Some fascinating new research is helping us understand what causes the mysterious condition of amnesia. . .
This story talks about the hippocampus, a part of the brain which controls memory.
It turns out that a common cause of amnesia also prevents its victims from imagining the future, forcing them to live only in the present, researchers report in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Reading this brought to my mind some info I stumbled upon a few years ago regarding an African tribe - the Masai - who when imprisoned even for a short period of time, often die. Anthropologist and psychologists believe that this is because they do not in their culture develop any concept of the future (I know - difficult for us to comprehend!) so to find oneself confined means the confinement has no end. In effect, they die of hopelessness. This article makes me wonder if perhaps researchers might find their hippocampi underdeveloped?