Imaging autobiographical memory.
Autobiographical memory (AM) defines the memory systems that encode, consolidate, and retrieve personal events and facts, AM is strongly related to self-perception and self representation. We review here the neural correlates of AM retrieval. AM retrieval encompasses a large neural network including the prefrontal, temporal, and parietal cortex, and limbic structures. All these regions subserve the cognitive processes (episodic remembering, cognitive control, self-processing, and scene construction) at play during memory retrieval. We emphasize the specific role of medial prefrontal cortex and precuneus in self-processing during autobiographical memory retrieval. Overall, these data call for further studies in psychiatric patients, to investigate the neural underpinnings of autobiographical memory and self-representation in mental disorders.
Pitié Salpétrière Hospital, Service de Psychiatrie d'Adultes & CNRS USR 3246, AP-HP, CR-ICM, Universite Pierre & Marie Paris-VI, Paris, France.
Philippe
P
Fossati
D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D059906:Neuroimaging
autobiographical memory; medial prefrontal cortex; precuneus; retrieval; self