Human brains use a storage trick to keep your memories in sequential order

Scientists have puzzled over the brain's memory storage system for decades.

- 

Many have wondered how our minds can file away new information without wiping out what we already know.

After rigorous investigations, researchers have found that place cells hold essential clues to this process.

Memory storage uses scaffolding

Place cells were first reported about half a century ago. Early evidence showed that they become active when a rodent occupies a particular spot in a maze.

Further work revealed these cells reside in the hippocampus, a core region for memory. They align with grid cells in the entorhinal cortex.

Together, these populations form a foundation. Both spatial details and personal experiences rest on this scaffold, ensuring that details remain anchored to distinct neural patterns.

It holds pointers, which direct the brain to the finer content stored in vast areas of sensory cortex. That index can then “fill in” previously stored information whenever we recall it.

In simpler words, the hippocampus does not permanently hold every detail. It directs us to the right place in the cortex, where the nuts and bolts of each stored memory lie.

Understanding the hippocampus - the basics

The hippocampus is tucked deep within the medial temporal lobe. Because of it's crucial role in converting short-term memories into long-term ones, without the hippocampus, experiences would simply fade away moments after they occurred.