Retrieval Processing in Human Memory: ERP and Fmri Investigations

描述(由申请人提供)：拟议研究的首要目标是从认知神经科学的角度理解如何从情节记忆中成功地提取关于事件的信息。功能磁共振成像(FMRI)和事件相关电位(ERPs)将被用来识别在提取单词和图片等实验项目时引发的神经活动。一系列实验将调查海马体中与提取相关的活动在多大程度上选择性地支持对过去的定性信息的恢复。其他实验将根据项目之间的联系，或项目与其上下文之间的联系，来调查内侧颞叶不同部分提取相关活动的分离程度。第三组实验将调查内容选择性的、与提取相关的皮质恢复效应的普遍性和功能意义。最后一组实验将集中在下顶叶后皮质与提取相关的活动的功能意义上。这些最后的实验将以这样的假设为起点，即该区域支持作为情景记忆和工作记忆之间的接口，并促进有意识地获取回忆信息的“情景缓冲”。情节记忆的残疾在几种常见的神经疾病中都很突出，特别是阿尔茨海默病和创伤性脑损伤。间歇性记忆障碍也是几种常见精神障碍的重要组成部分，包括精神分裂症、抑郁症和创伤后应激障碍。此外，随着年龄的增长，情节记忆显著下降，而且与其他类型的记忆相比，下降得不成比例。这项拟议的研究将有助于详细了解支持正常功能情景记忆的神经认知过程，这一理解对于阐明不同类型的情景记忆障碍和开发有效的治疗干预措施是必要的。 公共卫生相关性：在许多神经学和精神病学疾病中都会发现情景记忆--对独特事件的记忆--的失能障碍。这项拟议的研究将有助于详细了解正常功能的情景记忆，这对于充分理解和有效治疗不同类型的情景记忆障碍是必要的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goal of the proposed research is to understand, from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, how information about an event is successfully retrieved from episodic memory. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potentials (ERPs) will be employed to identify neural activity elicited during the retrieval of experimental items such as words and pictures. One line of experiments will investigate the extent to which retrieval-related activity in the hippocampus selectively supports the recovery of qualitative information about the past. Other experiments will investigate the degree to which retrieval-related activity in different parts of the medial temporal lobe dissociates according to whether associations between items, or items and their contexts, are recollected. A third set of experiments will investigate the generality and functional significance of content-selective, retrieval-related cortical reinstatement effects. A final set of experiments will focus of the functional significance of retrieval-related activity in inferior posterior parietal cortex. These last experiments will take as their starting point the hypothesis that this region supports an 'episodic buffer' that serves as an interface between episodic and working memory, and facilitates conscious access to recollected information. Disabling impairments of episodic memory are prominent in several common neurological conditions, notably Alzheimer's disease and traumatic brain injury. Episodic memory dysfunction is also a significant component of several common psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, episodic memory declines substantially and, relative to other kinds of memory, disproportionately, with increasing age. The proposed research will facilitate the detailed understanding of the neurocognitive processes that support normally-functioning episodic memory, an understanding that is necessary for the elucidation of different kinds of episodic memory disorders and the development of effective therapeutic interventions. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Disabling impairments of episodic memory - memory for unique events - are found in numerous neurological and psychiatric conditions. The proposed research will contribute to the detailed understanding of normally-functioning episodic memory that is necessary if different kinds of episodic memory disorders are to be fully understood and effectively treated.