The hippocampi are two cute little seahorse-shaped parts of the brain responsible for creating and maintaining memory. When the amygdala gets activated during a major stress event, it sends signals to the hippocampus that disrupt its ability to knit together neurons, essentially making it more difficult for the brain to create both short-term and long-term memories. On brain scans of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the hippocampi are badly damaged. Knowing that, it’s pretty obvious why this part of the brain is so critical to learning, and it’s easy to see how kids with quick-trigger
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