Dissociable Human Perirhinal, Hippocampal, and Parahippocampal Roles during Verbal Encoding

• Published in: The Journal of neuroscience Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 523 - 528
• Main Authors: Strange, B. A, Otten, L. J, Josephs, O, Rugg, M. D, Dolan, R. J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Soc Neuroscience 15.01.2002; Society for Neuroscience
• Subjects: Adult; Behavior - physiology; Brain Mapping - methods; Female; Hippocampus - anatomy & histology; Hippocampus - physiology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Memory - physiology; Mental Recall - physiology; Parahippocampal Gyrus - anatomy & histology; Parahippocampal Gyrus - physiology; Photic Stimulation - methods; Temporal Lobe - anatomy & histology; Temporal Lobe - physiology; Verbal Behavior - physiology
• ISSN: 0270-6474; 1529-2401
• DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.22-02-00523.2002

The precise contribution of perirhinal cortex to human episodic memory is uncertain. Human intracranial recordings highlight a role in successful episodic memory encoding, but encoding-related perirhinal activation has not been observed with functional imaging. By adapting functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning parameters to maximize sensitivity to medial temporal lobe activity, we demonstrate that left perirhinal and hippocampal responses during word list encoding are greater for subsequently recalled than forgotten words. Although perirhinal responses predict memory for all words, successful encoding of initial words in a list, demonstrating a primacy effect, is associated with parahippocampal and anterior hippocampal activation. We conclude that perirhinal cortex and hippocampus participate in successful memory encoding. Encoding-related parahippocampal and anterior hippocampal responses for initial, remembered words most likely reflects enhanced attentional orienting to these positionally distinctive items.