Semantic Autobiographical Memory Research Articles

Brain connectivity patterns associated with individual differences in the access to experience-near personal semantics: a resting-state fMRI study

It has been proposed that a continuum of specificity exists between episodic and semantic autobiographical memory. Personal semantics have been theorized to situate intermediately on this continuum, with more “experience-near” personal semantics (enPS) closer to the episodic end. We used individual differences in behavior as a model to investigate brain networks associated with the access to episodic autobiographical (EAM) and enPS information, assessing the relation between performance in the EAM and enPS conditions of the Autobiographical Fluency Task (AFT) and intrinsic brain connectivity. Results of an intrinsic connectivity contrast analysis showed that the global connectivity of two clusters in the left and right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) was predicted by performance in the enPS conditions. Moreover, enPS scores predicted the connectivity strength of the right PCC with the bilateral anterior hippocampus (aHC), anterior middle temporal gyrus (aMTG) and medial orbitofrontal cortex, and the left aMTG and PCC. enPS scores also predicted the connectivity strength of the left PCC with the bilateral HC and MTG. The network highlighted involves parts of the core and of the dorsal medial subsystems of the Default Mode Network, in line with the proposal that enPS represents an intermediate entity between episodic and semantic memory.

Familiar olfactory stimulation related to self‐awareness in Alzheimer’s disease

AbstractBackgroundAlzheimer disease is extended everyday, Latinamerica is not an exception. Patients with AD have a decline about remembering events of general knowlage and past events about their life. Therefore episodic and semantic autobiographical memory is affected in patients with AD. This study shows how is that memory in Dominican Republic and Colombian Population. Also aim to see the difference after an olfactory stimulation with chocolate.MethodFifty people with mild and moderate A.D participated. The Control group, had an olfactory stimulation without familiar smell (placebo) and the experimental group, had an olfactory stimulation with familiar smell (chocolate). Before intervention post olfactory stimulation, of self‐consciousness, was made. After intervention an evaluation of autobiographical episodic memory and self‐consciousness was made. During intervention placebo stimulation with control group and an olfactory familiar stimulation with experimental group was incorporated. Afterwards, an evaluation of episodic autobiographical memory was conducted.ResultPreliminary results shows that patients with AD improves their episodic autobiographical memory.ConclusionThis findings shows a big impact for research because it will be a no farmacological trial that will help the patients with AD. Therefore it will be goood to their families, because it diminished the emotional impact of AD. Finally, will impacts the literature because is the first study in Caribbean region, a area in wich the research is not frequen because of the resources.

Autobiographical memory in chronic schizophrenia: A follow-up study

Chronic schizophrenia is a very disabling disease and patient’s social integration remains difficult. One important aspect is autobiographical memory (AM) as it is impaired in schizophrenia and highly correlated to patient’s outcome, since its closely linked to self and identity. Reduced specificity and lack of details are characteristics of patients′ AM, but its longitudinal course in schizophrenia remains unclear. We examined 21 patients who underwent our protocol twice with an interval of 7 years. AM was assessed using a semi-structured interview, covering four periods of life and addressing semantic knowledge and autobiographical episodes as well as their details. The results can be divided into three parts, separating semantic memories, specific autobiographical memories and details describing the latter. While a significant deterioration of semantic AM over time could be revealed, the specificity of the free recalled autobiographical episodes remained rather stable – albeit on a low level. In contrast, unique events were remembered with significantly less details at follow-up than at the first examination. While floor-effects given a relatively small number of unique events have to be considered, semantic AM and episodic details seem to be a valuable target for AM remediation given their further deterioration over time.

Episodic and Semantic Autobiographical Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): A Systematic Review.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a syndrome defined as a decline in cognitive performance greater than expected for an individual according to age and education level, not interfering notably with daily life activities. Many studies have focused on the memory domain in the analysis of MCI and more severe cases of dementia. One specific memory system is represented by autobiographical memory (AM), which has been largely studied in Alzheimer's disease and its effect on AM; however, the impairment of AM in moderate forms of decline, such as MCI, is still controversial. The main aim of this systematic review is to analyze the functioning of autobiographical memory in patients with MCI, considering both the semantic and the episodic components. The review process was conducted according to the PRISMA statement. The search was conducted until 20 February 2023 in the following bibliographical databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycInfo, and twenty-one articles were included. The results highlight controversial findings concerning the semantic component of AM since only seven studies have found a worse semantic AM performance in patients with MCI compared to the HC group. The results of impaired episodic AM in individuals with MCI are more consistent than those concerning semantic AM. Starting from the evidence of this systematic review, further studies should detect and investigate the cognitive and emotional mechanisms that undermine AM performance, allowing the development of specific interventions targeting these mechanisms.

Temporal Organization of Episodic and Experience-near Semantic Autobiographical Memories: Neural Correlates and Context-dependent Connectivity.

