Exercise influences episodic memory via changes in hippocampal neurocircuitry and long‐term potentiation

The ability to learn, store and recapture information about unique personal experiences is referred to as episodic memory and is sustained by a network of brain areas that are nestled within the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and associated networks. Human and animal data demonstrate that these structural components are influential in the organization and processing of incoming information. Strengthening the cellular and neural communication within the aforementioned components of the brain, called long‐term potentiation (LTP), is considered a driving force underscoring the ability to recapture information about unique personal experiences. This process can be enhanced by exercise, thus facilitating improvements in episodic memory. This narrative review discusses the interrelationships (and underlying mechanisms) between exercise, LTP and episodic memory. Long‐term potentiation may play an important role in episodic memory function. Here, we discuss the role through which long‐term potentiation may mediate the effects of exercise on episodic memory.