Neural mechanisms of long-term memory formation and memory retrieval in the human temporal cortex

人们认为，长期记忆在编码到海马体很长一段时间后就会巩固到外侧颞叶皮质中。然而，关于其神经机制的细节还不清楚。本研究采用配对联想任务，利用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）技术，观察了人颞叶皮层长时记忆巩固和提取的神经机制，揭示了面孔和地点视觉区、海马区、颞叶后外侧区和颞叶前外侧区的记忆相关区。区域交互作用分析表明，新的视觉信息最初编码到海马，后来巩固在后外侧颞叶皮层，并通过整合从后外侧颞叶皮层到前外侧颞叶皮层。

Long-term memory is thought to be consolidated into the lateral temporal cortex long after encoding into the hippocampus. However, the details about its neural mechanisms are not well understood. We explored the neural mehcanisms of long-term memory consolidation and retrieval in the human temporal cortex using fMRI.By employing a pair association task, memory-retlated areas were revealed in the 1) visual areas for faces and places, 2) himmpocampus, 3) posterior lateral temporal cortex, 4) anterior lateral temporal cortex. Analyses of the regional interaction revealed that new visual information was initially encoded into the hippocampus, and was later consolidated in the posterior lateral temporal cortex, and was retreived via integration from the posterior to anterior lateral temporal cortex.