Remembering the past : multimodal imaging of cortical contributions to episodic retrieval

What is the nature of the neural processes that allow humans to remember past events? The theoretical framework adopted in this thesis builds upon cognitive models that suggest that episodic retrieval can be decomposed into two classes of computations: (1) recovery processes that serve to reactivate stored memories, making information from a past episode readily available, and (2) control processes that serve to guide the retrieval attempt and monitor/evaluate information arising from the recovery processes. A multimodal imaging approach that combined fMRI and MEG was adopted to gain insight into the spatial and temporal brain mechanisms supporting episodic retrieval. Chapter 1 reviews major findings and theories in the episodic retrieval literature grounding the open questions and controversies within the suggested framework. Chapter 2 describes an fMRI and MEG experiment that identified medial temporal cortical structures that signal item memory strength, thus supporting the perception of item familiarity. Chapter 3 describes an fMRI experiment that demonstrated that retrieval of contextual details involves reactivation of neural patterns engaged at encoding.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Kahn, Itamar

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Anthony D. Wagner.

• Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33171

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/33171