According to the researchers, even if the main brain structures like hippocampus are damaged, the working memory can remain intact. According to previous research, the spatial information involves the hippocampus and other regions associated with memory, especially if it's linked to other kinds of information.

The latest research, which was done by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine disproves this theory.

The leader of the team of researchers was Larry R. Squire, PhD, who is a scientist at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and a professor of psychology, psychiatry and neurosciences at UC San Diego.

Long-term memory involves the storage of potentially infinite amount of information for an infinite period of time whereas working memory is the mental ability to hold small items of information in an accessible state for a short time.

It can be a few seconds or a few minutes. The research was conducted on four patients, who were suffering from memory problems due the damage inflicted on medial temporal lobes (MTL).

Mr. Squire said that even in the area of spatial-object associations and information, there is a strong evidence for a primary difference in the brain between long-term and working memory.