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Scientists find area of brain that remembers location WASHINGTON (February 26, 1998 4:01 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - It is done unconsciously, but when analyzed is an amazing feat. Just how do people remember where something is once they stop looking at it? It turns out humans have a separate region in the brain used specifically for remembering the position of objects, researchers said Thursday. "Spatial working memory is used when you are driving in your car and glance in the mirror to see the cars behind you, but you still know where the cars are in front of you," said Dr. Susan Courtney, who led the study at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). It is a complex skill, but Courtney and colleagues reported in the journal Science that they had found the part of the brain that takes care of this ability. Discovery of the area, which is about the size of a penny and located above the eyes, will also help scientists better understand mental illness and aid in the treatment of various brain injuries. "At a very basic level it helps us understand the human brain," said Dr. Leslie Ungerleider, a neuroscientist at the NIMH in Bethesda, Maryland. "It helps to understand syndromes produced in patients with various types of brain damage." The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to see what part of the brain was stimulated when spatial working memory was used. To determine where spatial working memory existed, 11 volunteers were monitored as they recalled the description and location of a face that had been flashed on a screen. "There was a puzzle here," Ungerleider said in a telephone interview. "We would like to understand the functional anatomy of various cognitive abilities, one of which is spatial working memory." Courtney said one reason why the region had been difficult for scientists to identify was its location. "It seems like it's been pushed up and back from where people expected to see it," she said. This might be due to several factors, including the evolution and expansion of the human brain. Dr. Jonathan Cohen, a neuroscientist at Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, said pinpointing the region was a step toward answering questions of how information is organized in more generalized working memory. "It is important to know that there are areas for specific information," Cohen said. He added that the study was also an indication of improvements in technology, which are allowing for more detailed research into the human brain. "This is a recent example of how quickly the technology is evolving and how it is put to good use," he said. By MICHAEL KAHN, Reuters Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 Reuters News Service janet paterson 50-9 / sinemet-selegiline-prozac almonte-ontario-canada / [log in to unmask]