Health Newsfeed # 1715
RESEARCHERS MAP THE BIOLOGY OF MEMORY FORMATION
RESEARCHERS MAP THE BIOLOGY OF MEMORY FORMATION
Have you ever wondered why adults have trouble mastering musical instruments even though kids take to them naturally? It turns out an adult may have too much vital information on–or in–their brain. Johns Hopkins researchers are puzzling out the biology behind learning, including why a child's brain is like a sponge while an adult's is like, well, cement.
Neuroscientist Anirvan Ghosh discovered that certain genes involved in early brain memory development eventually turn off, probably to our benefit.
As an adult, you really cannot afford to forget all the things you learned as a kid in order to be able to learn new things just as effectively. So the tradeoff is, as development proceeds, some of the (memory cementing) mechanisms are just removed from the brain so those connections can no longer be modified and so you can retain key information for the rest of your life.:21
Ghosh says eventually it may be possible to reactivate those memory forming genes in adults. Beethoven, anyone?
At the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, I'm Mat Edelson reporting.
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