What goes down must come up: role of the posteromedial cortices in encoding and retrieval. Cereb Cortex 2011 Jan;21(1):22-34
Date
04/07/2010Pubmed ID
20363808Pubmed Central ID
PMC3000562DOI
10.1093/cercor/bhq051Scopus ID
2-s2.0-78651266349 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 91 CitationsAbstract
The hypothesis that the neural network supporting successful episodic memory retrieval overlaps with the regions involved in episodic encoding has garnered much interest; however, the role of the posteromedial regions remains to be fully elucidated. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies during successful encoding typically demonstrate deactivation of posteromedial cortices, whereas successful retrieval of previously encoded information has been associated with activation of these regions. Here, we performed an event-related fMRI experiment during an associative face-name encoding and retrieval task to investigate the topography and functional relationship of the brain regions involved in successful memory processes. A conjunction analysis of novel encoding and subsequent successful retrieval of names revealed an anatomical overlap in bilateral posteromedial cortices. In this region, a significant negative correlation was found: Greater deactivation during encoding was related to greater activation during successful retrieval. In contrast, the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex demonstrated positive activation during both encoding and retrieval. Our results provide further evidence that posteromedial regions constitute critical nodes in the large-scale cortical network subserving episodic memory. These results are discussed in relation to the default mode hypothesis, the involvement of posteromedial cortices in successful memory formation and retention, as well as potential implications for aging and neurodegenerative disease.
Author List
Vannini P, O'Brien J, O'Keefe K, Pihlajamäki M, Laviolette P, Sperling RAAuthor
Peter LaViolette PhD Professor in the Radiology department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdultCerebral Cortex
Female
Humans
Learning
Male
Memory
Models, Neurological
Nerve Net
Young Adult
