title: Specific role of medial prefrontal cortex in retrieving recent autobiographical memories: an fMRI study of young female subjects.
abstract: Episodic-autobiographical memory (AM) is characterized by self-conscious reflection, emotional connotation and mental time travel. Semantic memory (SM) contains context and emotion free general knowledge. The present study specifically aimed at exploring the effect of time on the neural substrates of autobiographical and semantic memory retrieval by studying memories from different life periods in young female participants using functional brain imaging. Recent compared to early childhood events activated retrosplenial cortex. More importantly, medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) was specifically engaged in the retrieval of recent AMs. The data show time-modulated neural substrates during recent and remote memories in women and suggest that a specific MPFC activation underlies the autonoetic, emotional and self-related character of recent AMs.
authors.affiliation: Physiological Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oddo
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lux
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schwab
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Welzer
authors.forename: Hans J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Markowitsch
authors.forename: Gereon R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Fink
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult