You see a guy at the grocery store—is he a college classmate or just a look-alike? One tiny spot in the brain holds the answer.
Neuroscientists have identified the part of the hippocampus that creates and processes this type of memory, furthering our understanding of how the mind works and what’s going wrong when it doesn’t. The findings appear in Neuron.
“You see a familiar face and say to yourself, ‘I think I’ve seen that face.’ But is this someone I met five years ago, maybe with thinner hair or different glasses—or is it someone else entirely?” asked study leader James J. Knierim, a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University’s Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute.
