Article

It is well known that amygdala activity during encoding corresponds with
subsequent memory for emotional information. It is less clear how amygdala
activity relates to the subjective and objective qualities of a memory. In the present study, participants viewed emotional and neutral objects while undergoing
a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Participants then took a memory
test, identifying which verbal labels named a studied object and indicating the
vividness of their memory for that object. They then retrieved episodic details
associated with each object's presentation, selecting which object exemplar had
been studied and indicating in which screen quadrant, study list, and with which
encoding question the exemplar had been studied. Parametric analysis of the
encoding data allowed examination of the processes that tracked with increasing
memory vividness or with an increase in the diversity of episodic details
remembered. Dissociable networks tracked these two increases, and amygdala
activity corresponded with the former but not the latter. Subsequent-memory
analyses revealed that amygdala activity corresponded with memory for exemplar
type but not for other episodic features. These results emphasize that amygdala
activity does not ensure accurate encoding of all types of episodic detail, yet
it does support encoding of some item-specific details and leads to the retention
of a memory that will feel subjectively vivid. The types of episodic details tied
to amygdala engagement may be those that are most important for creating a
subjectively vivid memory.
CI - Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS