Building Memories: Remembering and Forgetting of Verbal Experiences as Predicted by Brain Activity

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 281; no. 5380; pp. 1188 - 1191
• Main Authors: Wagner, Anthony D., Schacter, Daniel L., Rotte, Michael, Koutstaal, Wilma, Maril, Anat, Dale, Anders M., Rosen, Bruce R., Buckner, Randy L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 21.08.1998; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Behavioral neuroscience; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Brain research; Experimentation; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Localization (Brain function); Localization of functions; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical schools; Memory; Memory - physiology; Memory encoding; Novelty detection; Parahippocampal gyrus; Perception; Physiological aspects; Prefrontal Cortex - physiology; Psychological Studies; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Semantics; Semiotics; Stimuli; Temporal Lobe - physiology; Visual cortex; Word Processing; Human; Memory retrieval; Cerebral cortex; Word; Coding; Decision making; Memory; Information processing; Cognition; Verbal perception; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.281.5380.1188

A fundamental question about human memory is why some experiences are remembered whereas others are forgotten. Brain activation during word encoding was measured using blocked and event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine how neural activation differs for subsequently remembered and subsequently forgotten experiences. Results revealed that the ability to later remember a verbal experience is predicted by the magnitude of activation in left prefrontal and temporal cortices during that experience. These findings provide direct evidence that left prefrontal and temporal regions jointly promote memory formation for verbalizable events.