne State University School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Michigan.
This research was funded by grants from the National Institutes of
Health (NIMH R01MH107512, NINDS R00NS115918, NINDS R01NS64033, and
NINDS R01089659.
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Research. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Elizabeth L. Johnson, Qin Yin, Nolan B. O'Hara, Lingfei Tang,
Jeong-Won
Jeong, Eishi Asano, Noa Ofen. Dissociable oscillatory theta
signatures of memory formation in the developing brain. Current
Biology, 2022; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.01.053 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220215125510.htm
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