Mine is Bigger than Yours: Section of the Brain May Hold Key to Disorders
Brain power: People who are born with a larger PCS have better memories
IMAGE BY iStockphoto: FotografiaBasica
A variation in a part of the brain may explain why some people have a good memory, and why others are prone to brain disorders. Scientists from Cambridge University say the discovery could advance the understanding of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.
Researchers tested a group of volunteers in their ability to tell apart real and imagined memories, the ABC reports. What they found was a direct link between the results and the size of a specific area of the brain.
"The memory differences we observed were quite striking. It is exciting to think that these individual differences in ability might have a basis in a simple brain folding variation," says Dr Jon Simons of Cambridge University, who led the research.
The section, known as the paracingulate sulcus, or PCS, is one of the last regions of the brain to develop before birth. The study found that people who are born with a larger PCS are better at separating real and imagined memories.
But the part of the experiment that most excites scientists is the close relation between reality versus imagination and its links with schizophrenia.
"Hallucinations are often reported whereby, for example, someone hears a voice when nobody's there. Difficulty distinguishing real from imagined information might be an explanation for such hallucinations," says Simons. "The person might imagine the voice but misattribute it as coming from the outside world."
Although it affects 24 million people worldwide, very little is known about the causes of schizophrenia.
[Journal of Neuroscience]