Definition
The name hippocampus comes from Latin and means translated seahorse. The hippocampus as one of the most important structures of the human brain bears this name in reference to its seahorse-like form. It is part of the telencephalon and is found once in each half of the brain.
Anatomy
The name hippocampus comes from Latin and means translated seahorse. The hippocampus as one of the most important structures of the human brain bears this name in reference to its seahorse-like form. It is part of the telencephalon and is found once in each half of the brain.
The telencephalon, also called the end brain, is the largest of the five brain segments. As part of the central nervous system, the human brain is usually divided into the following sections: endbrain, diencephalon, midbrain/mesencephalon, hindbrain/metencephalon and afterbrain/myeloncephalon. The endbrain is again divided into about five different lobes.
In the temporal lobes (temporal lobes) of both hemispheres, the hippocampi are located at the bottom of the fluid-filled lateral ventricles. If one imagines a horizontal cut at eye level, they appear as a curled structure on the lower cut surface. The hippocampus is also further divided: Gyrus dentatus, cornu ammonis/ammonshorn and subiculum together form the Formatio hippocampi, a functional unit.
Similar to the cerebral cortex, the hippocampus also consists of a layering of nerve cells. Information from the sensory organs arrives at the dentate gyrus, is selected in the hippocampus, transmitted via the subicle and subdivided. In addition, the hippocampus receives and transmits signals from and to other brain regions. Frontal lobe = red (frontal lobe, frontal lobe) Parietal lobe = blue (parietal lobe, parietal lobe) Occipital lobe = green (occiptital lobe, occipital lobe) Temporal lobe = yellow (temporal lobe, temporal lobe)
Function of the hippocampus
The hippocampus represented the functional interface between human short-term and long-term memory. The consciousness continuously perceives an enormous amount of information from the environment with the help of the sensory organs. This information is passed on to the central nervous system, where it passes from the cerebral cortex via the entorhinal cortex into the hippocampus.
After processing the contents, they reach the other hippocampus and other structures of the limbic system, to which emotional and compulsive behavior is attributed. The collected impressions and information are not stored in the hippocampus, but are first selected and compared with impressions already experienced. In this way, the hippocampus acts as a coordinating “middleman” between new information and what is already known.
It shapes human memory by transferring content from short-term to long-term memory. Existing information is compared and modified if there is a variance. If it is a matter of repeatedly perceived or similar impressions, these are increasingly solidified in the memory.
Their relevance increases. But not only factual information is processed in the hippocampus, but also emotional information. The emotional sensation is intensified together with other structures of the limbic system. The structure of the hippocampus is subject to plastic changes. New connections between the individual nerve cells can thus ensure a faster transfer of information into long-term memory.
