The way experiences shift from short-term to long-term memory is not the same in girls and boys. Researchers from the CNR Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and from the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (Tigem) of the Telethon Foundation have in fact discovered that different circuits are activated. And, more importantly, they have identified a new memory mechanism on which the “ability” to store memories over time depends. The study, published in Nature Communicationswas conducted on animal models (ie in mice), but this certainly does not detract from what has been observed, which increases our knowledge of the basic functioning of the brain.
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The study in mice
In the experiments, male and female mice were exposed to the maximum number of objects we know to be able to memorize in the short term, namely 6. It was thus observed that the males remembered them all the next day, while the females remembered less. , ie 4. Scholars then wondered why females place a limit on this transfer of information, and what are the mechanisms that are activated in the brain to determine it. “Short-term memory is a limited ‘archive’, while long-term memory ‘space’ is potentially infinite,” he explains to Salute Elvira On the Lionswho coordinated the research: “This may apply to what we study and strive to memorize, but what happens with experiences that we only have once in a lifetime and that we do not prepare to fix in the mind? For example, when they meet for the first time of people at a dinner: how many will we remember the name the next day? Or in the months and years to come? In our study we have shown exactly this: the mechanism by which we fix the so-called incidental memory “.
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The role of the nucleus reunion and hippocampus
Well, the study reveals that the ability to carry over spontaneous experiences from short-term to long-term memory depends on the nucleus of the thalamus (nucleus reunion, an older region of the brain) which is located under the cerebral cortex and which regulates the activation of the hippocampus, the cortical region responsible for the formation of long-term memories. Simplifying, the more the nucleus of the thalamus is activated and the less the hippocampus works. “Precisely: when the nucleus of the thalamus is overstimulated – continues De Leonibus – the amount of things that can be remembered over time decreases”. And it was precisely in the stimulation of the thalamus nucleus that the differences between males and females reported in the study emerged. “There are no differences in structure, neither in the basic ability to remember or in the mechanism, which means that the memories are encoded in the same way by females and males. The difference between the two sexes is instead that females have a hyperstimulation of the thalamus nucleus and this affects the hippocampus “. In fact, in males, the hippocampus was more active than in females.
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Differences can be reversed
The researchers conducted a litmus test on the mechanism identified, thanks to sophisticated brain manipulation techniques. Giulia Torromino and Vittorio Loffredo of Cnr-Ibbc, the first authors of the work, in fact used opsins (molecules produced by algae, able to switch on and off in response to a beam of light) to activate specific populations of neurons: “We ‘ turned off reuniens in females and increased memory from 4 to 6 objects and we found that by doing so, the hippocampus is also re-activated. This suggests that an older part of the brain may take over portions of the brain. which perform more complex functions from a cognitive point of view and govern their activation “, explains De Leonibus. In short, females remember no less than males, but they do it differently. Indeed, if there were structural differences between the two sexes, it would not be possible to cancel them out by simply stimulating the same areas.
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What happens when there are ‘distracting’ factors
Not only. De Leonibus and colleagues found that biological sex differences (and not gender, where cultural aspects also come into play) depend on the situation and context. “For example – they explain – if during the memorization of the 6 objects we distract females and males with other stimuli, the memory of the former suffers, that of the females remains intact. This suggests that males use a strategy more oriented towards long-term memorization. , the females one addressed to the management of stimuli in the specific context. In the cerebral economy, every complex mental action, in fact, is at the expense of other actions; therefore neither of the two is superior to the other, it depends on the situation. They are not different brains but they are used in a different way, in relation to the stimuli “.
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The relapses for the studies on memory in the human being
‘Incidental learning’, i.e. spontaneous learning out of curiosity, therefore brings out differences in mental strategies. But what can be the relapse for the human being and what is the next step? “We want to understand what it is that overstimulates the nucleus of the thalamus in females and what inhibits its hyperstimulation in males. That is, if these differences in the activation of the circuits are also molecular, in order to establish what can make the memory more or less fragile. over time “, De Leonibus replies.
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It is no coincidence that the research, which was attended by researchers from many other national and international centers, was funded by the Alzheimer’s Association. “We already know that the stimulation of neural circuits, for example the hippocampus, is central to maintaining the trophic brain”, concludes the researcher: “Studies like this are important because to date the sex differences linked to the biological aspect have not been much investigated and could have important implications on the understanding of cognitive processes and the effects of memory drugs in males and females “.