While it has always been thought that memory is part of the cognitive processes, people had bee also thinking that it could be related to organic functions of the brain. An experiment on zebra flinches revealed that their brains reacted differently when they heard an unfamiliar song. Moreover, they also saw an unusual pattern of gene activity when the unfamiliar song was played.

This suggests that memories could also be hereditary and evolutionary in nature. Though people now have begun to lay importance on the socio-environmental factors, this particular study reveals that there is still a lot of activity that goes on in the brain but is not given due importance.

Further research could help in the development of treatments for memory related disorders like Amnesia and others. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois, headed by David Clayton, professor of developmental biology.

Via: Physorg