Distinct roles for medial temporal lobe structures in memory for objects and their locations.
The ability to learn and retain novel information depends on a system of structures in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) including the hippocampus and the surrounding entorhinal, perirhinal, and parahippocampal cortices. Damage to these structures produces profound memory deficits; however, the unique contribution to memory of each of these structures remains unclear. Here we have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine whether the perirhinal and parahippocampal cortices show differential memory-related activity. Based on the distinct patterns of cortical input to these two areas, we reasoned that these structures might show differential activity for spatial and object recognition memory. In each of 11 subjects, we found that the perirhinal cortex was active during both spatial and object memory encoding, while the anterior parahippocampal cortex was active only during spatial encoding. These data support the idea that MTL structures make distinct contributions to recognition memory performance.
Buffalo
Elizabeth A
EA
Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, USA. elizabeth.buffalo@emory.edu
Bellgowan
Patrick S F
PS
Martin
Alex
A
D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D020534:Parahippocampal Gyrus / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*