Brain, Vol. 122, No. 2, 255-263,
February 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press
Episodic retrieval activates the precuneus irrespective of the imagery content of word pair associates
A PET study
1 Department of Nuclear Medicine, Heinrich-Heine-University Hospital, Düsseldorf, 2 Institute of Medicine, Research Center, Jülich and 3 Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, Eberhard-Karls-University, Tübingen, Germany
Correspondence to:
B. J. Krause, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Heinrich-Heine-University Hospital Düsseldorf, Moorenstrasse 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
The aim of this study was to evaluate further the role of the precuneus in episodic memory retrieval. The specific hypothesis addressed was that the precuneus is involved in episodic memory retrieval irrespective of the imagery content. Two groups of six right-handed normal male volunteers took part in the study. Each subject underwent six [15O]butanol-PET scans. In each of the six trials, the memory task began with the injection of a bolus of 1500 MBq of [15O]butanol. For Group 1, 12 word pair associates were presented visually, for Group 2 auditorily. The subjects of each group had to learn and retrieve two sets of 12 word pairs each. One set consisted of highly imaginable words and another one of abstract words. Words of both sets were not related semantically, representing `hard' associations. The presentations of nonsense words served as reference conditions. We demonstrate that the precuneus shows consistent activation during episodic memory retrieval. Precuneus activation occurred in visual and auditory presentation modalities and for both highly imaginable and abstract words. The present study therefore provides further evidence that the precuneus has a specific function in episodic memory retrieval as a multimodal association area.
episodic memory retrieval; word pair associates; precuneus; imagery content; PET
ANCOVA = analysis of covariance; BA = Brodmann area; rCBF = regional cerebral blood flow; SPM = statistical parametric map; SPM{t} = SPM of the t-statistic
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  G. R. Kirk, M. R. Haynes, S. Palasis, C. Brown, T. G. Burns, M. McCormick, and R. A. Jones Regionally Specific Cortical Thinning in Children with Sickle Cell Disease Cereb Cortex, July 1, 2009; 19(7): 1549 - 1556. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. S. Fleck, S. M. Daselaar, I. G. Dobbins, and R. Cabeza Role of Prefrontal and Anterior Cingulate Regions in Decision-Making Processes Shared by Memory and Nonmemory Tasks Cereb Cortex, November 1, 2006; 16(11): 1623 - 1630. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. E. Cavanna and M. R. Trimble The precuneus: a review of its functional anatomy and behavioural correlates Brain, March 1, 2006; 129(3): 564 - 583. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Ganis, S.M. Kosslyn, S. Stose, W.L. Thompson, and D.A. Yurgelun-Todd Neural Correlates of Different Types of Deception: An fMRI Investigation Cereb Cortex, August 1, 2003; 13(8): 830 - 836. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G. Dehaene-Lambertz, S. Dehaene, and L. Hertz-Pannier Functional Neuroimaging of Speech Perception in Infants Science, December 6, 2002; 298(5600): 2013 - 2015. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 W. Heinke and C. Schwarzbauer In vivo imaging of anaesthetic action in humans: approaches with positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Br. J. Anaesth., July 1, 2002; 89(1): 112 - 122. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. I. Scahill, J. M. Schott, J. M. Stevens, M. N. Rossor, and N. C. Fox Mapping the evolution of regional atrophy in Alzheimer's disease: Unbiased analysis of fluid-registered serial MRI PNAS, April 2, 2002; 99(7): 4703 - 4707. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Huber, T. Siol, K. Herholz, O. Lenz, K. Kohle, and W. D. Heiss Activation of Thalamo-Cortical Systems in Post-Traumatic Flashbacks: A Positron Emission Tomography Study Traumatology, December 1, 2001; 7(4): 131 - 141. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
O. Gruber, P. Indefrey, H. Steinmetz, and A. Kleinschmidt Dissociating Neural Correlates of Cognitive Components in Mental Calculation Cereb Cortex, April 1, 2001; 11(4): 350 - 359. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Lepage, O. Ghaffar, L. Nyberg, and E. Tulving From the Cover: Prefrontal cortex and episodic memory retrieval mode PNAS, January 4, 2000; 97(1): 506 - 511. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|