Almost all people in the face of earth have a common problem, their ability to forget. The benefits of having permanent records in your brain are unquestionable. Have you ever thought how much memory you have got in your brain to store all the information you have. Why can’t you store all information you once learned for ever, or why do we forget ?

A new research from japan explains that Hippocampus (the part of brain that is responsible for learning and memory activities) gets intense activity inside it with the birth of new neurons. After Neurogenesis (the process for the birth of new neurons) newborn neurons besides their other duties to perform, destabilization already existing connections between old neurons, resulting in disruption of old memories. These connections between old neurons have old memories encoded in them inside Hippocampus. It was already known by the scientists that memories first form inside Hippocampus and are then transported to other parts of brain for permanent storage, as data moves from RAM to HDD in side a computer, for some time this new memory resides in Hippocampus and other storage part of brain. Befor this new study, it was a mystery that how after few months or years memory clears from Hippocampus.

The research group from University of Toyama in Japan used radiations and some genetic techniques to stop neurogenesis in rates and mice, these were trained to express fear on a mild electric shock. The researchers found that animals after heaving their neurogenesis being stopped depend on hippocampus to recall their fear memory whereas animals with normal neurogenesis were able to retrieve their fear memory from long term storage part of brain easily. Boosting of neurogenesis was also exercised in this experiment which resulted in clearing of old memories from hippocampus.

The purpose of this whole exercise was not to underestimate the importance of neurogenesis. Neurogenesis hold important functions in erasing old memories and acquiring new memories and keeping hippocampus being filled with old cells. This study by researchers from University of Toyama, besides solving some of the important questions of memory inside brain, also opens new doors for research in the field of neuroscience.

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