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Consolidation of human memory over decades revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging

Nature Neuroscience volume 4, pages 1139–1145 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Medial temporal lobe (MTL) lesions typically produce retrograde amnesia characterized by the disproportionate loss of recently acquired memories. Temporally graded memory loss is interpreted traditionally as evidence for a consolidation process guided by the MTL. Here, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we show temporally graded changes in MTL activity in healthy older adults taking a famous faces remote memory test. Evidence for temporally graded change in the hippocampal formation was mixed, suggesting it may participate only in consolidation processes lasting a few years. Entorhinal cortex was associated with temporally graded changes extending up to 20 years. These findings support the basic tenets of consolidation theory and suggest that the entorhinal cortex, rather than the hippocampal formation, participates in memory consolidation over decades.

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Figure 1: Examples of famous faces stimuli.
Figure 2: Mean percent recall and recognition scores from the famous faces test.
Figure 3: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation from the famous faces remote memory test.
Figure 4: Temporally graded fMRI activity changes in the entorhinal cortex in two separate analyses.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the University of Georgia Gerontology Center (award to F.H.). We thank A.W. Song for technical assistance, E. Courchesne and R.-A. Müller for comments on the manuscript, and R. Cox and the Medical College of Wisconsin for making available the AFNI neuroimage analysis program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Research on the Neuroscience of Autism, Children's Hospital Research Center, 8110 La Jolla Shores Drive (Suite 201), La Jolla, 92037, California, USA

    Frank Haist

  2. Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, 140 Decatur Street, Suite 1153, Atlanta, 30303, Georgia, USA

    Frank Haist & Jane Bowden Gore

  3. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC0217, La Jolla, 92037, California, USA

    Frank Haist

  4. Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Emory University, 1364 Clifton Road, N.E., Atlanta, 30322, Georgia, USA

    Hui Mao

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Correspondence to Frank Haist.

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Haist, F., Gore, J. & Mao, H. Consolidation of human memory over decades revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Nat Neurosci 4, 1139–1145 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn739

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