20 years after “The ontogeny of human memory: A cognitive neuroscience perspective,” where are we?

Abstract

In 1995, Nelson published a paper describing a model of memory development during the first years of life. The current article seeks to provide an update on the original work published 20 years ago. Specifically, we review our current knowledge on the relation between the emergence of explicit memory functions throughout development and the maturation of associated brain regions. It is now well established that the brain regions subserving explicit memory functions (i.e. the hippocampal formation) are far from mature at birth, and exhibit important and gradual structural changes during childhood and beyond. Accordingly, explicit memory functions develop progressively. While some functions are present shortly after birth (formerly proposed as pre-explicit memory), others exhibit protracted developmental profiles during the first years of life. We examine the link between the emergence of different memory functions and the maturation of specific hippocampal circuits.

Commentary

“…Yet, development of memory for object/place associations occurred later in early adolescence. This developmental patterns of spatial relational memory support the notion developed by Jabès and Nelson (2015), and following their suggestion may reflect a progressive development first of the CA1 field of the hippocampus followed by maturation the CA3 and dentate gyrus later on. Interestingly, significant increases in CA3/DG volumes were recently demonstrated in humans from childhood to early adolescence and these volumetric changes were positively correlated with memory performance (Lee, Ekstrom, & Ghetti, 2014).…”

“…In their review, Jabès and Nelson (2015) showed that relational memory has a more protracted development than recognition memory. They suggest that more basic relational memory skills (i.e.…”

“…At the time, the author proposed that this progressive postnatal maturation of declarative memory processes reflected the progressive development of the hippocampus and its connectional system with medial temporal lobe cortical areas as well as the prefrontal cortex. In light of critical observations on the anatomical and functional organization of the different components of the hippocampal system as well as of the flow of information coursing through this system during the last 20 years (Lavenex & Amaral, 2000), in the present review Jabès and Nelson (2015) reexamine recent results on the ontogeny of declarative memory processes and attempt to link the progressive maturation of these different processes to progressive maturation of distinct elements and circuits within the hippocampal system. Despite the inherent difficulty in correlating maturation of specific hippocampal circuits with emergence of specific memory processes, the authors demonstrate that the early emergence of incidental recognition memory processes (in the first days of life) appears to be associated with an early maturation of the subiculum, whereas other relational memory processes progressively emerge during the first decade of life in humans.…”

Commentary

“…Today, beyond the hypothetical, we have concrete examples illustrating the relation between the emergence and development of memory and the development of specific brain structures. A major part of Nelson's original model focused on the role of the hippocampal formation in explicit (declarative) memory processes, and it is therefore no surprise that the updated model (Jabès & Nelson, 2015) is also heavily focused on this brain region and its functions. The hippocampus is the central part of a larger brain network supporting memory processes (Lavenex & Amaral, 2000).…”

20 years after “The ontogeny of human memory

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In our target article (Jabès & Nelson, 2015), we reviewed our current knowledge on the emergence of explicit memory functions and the maturation of the brain regions that subserve them (in contrast to Nelson's 1995 article, we restricted our review to explicit memory and did not discuss implicit memory). We stressed the importance of considering the hippocampal formation as a complex set of distinct regions and circuits, exhibiting different profiles of structural maturation throughout development.

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