Neural Instantiations of Recognition Memory Strength

描述(申请人提供)：目前提出的研究项目的目的是增加对大脑如何完成识别记忆的理解。识别记忆是一种辨别环境中新事物和熟悉事物的能力。具体的目标是确定哪些大脑区域对这种能力是重要的，更广泛的目标是增加我们对人类记忆的总体大脑机制的理解。先前的研究强调，人们可能有两种方式可以识别以前遇到过的东西，回忆和熟悉。回忆指的是包括记住与所识别的物品相关联的上下文或其他细节的丰富主观体验的识别。熟悉性指的是我们以前遇到过的东西的一般感觉，没有任何相关的上下文细节。对与识别记忆相关的这两个过程的大脑机制的研究试图确定对这两种记忆重要的大脑结构，特别是内侧颞叶，我们知道它对长期陈述性记忆通常是重要的。一些研究表明，记忆和熟悉依赖于内侧颞叶的不同亚结构，特别是海马体，用于回忆，而周围皮质则用于熟悉。目前的建议旨在解决不同内侧颞叶结构在识别记忆方面的不同功能问题，方法是使用功能磁共振成像来探索当我们沿着与回忆和熟悉相对应的不同维度调节人的记忆强度时，这些区域的活动如何变化。这些研究的结果将阐明这些大脑区域在人类记忆不同方面的功能，将提供关于这些区域辅助记忆过程的具体机制的重要信息，并将对理解大脑损伤和正常衰老如何以不同方式影响不同类型的记忆具有启示意义。与公共健康相关：目前的提案旨在解决不同内侧颞叶结构在识别记忆方面的不同功能问题，通过使用功能磁共振成像来探索当我们沿着与回忆和熟悉相对应的不同维度调节人的记忆强度时，这些区域的活动如何变化。这些研究的结果将阐明这些大脑区域在人类记忆不同方面的功能，将提供关于这些区域辅助记忆过程的具体机制的重要信息，并将对理解大脑损伤和正常衰老如何以不同方式影响不同类型的记忆具有启示意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of the current proposed research project is to increase understanding of how the brain accomplishes recognition memory. Recognition memory is the ability to discriminate between things in our environment that are novel and those that are familiar to us. The specific goal is to identify which brain regions are important for this ability, with the broader goal of adding to our understanding of brain mechanisms of human memory in general. Prior research has emphasized that there may be two ways in which one can recognize something as having been previously encountered, recollection and familiarity. Recollection refers to recognition that includes a rich subjective experience of remembering contextual or other detail associated with the recognized item. Familiarity refers to a general sense that we have encountered something before, without any associated contextual detail. Research into the brain mechanisms of these two processes associated with recognition memory have attempted to identify the brain structures that are important for these two kinds of memory, with a particular focus on the medial temporal lobes, which we know to be generally important for long-term declarative memory. Some research has suggested that recollection and familiarity depend on different substructures in the medial temporal lobes, particularly the hippocampus for recollection and the perirhinal cortex for familiarity. The current proposal aims to address the question of differential functions of different medial temporal lobe structures with regards to recognition memory, by using functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore how activity in these regions changes as we modulate the strength of a person's memory along different dimensions that correspond to recollection and familiarity. The results of these studies will shed light on the functions of these brain regions in different aspects of human memory, will provide important information about the specific mechanisms whereby these regions subserve memory processes, and will have implications for understanding how brain damage and normal aging may affect different kinds of memory differently. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The current proposal aims to address the question of differential functions of different medial temporal lobe structures with regards to recognition memory, by using functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore how activity in these regions changes as we modulate the strength of a person's memory along different dimensions that correspond to recollection and familiarity. The results of these studies will shed light on the functions of these brain regions in different aspects of human memory, will provide important information about the specific mechanisms whereby these regions subserve memory processes, and will have implications for understanding how brain damage and normal aging may affect different kinds of memory differently.