Functional neuroimaging of autobiographical memory

Abstract

Autobiographical memory (AM) refers to memory for events from our own personal past. Functional neuroimaging studies of AM are important because they can investigate the neural correlates of processes that are difficult to study using laboratory stimuli, including: complex constructive processes, subjective qualities of memory retrieval, and remote memory. Three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies are presented to examine these important contributions of AM. The first study investigates the neural correlates of temporal-order memory for autobiographical events using a novel photo paradigm. Participants took photographs at many campus locations over a period of several hours, and the following day they were scanned while making temporal-order judgments to pairs of photographs from different locations. It was found that temporal-order decisions associated with recollection recruited left prefrontal (PFC) and left posterior parahippocampal cortex, whereas temporal-order decisions relying on familiarity recruited greater activity in the right PFC.The second study examines self-projection, the capacity to re-experience the personal past and to mentally infer another person's perspective. A novel camera technology was used to examine self-projection by prospectively generating dynamic visuospatial images taken from a first-person perspective. Participants were literally asked to self-project into the personal past or into the life of another person. Selfv projection of one's own past self recruited greater ventral medial PFC (mPFC), and selfprojection of another individual recruited dorsal mPFC. Activity in ventral vs. dorsal mPFC was also sensitive to the ability to relive or understand the perspective taken on each trial. Further, task-related functional connectivity analysis revealed that ventral mPFC contributed to the medial temporal lobe network linked to memory processes, whereas dorsal mPFC contributed to the frontoparietal network linked to controlled processes.The third study focuses on the neural correlates underlying age-related differences in the recall of episodically rich AMs. Age-related attenuation in the episodic richness of AM was linked to reductions in activity elicited during elaboration.Age effects on AM were more pronounced during elaboration than search, with older adults showing less sustained recruitment of the hippocampus and ventrolateral PFC for less episodically rich AMs. Further, there was an age-related reduction in the top-down modulation of the PFC on the hippocampus by episodic richness, possibly reflecting fewer controlled processes operating on the recovery of information in the hippocampus.Ultimately, the goal of all memory research is to understand how memory operates in the real-world; the present research highlights the important contribution of functional neuroimaging studies of AM in attaining this goal.vi

Episodic autobiographical memory in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: What are the neural correlates?

“…Consistent with this view, neuroimaging studies of ABM have highlighted the involvement of a large core brain network, involving the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, the medial and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, the precuneus, the retrosplenial/posterior cingulate cortex, the lateral temporal cortex and the temporo-parietal junction (Cabeza and St Jacques, 2007;Maguire, 2001;Schacter et al, 2007;Svoboda et al, 2006). Additionally, areas involved in sensory-perceptual (occipital) and emotional (amygdala) processes are also recruited during ABM retrieval (Cabeza and St Jacques, 2007;Svoboda et al, 2006). According to Schacter et al (2007), this autobiographical core brain network allows the retrieval of episodic Bastin et al 4 memories and the flexible recombination of these memories to simulate future events.…”

“…The constructive view of episodic ABM retrieval is based on a dynamic model in which the brain regions of the core network interact to bring back to mind the memory of a specific episode (Cabeza and St Jacques, 2007;Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000). Thus, the retrieval of episodic ABMs depends on effortful search processes (mediated by lateral prefrontal cortices) through semantic knowledge (supported by the lateral temporal cortices) in order to generate cues that will lead to vivid mental imagery of reactivated sensory-perceptual event-specific details (mainly in occipital regions and the precuneus).…”

“…We expected that the ability to retrieve episodic ABMs would be related to the level of activity of regions within the core network. The specific region involved should provide information about the constructive process the functional integrity of which is related to the ability to access event-specific details in aMCI: attention to memory search, selection of semantic knowledge, cue specification, self-referential processes or reactivation of sensory-perceptual details (Cabeza and St Jacques, 2007;Ciaramelli et al, 2008;Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000). Bastin et al 7 Methods…”

Gender and creativity: an overview of psychological and neuroscientific literature

“…When generally engaged in divergent thinking (creative or non-creative), men more strongly activated regions like the hippocampal formation, amygdala, inferior frontal gyrus and retrosplenial cortex, which are involved in autobiographical, episodic, semantic and spatial memory (Binder, Desai, Graves, & Conant, 2009;Cabeza & St Jacques, 2007;Spiers & Maguire, 2007). In contrast, regions like the medial prefrontal cortices, posterior cingulate, temporoparietal junction and temporal poles, which were more strongly engaged in women, are implicated during self-referential processing and mental state reasoning (Frith & Frith, 2006;Northoff et al, 2006;Saxe, Carey, & Kanwisher, 2004).…”

Regret as autobiographical memory

“…Thinking forwards and backwards in time engages similar cognitive processes and may even recruit similar neural substrates (Atance & O"Neill, 2001;Buckner & Carroll, 2007;Cabeza & St Jacques, 2007;Okuda et al, 2003;Schacter & Addis, 2007;Wheeler et al, 1997). D"Argembeau and Van der Linden (2004) found many perceptual and affective attributes were shared by specific past and future events elicited by wordcues.…”