Episodic And Retential Memory

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Neuropsychological data indicate that medial temporal lobe (MTL) including hippocampus (HC) is important for episodic memory, a subsystem of declarative memory that allows us to recall specific events that occur at a particular place and time (spatiotemporal context). Another line of evidence from neurophysiology field has demonstrated that HC/MTL is involved in spatial memory, including navigation. These two lines of evidence seem distinct. In this essay, I will discuss how these finding can provide a reconciliation of episodic and spatial memory in MTL: how place cell and grid cells not only allows us to navigate in the world, but also provide contextual information associated with the events that occur to us (episodic memories), as well as how we associate different conceptual representations via concept cells for our episodic memories. The role of HC/MTL in memory has started with a famous case, where bilateral MTL was resected in patient H.M to relieve epilepsy (Suzanne Corkin, 2002 review). Since then, the function of HC/MTL was examined closely in a lot of amnesic cases. One hypothesis is that declarative memory, both episodic memory and semantic memory (the conceptual knowledge of facts), depends on the integrity of MTL, and EM is the gateway to SM. It follows then that MTL damage should lead to impairment in both episodic and semantic memory. Another competing hypothesis is episodic memory is not necessary for semantic memory and new information can enter the semantic memory through perceptual systems .It follows then that HC damage results in inability to remember personally experienced recent events while their general knowledge of facts are relatively intact. The latter hypothesis is supported by cases with developmen... ... middle of paper ... ...put together many of these localized details and come up with a holistic representation. In conclusion, thanks to this special structure, medial temporal lobe in our brain: we, human beings, are unique in our own way and part of this uniqueness is contributed by different experiences we have encountered. Episodic memory allows us to recall these experiences and memorable events in a spatio-temporal context, navigate through the world (which can be part of the experience with contextual information attached to places we go), imagine new experiences and future events. It is fascinating how we are able to describe these experienced (or imagined) events coherently by going from one concept to another (getting a bouquet of rose and an ice cream maker on a valentine's day). After reading the profiles of the patients with MTL damage, I can’t imagine life without the MTL .

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