The Journal of Neuroscience, 0000, 20:RC108:1-5
RAPID COMMUNICATION
Left Anterior Prefrontal Activation Increases with
Demands to Recall Specific Perceptual Information
Charan
Ranganath1,
Marcia K.
Johnson2, and
Mark
D'Esposito1
1 Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and Department of
Psychology University of California, Berkeley, California, and
2 Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven,
Connecticut
Results from neuroimaging studies have led to competing theories
regarding the contributions of prefrontal regions to memory formation
and retrieval. To investigate this issue, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess prefrontal activation during encoding and retrieval of pictures of objects. Responses to
studied and unstudied objects at retrieval were compared between two
tests with differing demands for the specificity of information to be
retrieved (source vs old-new recognition). Results showed that
bilateral ventral [Brodmann's areas (BA) 44, 45, and 47] and right
dorsal (BA 9) prefrontal regions were activated during both encoding
and retrieval, but activity in these regions was not reliably modulated
by the specificity of information to be retrieved. A region in left
anterior prefrontal cortex (BA 10/46) was reliably activated during
retrieval trials, and activation in this region increased with demands
to retrieve perceptually detailed information about studied objects.
Our results show that left anterior prefrontal cortex is engaged during
the monitoring and evaluation of specific memory characteristics at
retrieval
a process critical for accurate episodic remembering.
Key words:
prefrontal cortex; frontal lobes; episodic memory; source
monitoring; event-related fMRI; neuroimaging
Copyright © 0000 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/00/$05.00/0
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