AUTHOR=Kalamangalam Giridhar P. , Ellmore Timothy M. 

TITLE=Focal cortical thickness correlates of exceptional memory training in Vedic priests

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2014

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00833

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2014.00833

ISSN=1662-5161

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 auditory semantic 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 the dominant prefrontal lobe and non-dominant 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.