Suparjya Swain 
BHUBANESWAR: A groundbreaking study from the University of Birmingham, UK, has revealed a surprising connection between muscle memory and the hippocampus, a brain region traditionally associated with episodic memory, or the recall of past events. This discovery challenges conventional understanding, which has long tied muscle memory to the brain’s motor areas.
What is Muscle Memory?
Muscle memory refers to the ability to perform physical tasks automatically, with minimal conscious effort, after extensive practice. This phenomenon is crucial not only for honing skills in fields like music and sports but also for regaining lost muscle mass and recovering from injuries during physical training. Until now, researchers primarily linked this automatic movement capability to the brain’s basal ganglia and cerebellum, both responsible for coordinating motor functions.
The Study’s Surprising Findings
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Birmingham, observed non-professional keyboard players as they performed well-practiced finger sequences. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans revealed increased activity in the hippocampus during these tasks, rather than in the brain’s traditional motor areas.
Researchers found that the hippocampus was responsible for carrying the sequence information needed to predict finger movements—essentially anticipating whether a person would type “fears” or “fares” next. This suggests that the hippocampus plays a more significant role in skilled action sequences than previously thought.
Senior researcher Katja Kornysheva, an associate professor in human neuroscience, explained the significance of these findings:
“This result is interesting because it shows that the brain systems for episodic and procedural memory work together more than we thought. This is especially true when we need to remain flexible and switch between learned sequences, for example when typing on a computer keyboard or playing music with others.”
Implications for Rehabilitation and Future Research
The discovery opens new doors for the treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders that affect movement. If the hippocampus contributes to skilled action sequences, future therapies may be developed to improve both motor skills and cognitive functions by leveraging this interplay between different brain systems.
The study’s authors emphasize the need for future research into how various memory systems in the brain interact. The results could inspire new approaches to rehabilitation, particularly in conditions where movement and memory impairments are both present.
