Hippocampus - a question

[Ron Blue]

On Thu, 7 Nov 1996, Michelle Lim wrote:
> Hi there. I'm new to this newsgroup so please bare with my simplicity. I
> have a very basic question that I would like to put forth and perhaps
> get some answers. Comparatively speaking, the rat has a larger
> hippocampus than us humans - am I right in saying this? If so, why? No
> offence to the rat but you would think that humans would have a larger
> hippocampus, not only because we are relatively much larger but do we
> not have "more" memories to save? 
> 
> Michelle
A question I would not have normally thought about.  Hummm...
Rats main sensory imperative is probably olifaction.  Humans are low
on this one.  Hippocampus is probably a mechanism for "working memory"
a special type of short term memory.  The hippocampus is close
to the olifactory lobe this might be the reason for the relationship.
Ron Blue