Scientists from Dartmut College in the USA have made a groundbreaking discovery concerning how the brain encodes visual images in memory, which challenges previous assumptions about the transformation of visual signals. According to a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the brain uses “retinotopic” information to encode 3D visual data through the retina as the main mechanism for memory coding associated with visual stimuli. This means that the brain stores actual visual information, rather than a description for recreating the scene later on. The study can be found here.
The researchers reached this conclusion after conducting a series of experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRT). They scanned the brains of individuals viewing specific images and tested their ability to recall them. Through these experiments, they observed a direct feedback loop between the brain regions responsible for perception and memory.
Adam Style, a postdoc from Dartmut College’s psychology department and a co-author of the study, explained that the “retinotopic code” is utilized as a means of reading and recording visual information in and from memory systems. Furthermore, he noted that activating one of the two brain areas associated with perception and memory leads to a decrease in the activity of the other, indicating the central role of the retinotopic code in facilitating communication between neural systems in the brain.
In addition to visual data, this study suggests that the brain also utilizes semantic and language information when encoding memories. However, Style acknowledged that different systems may be at play, as individuals who are blind from birth still possess rich experiences in memory despite lacking visual input. Variations in memory processing may also be observed in individuals with photographic memory, autism, and as people age.
Furthermore, Style pointed out that the brain regions where negative visual coding is observed overlap with areas impacted by Alzheimer’s disease. This suggests that this newfound understanding of memory encoding could potentially be leveraged for the treatment of memory-related disorders in the future.