Right Amygdalar and Temporofrontal Activation During Autobiographic, But Not During Fictitious Memory Retrieval
What distinguishes the recall of real-life experiences from that of self-created, fictitious emotionally laden information? Both kinds of information belong to the episodic memory system. Autobiographic memories constitute that part of the episodic memory system that is composed of significant life...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2000-01-01
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| Series: | Behavioural Neurology |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2000/303651 |
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| author | Hans J. Markowitsch Alexander Thiel Mechthild Reinkemeier Josef Kessler Adem Koyuncu Wolf-Dieter Heiss |
| author_facet | Hans J. Markowitsch Alexander Thiel Mechthild Reinkemeier Josef Kessler Adem Koyuncu Wolf-Dieter Heiss |
| author_sort | Hans J. Markowitsch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | What distinguishes the recall of real-life experiences from that of self-created, fictitious emotionally laden information? Both kinds of information belong to the episodic memory system. Autobiographic memories constitute that part of the episodic memory system that is composed of significant life episodes, primarily of the distant past. Functional imaging was used to study the neural networks engaged in retrieving autobiographic and fictitious information of closely similar content. The principally activated brain regions overlapped considerably and constituted temporal and inferior prefrontal regions plus the cerebellum. Selective activations of the right amygdala and the right ventral prefrontal cortex (at the level of the uncinate fascicle interconnnecting prefrontal and temporopolar areas) were found when subtracting fictitious from autobiographic retrieval. Furthermore, distinct foci in the left temporal lobe were engaged. These data demonstrate that autobiographic memory retrieval uses (at least in non-brain damaged individuals) a network of right hemispheric ventral prefrontal and temporopolar regions and left hemispheric lateral temporal regions. It is concluded that it is the experiential character, its special emotional infiltration and its arousal which distinguishes memory of real-life from that of fictitious episodes. Consequently, our results point to the engagement of a bi-hemispheric network in which the right temporo-prefrontal hemisphere is likely to be responsible for the affective/arousal side of information retrieval and the left-hemispheric temporal gyrus for its engram-like representation. Portions of the neural activation found during retrieval might, however, reflect re-encoding processes as well. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-299b7e97d6714403a3944d478231b84c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0953-4180 1875-8584 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2000-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Behavioural Neurology |
| spelling | doaj-art-299b7e97d6714403a3944d478231b84c2025-02-03T05:51:09ZengWileyBehavioural Neurology0953-41801875-85842000-01-0112418119010.1155/2000/303651Right Amygdalar and Temporofrontal Activation During Autobiographic, But Not During Fictitious Memory RetrievalHans J. Markowitsch0Alexander Thiel1Mechthild Reinkemeier2Josef Kessler3Adem Koyuncu4Wolf-Dieter Heiss5Physiological Psychology, University of Bielefeld, D-33501 Bielefeld, GermanyClinic of Neurology, University of Cologne, Cologne, GermanyPhysiological Psychology, University of Bielefeld, D-33501 Bielefeld, GermanyMax-Planck-Institute for Neurological Research, Cologne, GermanyMax-Planck-Institute for Neurological Research, Cologne, GermanyClinic of Neurology, University of Cologne, Cologne, GermanyWhat distinguishes the recall of real-life experiences from that of self-created, fictitious emotionally laden information? Both kinds of information belong to the episodic memory system. Autobiographic memories constitute that part of the episodic memory system that is composed of significant life episodes, primarily of the distant past. Functional imaging was used to study the neural networks engaged in retrieving autobiographic and fictitious information of closely similar content. The principally activated brain regions overlapped considerably and constituted temporal and inferior prefrontal regions plus the cerebellum. Selective activations of the right amygdala and the right ventral prefrontal cortex (at the level of the uncinate fascicle interconnnecting prefrontal and temporopolar areas) were found when subtracting fictitious from autobiographic retrieval. Furthermore, distinct foci in the left temporal lobe were engaged. These data demonstrate that autobiographic memory retrieval uses (at least in non-brain damaged individuals) a network of right hemispheric ventral prefrontal and temporopolar regions and left hemispheric lateral temporal regions. It is concluded that it is the experiential character, its special emotional infiltration and its arousal which distinguishes memory of real-life from that of fictitious episodes. Consequently, our results point to the engagement of a bi-hemispheric network in which the right temporo-prefrontal hemisphere is likely to be responsible for the affective/arousal side of information retrieval and the left-hemispheric temporal gyrus for its engram-like representation. Portions of the neural activation found during retrieval might, however, reflect re-encoding processes as well.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2000/303651 |
| spellingShingle | Hans J. Markowitsch Alexander Thiel Mechthild Reinkemeier Josef Kessler Adem Koyuncu Wolf-Dieter Heiss Right Amygdalar and Temporofrontal Activation During Autobiographic, But Not During Fictitious Memory Retrieval Behavioural Neurology |
| title | Right Amygdalar and Temporofrontal Activation During Autobiographic, But Not During Fictitious Memory Retrieval |
| title_full | Right Amygdalar and Temporofrontal Activation During Autobiographic, But Not During Fictitious Memory Retrieval |
| title_fullStr | Right Amygdalar and Temporofrontal Activation During Autobiographic, But Not During Fictitious Memory Retrieval |
| title_full_unstemmed | Right Amygdalar and Temporofrontal Activation During Autobiographic, But Not During Fictitious Memory Retrieval |
| title_short | Right Amygdalar and Temporofrontal Activation During Autobiographic, But Not During Fictitious Memory Retrieval |
| title_sort | right amygdalar and temporofrontal activation during autobiographic but not during fictitious memory retrieval |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2000/303651 |
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