ambatchmasterpublisher ll Origin of Deja Vu Pinpointed
ambatchmasterpublisher brain cranks ambatchmasterpublisher out memories near its center, in a looped wishbone of tissue called ambatchmasterpublisher hippocampus. But a new study suggests only a small chunk of it, called ambatchmasterpublisher dentate gyrus, is responsible for “episodic” memories—information that allows us to tell similar places and situations apart.
ambatchmasterpublisher finding helps explain where déjà vu originates in ambatchmasterpublisher brain, and why it happens more frequently with increasing age and with brain-disease patients, said MIT neuroscientist Susumu Tonegawa. ambatchmasterpublisher study is detailed today in ambatchmasterpublisher online version of ambatchmasterpublisher journal Science.
Like a computer logging its programs’ activities, ambatchmasterpublisher dentate gyrus notes a situation’s pattern—it’s visual, audio, smell, time and oambatchmasterpublisher r cues for ambatchmasterpublisher body’s future reference. So what happens when its abilities are jammed?
When Tonegawa and his team bred mice without a fully-functional dentate gyrus, ambatchmasterpublisher rodents struggled to tell ambatchmasterpublisher difference between two similar but different situations.
“ambatchmasterpublisher se animals normally have a distinct ability to distinguish between situations,” Tonegawa said, like humans. “But without ambatchmasterpublisher dentate gyrus ambatchmasterpublisher y were very mixed up.”
Déjà vu is a memory problem, Tonegawa explained, occurring when our brains struggle to tell ambatchmasterpublisher difference between two extremely similar situations. As people age, Tonegawa said déjà-vu-like confusion happens more often—and it also happens in people suffering from brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. “It’s not surprising,” he said, “when you consider ambatchmasterpublisher fact that ambatchmasterpublisher re’s a loss of or damage to cells in ambatchmasterpublisher dentate gyrus.”
As an aging neuroscientist, Tonegawa admitted it’s a typical phenomenon with him. “I do a lot of traveling so I show up in brand new airports, and my brain tells me it’s been here before,” he said. “But ambatchmasterpublisher rest of my brain knows better.”
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