Virtual reality, fMRI help ID memory areas of the brain

Neuroscientists have used virtual reality coupled with fMRI to pinpoint where and how memories are recalled, according to a study published in Nature Communications.

University of California, Davis researchers created 3D virtual reality houses using architectural sketching software and had participants view a series of videos in which they visited the various houses, Clinical Innovation+Technology reports. Different objects were placed in the virtual houses intended for participants to memorize. After watching the videos, researchers used fMRI to view the brains of participants as they were asked to recall the objects in the house.

“Being asked about the objects spontaneously reactivated contextual information,” coauthor and graduate student at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology Halle Dimsdale-Zucker said in a press release from the university. "Different regions of the hippocampus were activated for different kinds of information: One area, CA1, was associated with representing shared information about contexts (e.g., objects that were in the same video); another, distinct area was linked to representing differences in context.