The cerebellum coordinates the brain network essential for social recognition memory, US researchers have learned.
This cognitive process enables people to remember and recognise others, particularly those who they have met before.
Social recognition can be impaired after brain injury or neurodegenerative disease, with survivors struggling to identify family members after a stroke, for example.
The new University of Minnesota Medical School research is published in the journal, Nature Communications.
Yi-Mei Yang, PhD, an associate professor at the U of M Medical School, Duluth Campus, said: “Loss of recognition memory is a common symptom in neurodegenerative disorders.
“Understanding this complex brain function is a critical step that could lead to the development of targeted therapies.”
In the study, the researchers directed activity in the cerebellum in preclinical models.
They found that this area of the brain enables us to retrieve social information, activating neural pathways that control emotional responses and cognitive functions.
In future studies, the researchers will include real-time monitoring of these interactions during social recognition tasks.
Loneliness and social recognition memory
A 2019 study published in Scientific Reports explored the impact of isolation on social recognition memory.
The study followed previous search showing that loneliness has a significant impact on human health.
Previous studies had also suggested that white matter density in areas related to social cognition is negatively correlated with Loneliness Scale responses in adults.
In the 2019 study, researchers sought to test the hypothesis that social isolation impairs social recognition memory by altering cells’ ability to generate electrical impulses, also known as excitability, as well as the dialogue between the olfactory bulb and the dorsal hippocampus.
Adult mice were either grouped together or isolated for seven days.
The researchers evaluated social memory using a social recognition test.
In the isolated mice, glutamate released from the olfactory bulb increased while decreasing in the dorsal hippocampus.
But by blocking the AMPA and NMDA receptors into the olfactory bulb or activating AMPA into the dorsal hippocampus, social memory in the mice was restored.