Autobiographical memory includes a representation of personal life events with a unique spatiotemporal context (episodic autobiographical memory) and factual self-knowledge (personal semantics). Whereas "experience-far" personal semantics have undergone complete abstraction, "experience-near" personal semantics are still linked to a spatiotemporal context. The representation of one's own past involves an autobiographical knowledge base, in the form of a personal timeline, along which autobiographical information is temporally organized into different lifetime periods. Commonalities and differences between brain networks supporting this temporal organization for autobiographical information with different contextual specificity, however, have not been investigated to date. Here, we used task-based fMRI to assess neural substrates of temporal ordering along the personal timeline for real autobiographical episodic and experience-near personal semantic memories. Within a distributed network, the left calcarine cortex was more strongly activated for episodic autobiographical memory than personal semantics, whereas the left ventromedial pFC and right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), angular gyrus (AG), and anterior middle temporal gyrus (aMTG) showed stronger activation for personal semantics than episodic autobiographical memory. Findings were confirmed by analyses in independently derived ROIs. Generalized psychophysiological interaction analyses between the same regions showed that, during personal semantics compared with episodic autobiographical memory, memory category modulated activity in the left PCC and right PCC, AG, and aMTG. Findings provide insights on how personal events and facts are represented in the timescale of years, suggesting that the temporal organization of autobiographical memory exploits properties of situation models developed within posteromedial, lateral parietal, and medial prefrontal regions.

Effects of saccadic eye movements on episodic & semantic memory fluency in older and younger participants

ABSTRACT Research has demonstrated that performing a sequence of saccadic horizontal eye movements prior to retrieval facilitates performance on tests of episodic memory. This has been observed in both laboratory tasks of retention and autobiographical memory. To date, the work has centred on performance in younger individuals. This paper extends previous investigations by examining the effects of saccadic eye movements in older persons. Autobiographical episodic and semantic memory fluency was assessed in younger (age range 18–35, mean = 22.50), and older (age range 55–87, mean = 70.35) participants following saccadic (vs. fixation control) manipulations. The main effects of eye movements and age were found for episodic autobiographical memory (greater fluency after eye movements and in younger participants). Semantic autobiographical memory showed a main effect of age (greater fluency in younger participants), whereas general semantic memory showed no effect of age or eye movement. These findings indicate that saccadic horizontal eye movements can enhance episodic personal memory in older individuals. This has implications as a technique to improve autobiographical recollection in the elderly and as an adjunct in reminiscence therapy.

Teaching Elaborative Reminiscing to Support Autobiographical Memory and Relationships in Residential and Community Aged Care Services.

Memories of the past are critically important as we age. For older adults receiving formal care in a range of settings, reminiscing with care staff may provide frequent opportunities for recalling autobiographical memories with a supportive conversational partner. Importantly, prior research suggests that some reminiscing conversations are more supportive than others. In the developmental literature, a long tradition of sociocultural memory research has shown how children’s autobiographical memory is scaffolded and supported by parents during reminiscing, when parents use a particular kind of conversational technique, known as “elaborative reminiscing”. In the current project, we aimed to examine whether we could enhance conversations between staff and older people receiving aged care by teaching care staff about these beneficial conversational techniques and supporting them to reminisce more often with residents/clients. We also aimed to determine whether staff members’ use of elaborative reminiscing techniques was associated with autobiographical memory details recalled by residents/clients during routine conversations. We conducted a workshop with 16 staff within a residential aged care and community care setting. We followed this with a 4-week training-and-feedback period during which staff recorded their conversations with residents and clients. Staff feedback indicated successful use of the scaffolding techniques overall, and benefits as well as barriers to their use in day-to-day practice. Analysis of the conversations demonstrated that the use of particular elaborative reminiscing techniques by staff was associated with increased recall of episodic and semantic autobiographical memory details by residents/clients. Overall, findings suggest that the principles of elaborative reminiscing may apply across the lifespan, and that the benefits of elaborative reminiscing for autobiographical memory may be particularly important in times of cognitive need. Practically, training aged care staff in specific and practical conversational tools can facilitate reminiscing for people receiving aged care.

Temporal pole volume is associated with episodic autobiographical memory in healthy older adults.

Recollection of personal past events differs across the lifespan. Older individuals recall fewer episodic details and convey more semantic information than young. Here we examine how gray matter volumes in temporal lobe regions integral to episodic and semantic memory (hippocampus and temporal poles, respectively) are related to age differences in autobiographical recollection. Gray matter volumes were obtained in healthy young (n = 158) and old (n = 105) adults. The temporal pole was demarcated and hippocampus segmented into anterior and posterior regions to test for volume differences between age groups. The Autobiographical Interview was administered to measure episodic and semantic autobiographical memory. Volume associations with episodic and semantic autobiographical memory were then assessed. Brain volumes were smaller for older adults in the posterior hippocampus. Autobiographical memory was less episodic and more semanticized for older versus younger adults. Older adults also showed positive associations between temporal pole volumes and episodic autobiographical recall; in the young, temporal pole volume was positively associated with performance on standard laboratory measures of semantic memory. Exploratory analyses revealed that age-related episodic autobiographical memory associations with anterior hippocampal volumes depended on sex. These findings suggest that age differences in brain structures implicated in episodic and semantic memory may portend reorganization of neural circuits to support autobiographical memory in later life.

