The hippocampus is primarily associated with forming new episodic memories in the human brain.
The hippocampus is a seahorse-shaped structure located in the medial temporal lobe of each cerebral hemisphere. The name comes from the Greek words for “horse” and “sea monster,” reflecting its shape as seen by early anatomists.
It is especially important for encoding and organizing new declarative memories, including memories of events and places. The hippocampus also contributes to spatial navigation. It does not simply serve as a permanent storage cabinet for every memory; long-term memories become distributed across wider cortical networks, while the hippocampus helps establish and retrieve many of them.
The classic case of patient H.M., whose hippocampal regions were removed in 1953 to treat severe epilepsy, strongly influenced modern memory science. After surgery, he could learn some motor skills but had profound difficulty forming new conscious memories. This distinction helped show that memory is not a single ability and that the hippocampus has a specialized role.