What is the hippocampus responsible for?

Hippocampus is a complex brain structure embedded deep into temporal lobe. It has a major role in learning and memory. It is a plastic and vulnerable structure that gets damaged by a variety of stimuli. Studies have shown that it also gets affected in a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

What is hippocampal formation?

The hippocampal formation is a prominent C-shaped structure bulging in the floor of the temporal horn of the lateral ventricle. The hippocampus proper consists of three major subfields (CA1–CA3).

What happens if hippocampus is damaged?

If the hippocampus is damaged by disease or injury, it can influence a person’s memories as well as their ability to form new memories. Hippocampus damage can particularly affect spatial memory, or the ability to remember directions, locations, and orientations.

How does the hippocampus affect behavior?

Hippocampus plays a vital role in flexible and goal-directed behavior. An intact hippocampal activity is required for forming and reconstructing relational memory (required for remembering arbitrary associations between objects or events) associated with flexible cognition and social behavior.

What is the major output of the hippocampus?

The major input to the hippocampus is through the entorhinal cortex (EC), whereas its major output is via CA1 to the subiculum. Information reaches CA1 via two main pathways, direct and indirect.

What disorders are associated with the entorhinal cortex?

Severe alteration of the entorhinal cortex is associated with several disorders of the human brain, importantly Alzheimer’s disease, temporal lobe epilepsy and schizophrenia.

Why is the entorhinal cortex important?

The entorhinal cortex is of considerable interest in memory research. Not only does it provide the major conduit for sensory information to the hippocampal formation, but a number of recent discoveries also suggest that the region may make unique contributions to the processing of spatial information.

Which person is most likely to suffer from damage to the hippocampus?

Autopsies have suggested that between 50 and 75 percent of people with epilepsy have damage to the hippocampus.

Can hippocampus repair itself?

Since then, several studies have found signs of new neurons in the adult human hippocampus, leading many researchers to accept that this part of the brain could renew itself throughout life in people too.