Faculty Opinions recommendation of The medial temporal lobes distinguish between within-item and item-context relations during autobiographical memory retrieval.

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Cabeza ◽  
Wei-Chun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobes ◽  
Temporal Lobes

scholarly journals Autobiographical memory unknown: Pervasive autobiographical memory loss encompassing personality trait knowledge in an individual with medial temporal lobe amnesia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aubrey Anne Ladd Wank ◽  
Anna Robertson ◽  
Sean C. Thayer ◽  
Mieke Verfaellie ◽  
Steven Z. Rapcsak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Memory Loss ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobes ◽  
Temporal Lobes

Autobiographical memory consists of distinct memory types varying from highly abstract to episodic. Self trait knowledge, which is considered one of the more abstract types of autobiographical memory, is thought to rely on regions of the autobiographical memory neural network implicated in schema representation, including the medial prefrontal cortex, and critically, not the medial temporal lobes. The current case study introduces an individual who, as a consequence of bilateral posterior cerebral artery strokes, experienced extensive medial temporal lobe damage with sparing of the medial prefrontal cortex. Interestingly, in addition to severe retrograde and anterograde episodic and autobiographical fact amnesia, this individual’s self trait knowledge was impaired for his current and pre-morbid personality traits. Yet, further assessment revealed that this individual had preserved conceptual knowledge for personality traits, could reliably and accurately rate another person’s traits, and could access his own self-concept in a variety of ways. In addition to autobiographical memory loss, he demonstrated impairment on non-personal semantic memory tests, most notably on tests requiring retrieval of unique knowledge. This rare case of amnesia suggests a previously unreported role for the medial temporal lobes in personal trait knowledge, which we propose reflects the critical role of this neural region in the storage and retrieval of personal semantics that are experience-near, meaning autobiographical facts grounded in spatiotemporal contexts.

scholarly journals A causal role for the precuneus in network-wide theta and gamma oscillatory activity during complex memory retrieval

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Hebscher ◽  
Jed A Meltzer ◽  
Asaf Gilboa
Keyword(s):  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Rest Period ◽  
Gamma Oscillations ◽  
Oscillatory Activity ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobes ◽  
Network Nodes ◽  
Temporal Lobes ◽  
Oscillatory Coupling ◽  
Phase Amplitude ◽  
Cortical Representations

Complex memory of personal events is thought to depend on coordinated reinstatement of cortical representations by the medial temporal lobes (MTL). MTL-cortical theta and gamma coupling is believed to mediate such coordination, but which cortical structures are critical for retrieval and how they influence oscillatory coupling is unclear. We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) combined with continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to (i) clarify the roles of theta and gamma oscillations in network-wide communication during naturalistic memory retrieval, and (ii) understand the causal relationship between cortical network nodes and oscillatory communication. Retrieval was associated with MTL-posterior neocortical theta phase coupling and theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling relative to a rest period. Precuneus cTBS altered MTL-neocortical communication by modulating theta and gamma oscillatory coupling. These findings provide a mechanistic account for MTL-cortical communication and demonstrate that the precuneus is a critical cortical node of oscillatory activity, coordinating cross-regional interactions that drive remembering.

Interindividual Differences in Cognitive Functioning Are Associated with Autobiographical Memory Retrieval Specificity in Older Adults

GeroPsych ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Peters ◽  
Signy Sheldon
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Interindividual Differences ◽  
Retrieval Cues ◽  
Contextual Support

Abstract. We examined whether interindividual differences in cognitive functioning among older adults are related to episodic memory engagement during autobiographical memory retrieval. Older adults ( n = 49, 24 males; mean age = 69.93; mean education = 15.45) with different levels of cognitive functioning, estimated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), retrieved multiple memories (generation task) and the details of a single memory (elaboration task) to cues representing thematic or event-specific autobiographical knowledge. We found that the MoCA score positively predicted the proportion of specific memories for generation and episodic details for elaboration, but only to cues that represented event-specific information. The results demonstrate that individuals with healthy, but not unhealthy, cognitive status can leverage contextual support from retrieval cues to improve autobiographical specificity.

Autobiographical Memory Impairments as a Transdiagnostic Feature of Mental Illness: A meta-analysis of autobiographical memory specificity and overgenerality amongst people with psychiatric diagnoses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Joseph Barry ◽  
David John Hallford ◽  
Keisuke Takano
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Keyword Search ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Psychiatric Diagnoses ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Memory Impairments ◽  
Memory Specificity ◽  
Causal Mechanisms

Decades of research has examined the difficulty that people with psychiatric diagnoses, such as Major Depressive Disorder, Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, have in recalling specific autobiographical memories from events that lasted less than a day. Instead, they seem to retrieve general events that have occurred many times or which occurred over longer periods of time, termed overgeneral memory. We present the first transdiagnostic meta-analysis of memory specificity/overgenerality, and the first meta-regression of proposed causal mechanisms. A keyword search of Embase, PsycARTICLES and PsycINFO databases yielded 74 studies that compared people with and without psychiatric diagnoses on the retrieval of specific (k = 85) or general memories (k = 56). Multi-level meta-analysis confirmed that people with psychiatric diagnoses typically recall fewer specific (g = -0.864, 95% CI[-1.030, -0.698]) and more general (g = .712, 95% CI[0.524, 0.900]) memories than diagnoses-free people. The size of these effects did not differ between diagnostic groups. There were no consistent moderators; effect sizes were not explained by methodological factors such as cue valence, or demographic variables such as participants’ age. There was also no support for the contribution of underlying processes that are thought to be involved in specific/general memory retrieval (e.g., rumination). Our findings confirm that deficits in autobiographical memory retrieval are a transdiagnostic factor associated with a broad range of psychiatric problems, but future research should explore novel causal mechanisms such as encoding deficits and the social processes involved in memory sharing and rehearsal.

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