New MIT Model Reveals How the Brain Encodes Both Spatial and Episodic Memories
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new computational model that explains how neurons involved in spatial navigation also play a crucial role in storing episodic memories. This discovery provides fresh insights into a long-standing mystery of neuroscience.
Nearly 50 years ago, scientists identified “place cells” in the brain’s hippocampus, which store memories of specific locations. These cells are also known to contribute to the encoding of episodic memories—recollections of past events. However, the exact mechanism by which place cells facilitate episodic memory storage has remained unclear.
The new MIT model demonstrates that place cells, along with grid cells found in the entorhinal cortex, create a neural scaffold that enables memories to be stored as linked sequences, even in the absence of spatial information.
“This model serves as a foundational framework for understanding the entorhinal-hippocampal episodic memory circuit. It’s an exciting step toward uncovering the nature of episodic memory,” says Ila Fiete, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT and a senior author of the study. Fiete is also a member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research.
The model replicates key characteristics of biological memory systems, including large storage capacity, gradual fading of older memories, and the ability to retain vast amounts of information—similar to techniques used by memory competition participants, such as constructing "memory palaces."
The study, published in Nature, was led by MIT Research Scientist Sarthak Chandra and Sugandha Sharma, PhD ’24. Rishidev Chaudhuri, an assistant professor at the University of California, Davis, also contributed as a co-author.
For more details, visit MIT’s official website.
