title: Focal cortical thickness correlates of exceptional memory training in Vedic priests.
abstract: The capacity for semantic memory-the ability to acquire and store knowledge of the world-is highly developed in the human brain. In particular, semantic memory assimilated through an auditory route may be a uniquely human capacity. One method of obtaining neurobiological insight into memory mechanisms is through the study of experts. In this work, we study a group of Hindu Vedic priests, whose religious training requires the memorization of vast tracts of scriptural texts through an oral tradition, recalled spontaneously during a lifetime of subsequent spiritual practice. We demonstrate focal increases of cortical thickness in regions of the left prefrontal lobe and right temporal lobe in Vedic priests, in comparison to a group of matched controls. The findings are relevant to current hypotheses regarding cognitive processes underlying storage and recall of long-term declarative memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Giridhar P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Kalamangalam
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The City College of New York New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Ellmore
keywords: MRI; hemispheric encoding and retrieval asymmetry (HERA); hippocampus; prefrontal cortex; temporal lobe