Which part of the brain is most associated with forming new episodic memories?

The hippocampus, in the medial temporal lobe, is one of the brain structures most closely linked to forming new episodic memories—memories of events, places, and experiences. It does not store every memory on its own, but it helps encode and organize them for later retrieval. This role became especially clear through classic neurological cases, including the patient H.M., who had severe anterograde amnesia after surgery in 1953 that removed parts of the medial temporal lobe. Modern neuroscience shows the hippocampus also helps with spatial navigation and memory consolidation. In adults, it is one of the best-known examples of a brain region where injury can selectively disrupt memory formation.