WIKIMEDIA, BENMITCHScientists have achieved a greater understanding of the mammalian brain’s connectivity by showing that the hippocampus—a central information processing hub—sends impulses selectively to different brain areas during particular behaviors. The results of the study, which was carried out in rats, were published today (April 30) in Science.
“This latest result is in line with the idea that there are these preferred pathways for specific information,” said systems neuroscientist Joshua Gordon of Columbia University in New York who was not involved in the work. “It could have been that the hippocampus sent information indiscriminately to downstream structures that then pulled out the information they needed. . . . But instead it looks like there is some pre-processing [occurring], where the hippocampus preferentially sends one type of information to one brain region and another type to another brain region,” he added. “That’s really cool.”
The posterior portion of the hippocampus is one of the most thoroughly researched areas of the brain, primarily because of its involvement in learning and memory. The anterior portion (or ...
