In a new study published in Nature Communications it was found how one’s collective memories on social media may be used to map out a multidimensional topography of memory, allowing for the exploration of memory.
Researchers recruited 23 participants for their study, instructing them to use an app to record short videos each day. Then, researchers performed MRI brain scans as the participants watched replays of their own recorded memories.
“We recruited 23 users of a video diary app, who had recorded 9266 daily memory videos spanning up to 7 years. During a 3 T fMRI scan, participants viewed 300 of their memory videos intermixed with 300 from another individual,” according to the study’s authors.
“We find that memory features are tightly interrelated, highlighting the need to test them in conjunction, and discover a multidimensional topography in medial parietal cortex, with subregions sensitive to a memory’s age, strength, and the familiarity of the people and places involved.”
The study was published on October 31, 2022.