Effects of familiar olfactory stimulation on self‐consciousness

AbstractBackgroundAutobiographical memory involves self‐life episodes and generic knowledge that enables the meaning attributed to a lifetime story. The semantic autobiographical memory is related to a general knowledge and the episodic autobiographical memory is associated to the personal experiences at specific time and place related to past experiences among a long period of life (Allen, et al., 2018; Eustache et al., 2013, 2016). Autobiographical events activate an autonomic consciousness related to recovers the past memories, while autobiographical semantic knowledge comprises a noetic familiar awareness and a consciousness of past limited (Markowitsch , & Staniloiu, 2011; Piolino et al., 2003; Tulving, 2002). Progressive loss of self‐consciousness presented in Alzheimer Disease (A.D) is connected to the decline of autobiographical episodic memory. Some studies validate positive effects of olfactory stimulation on autobiographical memory (El Haj et al., 2015; Gachet & El Haj, 2020) but no research has evaluated the influence of familiar olfactory stimulation on A.D related to improve self‐consciousness in Colombia. This study aims to assess if the evoked autobiographical memories from familiar olfactory stimulation has an enforcement or facilitator effect on self‐consciousness.MethodFifty people will participate, 25 at the control group and 25 at the experimental group. The control group will have an olfactory stimulation without familiar smells, and the experimental grouo, will have it with familiar smells. There will be three phases: 1) After intervention: Evaluation of autobiographical episodic memory; 2) During intervention: Placebo olfactory stimulation with control group, and olfactory familiar stimulation with experimental group. Then there will be an evaluation of autobiographical episodic memory; 3) Before intervention: Post olfactory stimulation of self‐consciousness.ResultsMore autobiographical memories evoked are expected with the positive valiance of familiar olfactory intervention than the placebo olfactory stimulation in people with A.D. We expect that autobiographical episodic involuntary memories evoked will be more elevated than the voluntary ones on subjective content. We also contemplate that the group of patients with familiar olfactory stimulation will improve their level of self‐consciousness and evoke autobiographical episodic memory.ConclusionThis research will be an important framework for future clinical trials with familiar olfactory intervention in Latin America. Also, for non‐pharmacologic interventions.

Neural Correlates of Autobiographical Memory: Evidence From a Positron Emission Tomography Study in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: Autobiographical memory (AM) changes are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In recent neuroimaging studies, AM changes have been associated with numerous cerebral sites, such as the frontal cortices, the mesial temporal lobe, or the posterior cingulum. Regional glucose uptake in these sites was investigated for underlying subdimensions using factor analysis. Subsequently, the factors were examined with respect to AM performance in a subgroup of patients.Methods: Data from 109 memory clinic referrals, who presented with MCI (n = 60), mild AD (n = 49), or were cognitively intact, were analyzed. The glucose metabolic rates determined by positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in 34 cerebral sites important for AM were investigated for underlying subdimensions by calculating factor analysis with varimax rotation. Subsequently, the respective factor scores were correlated with the episodic and semantic AM performance of 22 patients, which was measured with a semi-structured interview assessing episodic memories (characterized by event-related emotional, sensory, contextual, and spatial–temporal details) and personal semantic knowledge from three periods of life (primary school, early adulthood, and recent years).Results: Factor analysis identified seven factors explaining 69% of the variance. While patients with MCI and AD showed lower values than controls on the factors frontal cortex, mesial temporal substructures, and occipital cortex, patients with MCI presented with increased values on the factors posterior cingulum and left temporo-prefrontal areas. The factors anterior cingulum and right temporal cortex showed only minor, non-significant group differences. Solely, the factor mesial temporal substructures was significantly correlated with both episodic memories (r = 0.424, p < 0.05) and personal semantic knowledge (r = 0.547, p < 0.01) in patients with MCI/AD.Conclusions: The factor structure identified corresponds by large to the morphological and functional interrelations of the respective sites. While reduced glucose uptake on the factors frontal cortex, mesial temporal substructures, and occipital cortex in the patient group may correspond to neurodegenerative changes, increased values on the factors posterior cingulum and left temporo-prefrontal areas in MCI may result from compensatory efforts. Interestingly, changes of the mesial temporal substructures were correlated with both semantic and episodic AM. Our findings suggest that AM deficits do not only reflect neurodegenerative changes but also refer to compensatory mechanisms as they involve both quantitative losses of specific memories and qualitative changes with a semantization of memories.

The dynamics of memory for United States presidents in younger and older adults

ABSTRACT Serial position effects are often observed within the free recall of unassociated words but also when recalling items from a semantic category like U.S. presidents. We investigated the dynamics of recall for U.S. presidents in younger and older adults to examine potential age-related differences in the organisation of retrieval from semantic long-term memory. Older adults recalled more presidents than younger adults and also demonstrated dual serial position effects such that, in addition to overall serial position effects, primacy (e.g., Eisenhower) and recency presidents (e.g., Obama) within older adults’ lifetime were better recalled than presidents from the middle of their lives (e.g., Ford). Additionally, participants initiated recall with the most distinct presidents (highly familiar or memorable presidents like Washington, