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The Journal of Neuroscience, July 8, 2009, 29(27):8698-8703; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5270-08.2009

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Brief Communications
Individual Differences in True and False Memory Retrieval Are Related to White Matter Brain Microstructure

Lluís Fuentemilla,^1 * Estela Càmara,^1,2 * Thomas F. Münte,^2,3 Ulrike M. Krämer,² Toni Cunillera,¹ Josep Marco-Pallarés,² Claus Tempelmann,⁴ and Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells^1,5

¹Departament de Ciències Fisiològiques II, University of Barcelona, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge, 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), Spain, ²Department of Neuropsychology, ³Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, and ⁴Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany, and ⁵Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, 08010 Barcelona, Spain

Correspondence should be addressed to Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells, Departament de Ciències Fisiològiques II, Campus de Bellvitge, University of Barcelona, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge, Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), Spain. Email: antoni.rodriguez{at}icrea.es

We sometimes vividly remember things that did not happen, a phenomenon with general relevance, not only in the courtroom. It is unclear to what extent individual differences in false memories are driven by anatomical differences in memory-relevant brain regions. Here we show in humans that microstructural properties of different white matter tracts as quantified using diffusion tensor imaging are strongly correlated with true and false memory retrieval. To investigate these hypotheses, we tested a large group of participants in a version of the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm (recall and recognition) and subsequently obtained diffusion tensor images. A voxel-based whole-brain level linear regression analysis was performed to relate fractional anisotropy to indices of true and false memory recall and recognition. True memory was correlated to diffusion anisotropy in the inferior longitudinal fascicle, the major connective pathway of the medial temporal lobe, whereas a greater proneness to retrieve false items was related to the superior longitudinal fascicle connecting frontoparietal structures. Our results show that individual differences in white matter microstructure underlie true and false memory performance.

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Received Nov. 1, 2008; revised May 18, 2009; accepted May 22, 2009.

Correspondence should be addressed to Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells, Departament de Ciències Fisiològiques II, Campus de Bellvitge, University of Barcelona, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge, Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), Spain. Email: antoni.rodriguez{at}icrea.es

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Rodriguez-Fornells, T. Cunillera, A. Mestres-Misse, and R. de Diego-Balaguer Neurophysiological mechanisms involved in language learning in adults Phil Trans R Soc B, December 27, 2009; 364(1536): 3711 - 3735. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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