hippocampus

(noun)

A part of the brain located inside the temporal lobe consisting mainly of gray matter. It is a component of the limbic system and plays a role in memory and emotion. 

Related Terms

  • cerebrum
  • Mammillary bod
  • prefrontal cortex
  • septal nucle
  • mammillary bodies
  • nucleus accumbens
  • cortex
  • amygdala

(noun)

A part of the brain located inside the temporal lobe, consisting mainly of gray matter. It is a component of the limbic system and plays a role in memory and emotion. So-named because of its resemblance to a seahorse.

Related Terms

  • cerebrum
  • Mammillary bod
  • prefrontal cortex
  • septal nucle
  • mammillary bodies
  • nucleus accumbens
  • cortex
  • amygdala

Examples of hippocampus in the following topics:

  • Limbic System

    • It includes the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior thalamic nuclei, septum, limbic cortex, and fornix, and supports a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, motivation, long-term memory, and olfaction.
    • Hippocampus: Required for the formation of long-term memories and implicated in maintenance of cognitive maps for navigation.
    • Fornix: A white matter structure that carries signals from the hippocampus to the mammillary bodies and septal nuclei.
    • The septal nuclei receive reciprocal connections from the olfactory bulb, hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, midbrain, habenula, cingulate gyrus, and thalamus.
  • Amnesia

    • H.M. developed pronounced anterograde amnesia after his hippocampus and amygdala were removed to treat severe epilepsy.
    • Both categories of amnesia can occur together in the same patient, and commonly result from drug effects or damage to the brain regions most closely associated with episodic memory: the medial temporal lobes and especially the hippocampus.
    • This form of amnesia is distinct in that abnormalities in the hippocampus can sometimes be visualized using a special form of magnetic resonance imaging of the brain known as diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI).
  • Stress and Disease

    • The regions of the brain involved in memory processing that are implicated in PTSD include the hippocampus, amygdala, and frontal cortex, while the heightened stress response is likely to involve the thalamus, hypothalamus, and locus coeruleus.
    • This atrophy of the hippocampus is thought to represent decreased neuronal density.
    • However, long-term exposure to cortisol damages cells in the hippocampus, which results in impaired learning.
  • Overview of the Cerebrum

    • The cerebrum contains the cerebral cortex (of the two cerebral hemispheres), as well as several subcortical structures, including the hippocampus, basal ganglia, and olfactory bulb.
    • It also contains the hippocampus, which processes memory formation.
    • The olfactory bulb also receives "top-down" information from such brain areas as the amygdala, neocortex, hippocampus, locus coeruleus, and substantia nigra.
  • Development of the Central Nervous System

    • The telencephalon differentiates into, among other things, the striatum, the hippocampus, and the neocortex, and its cavity becomes the first and second ventricles.
  • The Brain

    • Found deep in the temporal lobe, the seahorse-shaped hippocampus is responsible for memory.
  • The Synapse

    • These are found in stereotyped movements as in jerky movements of the eye and in hippocampus and amygdala where emotions and memory is processed.
  • Thalamus

    • The thalamus is connected to the hippocampus via the mammillothalamic tract.
  • Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

    • Hallmark pathological changes following poisoning are bilateral necrosis of the white matter, globus pallidus, cerebellum, hippocampus, and the cerebral cortex.
  • Cerebral Lobes

    • The temporal lobe contains the hippocampus and plays a key role in the formation of explicit long-term memory, modulated by the amygdala.
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