Scene complexity: influence on perception, memory, and development in the medial temporal lobe

Regions in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) are involved in memory formation for scenes in both children and adults. The development in children and adolescents of successful memory encoding for scenes has been associated with increased activation in PFC, but not MTL, regio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inFrontiers in human neuroscience Vol. 4; p. 21
Main Authors Chai, Xiaoqian J, Ofen, Noa, Jacobs, Lucia F, Gabrieli, John D E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 2010
Frontiers Media S.A
Subjects
Adolescents
Adults
Age
Brain research
Child development
Children
cognitive development
Conflicts of interest
Cortex (temporal)
declarative memory
fMRI
Hypotheses
Medical imaging
Memory
Neuroscience
Parahippocampal gyrus
Perception
Prefrontal cortex
Temporal lobe
Visual complexity
United States > US
cognitive development
fMRI
parahippocampal gyrus
visual scenes
declarative memory
perception
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Regions in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) are involved in memory formation for scenes in both children and adults. The development in children and adolescents of successful memory encoding for scenes has been associated with increased activation in PFC, but not MTL, regions. However, evidence suggests that a functional subregion of the MTL that supports scene perception, located in the parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), goes through a prolonged maturation process. Here we tested the hypothesis that maturation of scene perception supports the development of memory for complex scenes. Scenes were characterized by their levels of complexity defined by the number of unique object categories depicted in the scene. Recognition memory improved with age, in participants ages 8-24, for high-, but not low-, complexity scenes. High-complexity compared to low-complexity scenes activated a network of regions including the posterior PHG. The difference in activations for high- versus low-complexity scenes increased with age in the right posterior PHG. Finally, activations in right posterior PHG were associated with age-related increases in successful memory formation for high-, but not low-, complexity scenes. These results suggest that functional maturation of the right posterior PHG plays a critical role in the development of enduring long-term recollection for high-complexity scenes.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Xiaoqian J. Chai and Noa Ofen contributed equally to the paper.
Edited by: Silvia A. Bunge, University of California Berkeley, USA
Reviewed by: Simona Ghetti, University of California, USA; Amanda Guyer, University of California, USA
ISSN:1662-5161
1662-5161
DOI:10.3389/fnhum.2010.00021