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The hippocampus, a brain structure that is central to learning and memory, does not complete its maturation until adolescence. The hippocampus, a region deep inside the brain, plays a central role for memorization and recall of details, as well as general memory performance.
Using high-resolution imaging the scientists were able to obtain information about the sizes of different subregions of the hippocampus.
The study involved many children and adolescents aged 6 to 14 years as well as young adults aged 18 to 26 years.
After checking the images, they realized that the age differences in the subregions do not follow a standard pattern and a lot is still happening beyond the age of six. A special task assessed whether the participants remember details of objects or their general characteristics.
Participants were shown some images, researchers added minor changes to the objectives during second display, participants were asked to indicate whether they had seen the respective images before and indicate any changes and differences between the first and the second image.
The scientists also examined how the
development of the hippocampal subregions is associated with age. In particular, two subregions showed age-related differences linked to differences in memory for details: the dentate gyrus, whose function consists the separation of features so that they can be recalled separately, and the entorhinal cortex, whose cortical connections contribute to memory formation, stabilization, and retrieval.
The assumption that these two subregions and the hippocampus as a whole only complete their maturation in adolescence has changed perspective on the development of learning and memory. Using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. This new study shows that the maturation process lasts until the fourteen years.
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