image: Plots depicting the relations between source memory changes and functional connectivity in ROIs showing the main effects of source memory changes. IPL: inferior parietal lobule; SPL: superior parietal lobule; IOG: inferior occipital gyrus; ITG: inferior temporal gyrus. view more
Credit: Geng et al., JNeurosci 2020
In early childhood, memory skills predict the strength of future brain connections, and conversely, the strength of early brain connections predict future memory acuity. New research published in JNeurosci highlights the complex, bidirectional relationship between brain function and ability during development.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to remember events from the first few years of life. A person's first long-term memories appear around age four, when memory networks begin solidifying. Both early life experience and maturation of the hippocampus contribute to memory development, but the exact relationship between the two is unknown.
Geng et al. measured memory skills and resting brain activity in children aged four and six over the course of three years. The children learned facts and were quizzed on both the fact and how they learned it (a source memory) one week later. Source memory and synchronized activity between the hippocampus and other memory regions -- called functional connectivity -- improved with age. Improvements in source memory over a year predicted functional connectivity in both younger and older children, but to a greater extent in younger children. In addition, the level of functional connectivity at age six predicted the improvement in source memory at age eight. In other words, changes in ability predict changes in brain function, particularly for younger children, while function predicts ability solely in older children.
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Manuscript title: How Behavior Shapes the Brain and the Brain Shapes Behavior: Insights From Memory Development
About JNeurosci
JNeurosci, the Society for Neuroscience's first journal, was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship.
About The Society for Neuroscience
The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 37,000 members in more than 90 countries and over 130 chapters worldwide.