Brain Region for Word Memory Uncovered for the First Time

Activation of specific brain regions as two year kids recollect newly learned words while asleep reveals memory for words for the first time as per a study "Activation for newly learned words in left medial-temporal lobe during toddlers' sleep is associated with memory for words", at the Center for Mind and Brain, University Of California, Davis, published in Current Biology.

"We can now leverage sleep to look at basic mechanisms of learning new words," says Simona Ghetti, professor at the Center for Mind and Brain and UC Davis Department of Psychology.

‘Activation of specific brain regions as a two-year kid recollects newly learned words while asleep reveals memory for words for the first time. ’

However, it can be challenging to study two to three years old, children, especially because they dislike being in a functional MRI scanner.

Memory for Words

To overcome this, the team had earlier found that if children fell asleep in a scanner while it was not working, they could later start the scan and see brain activation in response to songs the children had heard earlier. This may help analyze how toddlers retained memories of words.

The study team created a series of made-up, but realistic sounding words as names for a series of objects and puppets. First, the two-year-olds were introduced to two objects and two puppets, then later after a few minutes they were tested for memory of the names.

After one week, the kids were tested again for the memory of names, following which they slept in an MRI scanner overnight. The team then played back the learned words as they slept.

It was found that there was activation of the hippocampus and the anterior medial temporal lobe as the sleeping children heard learned words. Moreover, this activation directly correlated with their earlier memory performance.

"This suggests that the hippocampus is particularly important for laying down the initial memory for words," says Ghetti.

However, young children also lose many memories as they rapidly form new memories. The team anticipates that overlapping learning experiences interfere with each other and cancel out the unneeded details as some memories are formed while others are lost.

Source: Medindia