Baycrest Health Sciences & Baycrest Foundation Publications
Issue link: http://baycrest.uberflip.com/i/72542
NEXT BREAKTHROUGHS DISCOVERING WHY SOME PEOPLE HAVE BETTER "RECOLLECTION" MEMORY Dr. Jordan Poppenk and RRI senior scientist Dr. Morris Moscovitch have uncovered an important clue that may help solve a long- standing mystery about differences in memory ability between people. A bigger hippocampus doesn't guarantee better rec- ollection memory, but its shape seems to help. Recollection memory is used to relive past events in detail. The study shows the greater the size imbalance between a larger posterior and smaller anterior hippocampus, the more likely the person will have stronger recollection. This break- through finding, published in Neuron, advances our understand- ing of why some people have better recollection memory than others. The researchers also found evidence that enhanced memory recollection depended on the interactions between the posterior hippocampus and brain regions involved in perception, which occurred between the times that memories were learned and retrieved. Hippocampus 191 DATA ON THE BRAIN The Ontario Brain Institute is creating a unique repository for a vast amount of information about people's brains to help neuroscientists and clinicians develop better treatments for diseases of the brain. Baycrest is one of four partners contributing to the project, dubbed Brain-CODE. The searchable database will allow scientists to analyze great quantities of information and share related health, genetic and behavioural information. They will be looking for patterns and similarities that link one brain condition to another. This capability will promote a better understanding of brain diseases and how to predict and treat them. Under the auspices of the Heart and Stroke Foundation Centre for Stroke Recovery (HSFCSR), Baycrest's part in Brain-CODE is being led by Dr. Stephen Strother, a senior scientist at RRI and professor of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. Senior scientist Dr. Stephen Strother is leading Baycrest's part of the Brain-CODE project. 16 2011/12 Baycrest and Baycrest Foundation Annual Report Peer-reviewed journal articles published by Rotman Research Institute scientists in 2011