Why Bigger Is Better When It Comes to Our Brain and Memory

The hippocampus is an important brain structure for recollection memory, the type of memory we use for detailed reliving of past events. Now, new research published by Cell Press in the December 22 issue of the journalNeuron reveals characteristics of the human hippocampus that allow scientists to use anatomical brain scans to form predictions about an individual's recollection ability. The new research helps to explain why this relationship has been hard to find in the past and provides evidence for a possible underlying mechanism.

The hippocampus, a deep brain structure named for its curving seahorse shape, can be divided into anterior and posterior portions. Although research has generally linked smaller hippocampi with worse recollection in neuropsychological patients and during aging, this relationship has not held up among healthy young adults. "There is some evidence that extensive spatial memory acquisition leads to enlargement of the posterior hippocampus and a decrease in the anterior hippocampus," explains lead study author, Dr. Jordan Poppenk who conducted the study at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute. "This suggested to us that the crucial predictor of individual differences in recollection ability might not be the overall size of the hippocampus but the separate contributions of the posterior and anterior segments of the hippocampus."

Dr. Poppenk and coauthor Dr. Morris Moscovitch analyzed high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging brain scans of healthy adults who had participated in recollection memory tests. Better recollection was associated with a larger posterior hippocampus and a smaller anterior hippocampus. The overall size of the hippocampus did not predict recollection, as larger posterior hippocampi were offset by smaller anterior hippocampi. The researchers went on to show that the link between the posterior hippocampus and recollection depended on interactions with other parts of the brain between the times that memories were learned and retrieved, particularly regions involved in perception which form the basis of recollected experience.

"Our results show for the first time that the size of the posterior hippocampus, especially when expressed as a ratio to the size of the anterior hippocampus, reliably predicts recollection in healthy adults. This finding explains the longstanding failure to correlate the overall size of the hippocampus with memory," concludes Dr. Poppenk. "We also provide evidence that it is the functional connections, possibly related to memory consolidation, between the posterior hippocampus and other parts of the brain that may underlie enhanced memory recollection."

Catolog of Newly Discovered Living Species

The International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) announces the release of two State of Observed Species (SOS) Reports on January 18, 2012.In annual report,they summarizes the 19,232 new living species officially described in calendar year 2009 and includes animals, plants, algae, fungi and microbes.

  

http://species.asu.edu.       

Excuse me, India's Science Establishment!

A happy and 'high impact factor' new year 2012 to everyone who is doing research and wants to go to the next level in his/her profession (??!!) of doing science!!!!

Though it is too late to wish for a new year that started two weeks before, I must confess that even this belated wish was triggered by a recent 'Current Science' editorial by P.Balram. I also started thinking about how worthy is publishing something for the sake of gaining the so-called impact that I can use to 'sell' myself to do research. Unfortunately, quality and quantity are two mutually exclusive entities in certain situations. I am someone who belongs to that group of researchers who are prepared to wait for 'the defining moment' in research that gives at first personal satisfaction of having obtained something meaningful, before sharing it with my peers. Am I realistic and practical? Well, according to the requirements set by many of the institutions that recruit or promote researchers, people like me would be considered 'no impact'' impractical and unrealistic researchers.

The present system in judging a scientist in India is primarily based on numbers and not on interest to pursue research or even the quality of it. I would only be plagiarizing Balram's editorial content if I write a few points that he discussed. I only request you to read his editorial. I have my own suggestions (two of them - slightly different from Balram's) to improve scientific research in India. I restrict my suggestions to identifying and encouraging quality in the present stock of researchers who have already started:

1. Each institution should insist on ideas or concepts coming from the bottom. For this purpose, researchers must be encouraged to present, defend and pursue a new idea in a small way alongside on-going research that is dependent on whims and fancies of funding agencies etc. Main criterion for developing the idea should be simplicity.

2. Tenure positions should be based on quality of thought process and dedication of a particular researcher rather than on quantity of output.

Doing curiosity driven science in India is like an Utopian dream. Nevertheless, if small initiatives are taken by researchers like us today, perhaps future generations of researchers in India may be satisfied. I don't have anything more to blog... because too much of blogging on a single topic may bring down its 'impact'!!!

Tradition of INDIANs

 

Nutrients in Indian Foods :)