The Cognitive Neuroscience of Source Monitoring
Source monitoring is a metamemory function that includes processes for encoding and organizing the content of memories, and processes that selectively revive, cumulate, and evaluate that content in the service of making attributions about the origin of the information (e.g., perception vs imagination). Neuroimaging techniques, especially functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), are encouraging rapid developments in understanding the neural mechanisms supporting source monitoring. This chapter reviews current findings, placing them in historical context. It highlights key issues of particular relevance, including: neural reinstatement—the match between brain activity at encoding and later remembering; the role of lateral parietal cortex in cumulating multiple features and attending to information during remembering; functional specificity of the prefrontal cortex with respect to cognitive control; and identifying functional networks that support source monitoring. Suggestions are made for clarifying the big picture and increasing the specificity of our understanding of source monitoring and its neural architecture.