Memory and Networks: Network-Based Approaches to Understanding the Neural Basis of Human Episodic Memory

Abstract

Research on the neural basis of episodic memory, which refers to memories involving contextual details of past events, has classically focused on the primary role of a single brain region, the hippocampus (HPC). Recent advances in multivariate analysis methods have provided novel insight into the large-scale organization of task-related functional networks important to memory, shedding new light on the role of extrahippocampal “hubs.” Here, we review the emerging perspective from this work, which considers the HPC as one of several different “connector hubs” central to memory processing. Together, these findings provide further insight into spatially distributed and temporally evolving memory processes underlying episodic memory and how these processes change following brain lesions.