TY - JOUR
T1 - When encoding yields remembering
T2 - Insights from event-related neuroimaging
AU - Wagner, Anthony D.
AU - Koutstaal, Wilma
AU - Schacter, Daniel L.
PY - 1999/7/29
Y1 - 1999/7/29
N2 - To understand human memory, it is important to determine why some experiences are remembered whereas others are forgotten. Until recently, insights into the neural bases of human memory encoding, the processes by which information is transformed into an enduring memory trace, have primarily been derived from neuropsychological studies of humans with select brain lesions. The advent of functional neuroimaging methods, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has provided a new opportunity to gain additional understanding of how the brain supports memory formation. Importantly, the recent development of event-related fMRI methods now allows for examination of trial-by-trial differences in neural activity during encoding and of the consequences of these differences for later remembering. In this review, we consider the contributions of PET and fMRI studies to the understanding of memory encoding, placing a particular emphasis on recent event-related fMRI studies of the Dm effect: that is, differences in neural activity during encoding that are related to differences in subsequent memory. We then turn our attention to the rich literature on the Dm effect that has emerged from studies using event-related potentials (ERPs). It is hoped that the integration of findings from ERP studies, which offer higher temporal resolution, with those from event related fMRI studies, which offer higher spatial resolution, will shed new light on when and why encoding yields subsequent remembering.
AB - To understand human memory, it is important to determine why some experiences are remembered whereas others are forgotten. Until recently, insights into the neural bases of human memory encoding, the processes by which information is transformed into an enduring memory trace, have primarily been derived from neuropsychological studies of humans with select brain lesions. The advent of functional neuroimaging methods, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has provided a new opportunity to gain additional understanding of how the brain supports memory formation. Importantly, the recent development of event-related fMRI methods now allows for examination of trial-by-trial differences in neural activity during encoding and of the consequences of these differences for later remembering. In this review, we consider the contributions of PET and fMRI studies to the understanding of memory encoding, placing a particular emphasis on recent event-related fMRI studies of the Dm effect: that is, differences in neural activity during encoding that are related to differences in subsequent memory. We then turn our attention to the rich literature on the Dm effect that has emerged from studies using event-related potentials (ERPs). It is hoped that the integration of findings from ERP studies, which offer higher temporal resolution, with those from event related fMRI studies, which offer higher spatial resolution, will shed new light on when and why encoding yields subsequent remembering.
KW - Episodic encoding
KW - Episodic memory
KW - Event-related potentials
KW - FMRI
KW - PET
KW - Subsequent memory effect
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0033614972&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0033614972&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1098/rstb.1999.0481
DO - 10.1098/rstb.1999.0481
M3 - Article
C2 - 10466153
AN - SCOPUS:0033614972
SN - 0962-8436
VL - 354
SP - 1307
EP - 1324
JO - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
JF - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
IS - 1387
ER -