The Learning Hippocampus: Education and Experience-Dependent Plasticity

The hippocampal formation of the brain plays a crucial role in declarative learning and memory while at the same time being particularly susceptible to environmental influences. Education requires a well-functioning hippocampus, but may also influence the development of this brain structure. Understanding these bidirectional influences may have important implications for the educational setting. Here, we provide an overview of the functions of the hippocampus, review evidence on how experience may shape this brain region and its functions, discuss age differences in such experience-dependent plasticity, and outline the implications of our current theoretical understanding of plasticity for the educational setting.