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Subiculum: parts and functions of this brain structure

Subiculum: parts and functions of this brain structure

March 19, 2024

The hippocampus is one of the oldest parts of the brain; It is believed to have been functioning in our ancestors for hundreds of millions of years. It is a biological structure known to be very involved in the functioning of memory. Our own individual identity, as well as our ability to learn, depends on it.

The hippocampal formation, which is the region formed by the hippocampus and a series of adjoining structures, is not functionally homogeneous; It has several parts that deal with different things. The sub-unit is one of them , and has a very special role in the functioning of memory, as has recently been discovered.


  • Related article: "Parts of the human brain (and functions)"

What is the subiculum?

The sub-script is a part of the brain located at the bottom of the hippocampal formation , there being one of the latter in each of the cerebral hemispheres. It is formed mainly by gray matter, since in this anatomical region the somas of neurons that are connected with neural structures such as the amygdala or the hypothalamus are grouped.

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Its functions

Although not much is yet known about the exact functioning of the subscript, in general it is associated with two functions: memory processing itself memory system which involves different parts of the brain, and the processing of spatial information and movement, relative to the space that objects occupy at a given time. In addition, it is believed that it has an important role in epilepsy crises.


Your memory performance

Until a few years ago, it was believed that human memory worked in the following way. When experiencing an experience, a representation of this is "recorded" by the networks of neurons that form the hippocampus. This brain structure would be responsible for making possible the processing by short-term memory of this experience; that is, when we remembered that information minutes, hours or a few days after having memorized it, the hippocampus would be the brain part that retrieves the data .

However, over time that memory goes from short-term memory to long-term memory, and with this transition would also come a "migration" of the data stored in the brain: they would go from the hippocampus to other parts of the brain, distributed between the frontal lobes, the temporal and parietal lobes of each hemisphere.


However, a few years ago it was discovered that this is not how memory works, and that the subiculum has a very important role in it.

  • Related article: "Types of memory: how memory stores the human brain?"

The subicle as a short-term memory store

As shown by recent studies carried out with techniques to illuminate in real time the most activated parts of the brain in each moment, when we live a new experience, his memory goes from the hippocampus to two parts of the brain. It is "archived" in two copies that work in parallel, with a relative independence from each other. The short-term memory is stored in the sub-script , and the long-term memory remains in the cortex of the frontal lobe, but remains "deactivated", latent.

At the beginning, it is the copy of the memory stored in the subiculum that makes us able to evoke those experiences shortly after having lived them. However, as the days go by, this copy disappears, and the memory stored in the frontal part of the cerebral cortex begins to activate.

So, this process establishes that the operation of the processing of memories follows two different routes , instead of following a sequence in which the memory physically travels from one particular place of the brain to another. There is a part of the memory that remains silent and that only manifests itself if certain conditions are met.

Parts of the sub-section

The subiculum It can be divided into several structures . They are the following.

1. Presumptuous

This is the area through which the information coming from the hippocampus enters. Is linked to memory and to the processing of movements .

2. Postsubject

This part of the sub-article contains neurons responsible for the face being focused in a certain direction , allowing its location to correspond to certain objectives.

3. Parasublic

This part of the brain contains network cells, which are neurons that activate when we perceive certain movements and register them as such.

4. Prosubiculum

Little is known about this region, although it has been seen that it may have a role in the appearance of anosognosia in cases of Alzheimer's disease . In addition, in this area of ​​the brain neurons are somewhat smaller and are distributed in a more compact and dense formation than in most other similar regions.


2-Minute Neuroscience: The Hippocampus (March 2024).


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