The 116th ICREA Colloquium ‘Similarities and differences of memory coding across species’

ABSTRACT

Raül Andero and Rodrigo Quian Quiroga

Memory is the process by which knowledge of the world is encoded, stored, and
later retrieved by neuronal circuits. We will describe memory experiments in animals and
humans, highlighting how translational models of molecular mechanisms within the amygdala reveal similarities across species. These findings could contribute to developing improved treatments for human disorders associated with memory function.

We will also describe a unique coding of memories in the human brain, based on evidence
from single neuron recordings in the human hippocampal formation. We will show how
neurons in this area form and store memories and how the coding by these neurons is
completely different from what has been described in other species, which may constitute a key neuronal mechanism underlying human intelligence.