IUBio

Human memory

Bill Skaggs skaggs at bns.pitt.edu
Fri Feb 18 12:27:32 EST 2000


Frederick Giasson <fred at decatomb.com> writes:

>     If you remove the part of the brain where the visualisation is done
> ( in the back of the skull ), this person will be able to remember his
> picture, the picture of his mother, etc??? ( this experience is do to
> know if the memory is located in each part of sens brain part ( Visual
> memory ( images, etc ) in the visualisation part of the brain, touch
> memory with the touch recognizition part of the brain, etc, etc ).)

The answer is complicated.  The so-called "primary visual cortex" is a
small area at the back of the brain, but the area involved in visual
processing is much larger, probably amounting to nearly half of the
neocortex in humans.  It is not yet clear which parts of this total
area are necessary for visualizing something.  Some people, such as
Steve Kosslyn, believe (if I remember correctly) that imagination
involves the entire visual cortex including the primary part (V1), but
as far as I know the question is not yet decided.  Almost everybody
believes that visual imagination, and visual memory recall, involve
activity in visual parts of the brain; the only question is which
visual parts are the necessary ones.

	-- Bill




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