The Role of the Hippocampus and Amygdala in Memory

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Week 5 Forum Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Date The amygdala and hippocampus are the main parts of the brain whose responsibility is the regulation of memory. The amygdala is divided into two, the right and left hemispheres. The right hemisphere is responsible for negative emotions like fear and sadness while the left hemisphere induces both the pleasant and unpleasant emotions when stimulated. These hemispheres have independent memory systems but they work together to encode, store and interpret information. The hippocampus on the other side is responsible for the production of corticosteroids (chemicals that produce physiological responses to stimuli). How the mind creates memories is controlled by the hippocampus. So as to work efficiently, the amygdala and the hippocampus rely on each other greatly. The amygdala regulates the responses to stimuli and the hippocampus uses these responses in the formation of both short-term and long-term memories. Damage to the amygdala or hippocampus causes loss of emotions and memory respectively. By removing part of H.M.’s temporal lobe which meant some parts of the amygdala and hippocampus, he suffered severe amnesia. He could remember things that happened a longtime ago and even his name meaning that his long-term childhood memory was intact but short-term memory was severely affected. By learning new motor skills but not conscious of them, it showed that the brain has different parts that controlled memory. According to me, H.M.’s inability to recall the words was a problem of consolidation as well as a long term memory problem. By being able to recall immediately the information correctly after the words were given to him showed that his short-term memory was intact. A couple of days later he could still remember the information meaning it was stored. For information to be permanently stored in long-term

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