Distinct neural mechanisms underlie the success, precision, and vividness of episodic memory

Richter, Franziska R.; Cooper, Rose A.; Bays, Paul M.; Simons, Jon S.

doi:10.7554/elife.18260

Cited by 245 publications

(348 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…As research has demonstrated significant distinctions between the neural networks supporting subjective and objective vividness (Spaniol et al, 2009; see also Richter et al, 2016), the differences findings identified in the current study may not generalize to objective measures. Although it is plausible that participants’ vividness ratings are correlated with the amount of associative detail retrieved, it is equally possible that subjective and objective measures diverge.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…Although it is unknown how these networks may differ as a function of age, there is reason to believe that age may interact with vividness-type. Behaviorally, older adults are markedly less impaired when asked to recall internal relative to external details (see Kensinger, 2008), and during encoding they over-recruit regions associated with internal, evaluative processing (Maillet & Rajah, 2016), suggesting that they may depend on distinct cognitive and neural mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prefrontally-mediated alterations in the retrieval of negative events: Links to memory vividness across the adult lifespan

Ford

Kensinger

2017

Neuropsychologia

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Prior research has identified age-by-valence interactions in both behavior and neural recruitment; age has been associated with increased retrieval of positive relative to negative information as well as an increased tendency to recruit prefrontal regions during negative event retrieval and for this recruitment to correspond to decreased hippocampal connectivity. To date, the explicit relation between prefrontal recruitment and memory phenomenology has not been examined. The current study examined the link between these two measures by examining age-by-valence interactions in the relation between prefrontal recruitment and subjective ratings of memory vividness. Participants (ages 18–85) encoded visual images paired with verbal titles. During a scanned retrieval session, they were presented with titles and asked whether each had been seen with an image during encoding. Participants provided vividness ratings following retrieval of each image. Age was associated with greater prefrontally-mediated alterations in negative event phenomenology, with age-related increases in the relation between ventral prefrontal regions and negative event vividness and age-related decreases in the relation between dorsal prefrontal regions and negative event vividness. This analysis confirmed a critical role of PFC regions in age-by-valence interactions, where age reversed the relation between PFC recruitment and the subjective richness of retrieved memory representation. These findings are consistent with studies that reveal age-related enhancements in emotion regulation, and suggest that older adults may be engaging in these processes during retrieval of negative events.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prefrontally-mediated alterations in the retrieval of negative events: Links to memory vividness across the adult lifespan

Ford

Kensinger

2017

Neuropsychologia

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“…Notably, lesion-deficit and fMRI studies have implicated the human hippocampus [21–24] as well as parietal cortex [25, 26] in memory for precise details, suggesting that stimulation affected these HPM network locations. Indeed, changes in fMRI connectivity caused by the same stimulation parameters used here enhanced fMRI connectivity within the HPM network, particularly for hippocampus and medial aspects of parietal, occipital, and retrosplenial cortex [7].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stimulation of the Posterior Cortical-Hippocampal Network Enhances Precision of Memory Recollection

et al. 2017

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Summary Episodic memory is thought to critically depend on interaction of the hippocampus with distributed brain regions [1–3]. Specific contributions of distinct networks have been hypothesized, with the hippocampal posterior-medial (HPM) network implicated in recollection of highly precise contextual and spatial information [3–6]. Current evidence for HPM specialization is mostly indirect, derived from correlative measures such as neural activity recordings. Here, we tested the causal role of HPM in recollection using network-targeted noninvasive brain stimulation in humans, which has previously been shown to increase functional connectivity within the HPM network [7]. Effects of multiple-day electromagnetic stimulation were assessed using an object-location memory task that segregated recollection precision from general recollection success. HPM network-targeted stimulation produced lasting (~24 h) enhancement of recollection precision, without effects on general success. Canonical neural correlates of recollection [8–10] were also modulated by stimulation. Late-positive evoked potential amplitude and theta-alpha oscillatory power were reduced, suggesting that stimulation can improve memory through enhanced reactivation of detailed visuospatial information at retrieval. The HPM network was thus specifically implicated in processing of fine-grained memory detail, supporting functional specialization of hippocampal-cortical networks. These findings demonstrate that brain networks can be causally linked to distinct and specific neurocognitive functions and suggest mechanisms for long-lasting changes in memory due to network-targeted stimulation.

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“…Depressed ruminators demonstrated decreased activation in the left AG during APS. Decreased angular gyrus activity is associated with the tendency to recall categories of events when asked to generate specific instances from memory (Zhu et al, 2012); recalling vague as opposed to specific thoughts at rest (Gorgolewski et al, 2014); and retrieving memories lacking in precision (Richter et al, 2016) as well as episodic detail (Daselaar et al, 2008). Thus, we hypothesize that decreased AG activity observed in the current context reflects an inability of depressed ruminators to access and attend to the full set of details associated with the problem and generate analogue situations from memory (Berryhill, 2012; Berryhill et al, 2007; Berryhill et al, 2010; Gorgolewski et al, 2014; Spreng et al, 2015; Zhu et al, 2012) during APS.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural correlates of autobiographical problem-solving deficits associated with rumination in depression

Jones

Fournier

Stone

2017

Journal of Affective Disorders

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Background Analytical rumination can be characterized as negative thoughts focused on searching for answers to personal problems. Failure to think concretely during autobiographical problem-solving (APS) is hypothesized to drive the inability of ruminators to generate effective solutions. Clarifying the brain correlates underlying APS deficits in depressed ruminators may identify novel biological targets for treatment. Method Forty participants (22 unmedicated depressed and 18 never-depressed adults) ranging in rumination engaged in APS and negative self-referential processing (NSP) of negative trait adjectives during fMRI. We contrasted activation during APS with activation during NSP to isolate regions contributing to APS. Results Rumination was associated with having generated fewer solutions during APS and with a failure to recruit the angular gyrus (AG) and the medial frontal gyrus (MFG) during APS. Rumination was associated with greater MFG activation during NSP and stronger connectivity between the AG and the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC) during APS relative to NSP. Findings were not driven by clinical status. Limitations The use of an extreme groups approach can result in overestimation of effects sizes. Conclusions Ruminators fail to recruit regions with the default network (DN) that support APS. In particular, a failure to recruit the AG during APS may drive the abstract thinking style previously shown to explain depressed ruminator’s difficulty generating concrete solutions. Targeting this mechanism directly may reduce rumination.

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Distinct neural mechanisms underlie the success, precision, and vividness of episodic memory

Cited by 245 publications

References 55 publications

Prefrontally-mediated alterations in the retrieval of negative events: Links to memory vividness across the adult lifespan

Prefrontally-mediated alterations in the retrieval of negative events: Links to memory vividness across the adult lifespan

Stimulation of the Posterior Cortical-Hippocampal Network Enhances Precision of Memory Recollection

Neural correlates of autobiographical problem-solving deficits associated with rumination in depression

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