How Does Human Memory Work?

By: Eric Hartwell

As is commonly known, when people grow older, their memory often stops working as well as it once did. People begin to lose track of their day to day movements and can forget what they did just a few minutes prior. But in recent years, thanks to a new imaging method, scientists are beginning to understand why deficits in the working memory occur. These experiments are useful in that they help doctors treat and prevent memory loss that occurs as a result of age.

In recent years, it has been established by researchers working in the field of human memory that a common gene variant can have an effect of memory through changing a factor of growth in a human brain’s memory hub. It has been established that participants who had a particular version of a gene coded for BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) do worse in episodic memory tests. These kinds of tests try to make patients recall what happened the day before. This can most likely be explained the limited movement and secretion of BDNF in cells. Indeed, as research has established, BDNF plays a major role in the hippocampal function of humans.

But that’s not all. BDNF also plays a major role in determining the memory capability of animals. In order to determine if the same would hold up on human subjects, researchers looked at variations of BDNF in human genes. Individuals inherit two copies of this gene – one from each of their parents. Poor memory has been linked to a version of BDNF called “met,” which a little over a third of all humans inherit. Whereas most BDNF contains valine, and thus is nicknamed “val,” “met” contains an amino acid called methionine where the valine is supposed to be situated. This sole substitution of an amino acid has been found to have a profound effect on the hippocampus, which effects human memory.

Not only does the “met” have a negative impact on memory, it also irritates other biological functions in the human brain and can pose a risk for causing other dysfunctions of the hippocampus, including mood disorders and Alzheimer’s. It does not, however, make one more susceptible to schizophrenia.

In the year 1997, an important discovery was made by researchers at Stanford University. They found a cluster of neurons separated by a mere few inches involved in two vital but separate aspects of memory in humans. With the use of a technique known as an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), it was discovered that people who are attempting to encode information in to the form of a memory use the posterior of the brain’s hippocampus, while more activity was present in the anterior region when the people were attempting to retain information stored in the memory.

As the encoding and retrieving of information is vital to the learning process, this was big news indeed – not to mention the fact that it can also be quite useful, in that the encoding and retrieving process is generally thought to be one of the first to be affected by the onslaught of Alzheimer’s disease in patients.

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