Abstract
Regions in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) are involved in memory formation for scenes in both children and adults. The development in children and adolescents of successful memory encoding for scenes has been associated with increased activation in PFC, but not MTL, regions. However, evidence suggests that a functional subregion of the MTL that supports scene perception, located in the parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), goes through a prolonged maturation process. Here we tested the hypothesis that maturation of scene perception supports the development of memory for complex scenes. Scenes were characterized by their levels of complexity defined by the number of unique object categories depicted in the scene. Recognition memory improved with age, in participants ages 8–24, for high-, but not low-, complexity scenes. High-complexity compared to low-complexity scenes activated a network of regions including the posterior PHG. The difference in activations for high- versus low-complexity scenes increased with age in the right posterior PHG. Finally, activations in right posterior PHG were associated with age-related increases in successful memory formation for high-, but not low-, complexity scenes. These results suggest that functional maturation of the right posterior PHG plays a critical role in the development of enduring long-term recollection for high-complexity scenes.
Highlights
The neural systems mediating declarative or explicit memory for facts and events in adults have been identified through convergent lesion and functional neuroimaging evidence
Functional neuroimaging studies in healthy adults have found that greater magnitudes of Prefrontal cortex (PFC) and Medial temporal lobe (MTL) activation during encoding correlate, on a stimulus-by-stimulus or event-related basis, with successful memory formation as evidenced by accurate subsequent memory for scenes, words, and faces (Brewer et al, 1998; Wagner et al, 1998; Buckner et al, 1999; Davachi et al, 2003; Nichols et al, 2006)
We present the results of a reanalysis of previously published data (Ofen et al, 2007) that examined the normal development of activations related to successful memory formation, as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging, in healthy children, adolescents and adults from age 8 to 24
Summary
The neural systems mediating declarative or explicit memory for facts and events in adults have been identified through convergent lesion and functional neuroimaging evidence. Functional neuroimaging studies in healthy adults have found that greater magnitudes of PFC and MTL activation during encoding correlate, on a stimulus-by-stimulus or event-related basis, with successful memory formation as evidenced by accurate subsequent memory for scenes, words, and faces (Brewer et al, 1998; Wagner et al, 1998; Buckner et al, 1999; Davachi et al, 2003; Nichols et al, 2006). In a functional neuroimaging study of memory encoding for scenes in 8 to 24-year olds, development of successful memory encoding was associated with increased activation in PFC regions that were associated with recollection (but not familiarity) for scenes (Ofen et al, 2007). These findings suggested that the protracted development of recollection relative to familiarity could reflect protracted maturation of PFC relative to MTL functions supporting memory formation
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