January 24, 2018
If you are someone who takes photos to hold onto cherished memories, focus the camera’s lens on not only capturing the people around you, but on the place you are in. Looking at photos of the environment will help you recall more details about important events.
Baycrest researchers found that familiar locations helped people experience vivid and detailed personal memories more easily. According to their study published in the journal Neuropsychologia, the majority of test subjects remembered a location first and by doing so, recalled memories faster.
Researchers also found that one of the brain regions which allow us to mentally re-experience these memories, the hippocampus, was larger amongst people who found it easier to remember when cued with a familiar location. The hippocampus is one of the first areas to show signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
“During reminiscence, we almost always remember the spatial context in which a memory takes place,” says Dr. Asaf Gilboa, scientist at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute (RRI) and assistant professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “You can often use space like the scaffold of a building in which you build the memory. Once you have that, you weave the details into it and walk into the scene.”
The study, conducted by RRI graduate student Melissa Hebscher, asked 63 healthy, young adults between the ages of 19 to 35 to provide the names of familiar places, objects and people a few days before visiting Baycrest. Following the pre-interview, participants were presented these words to trigger a detailed memory and the structure of their brain was scanned.
These findings could support the development of more effective, tailored memory interventions to help older adults uncover detailed recollections which is difficult for individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and as we grow older.
“People can have very different subjective experiences when remembering the past,” says Dr. Gilboa. “This study shows that the brain’s wiring determines what may trigger recollection in individuals and how memories are accessed.”
For example, the next time you revisit a city, a certain location could remind you of ice cream you ate on the last trip, but your partner may not remember the same thing as easily. This may be because their hippocampus is different than yours, adds Dr. Gilboa.
Previous research has demonstrated that being able to conjure up a scene plays an important role in reliving memories, but few studies have explored how differences in an individual’s brain structure impacts recollection.
Researchers will investigate further by using disruptive, non-invasive brain stimulation to inhibit a part of the brain that plays a role during reminiscence, the precuneus, to see how it alters a person’s ability to remember.
This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Additional funding could allow researchers to apply their findings by creating a tool to boost memory among older adults.
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About Baycrest Health Sciences
Baycrest Health Sciences is a global leader in geriatric residential living, healthcare, research, innovation and education, with a special focus on brain health and aging. Fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Baycrest provides excellent care for older adults combined with an extensive clinical training program for the next generation of healthcare professionals and one of the world’s top research institutes in cognitive neuroscience, the Rotman Research Institute. Baycrest is home to the federally and provincially-funded Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, a solution accelerator focused on driving innovation in the aging and brain health sector, and is the developer of Cogniciti – a free online memory assessment for Canadians 40+ who are concerned about their memory. Founded in 1918 as the Jewish Home for Aged, Baycrest continues to embrace the long-standing tradition of all great Jewish healthcare institutions to improve the well-being of people in their local communities and around the globe. For more information please visit: www.baycrest.org
About Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute
The Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences is a premier international centre for the study of human brain function. Through generous support from private donors and funding agencies, the institute is helping to illuminate the causes of cognitive decline in seniors, identify promising approaches to treatment, and lifestyle practices that will protect brain health longer in the lifespan.
For media inquiries:
Jonathan MacIndoe
Baycrest Health Sciences
416-785-2500 ext. 6579
jmacindoe@baycrest.org
Michelle Petch Gotuzzo
Baycrest Health Sciences
416-785-2500 ext. 6932
mpetchgotuzzo@baycrest.org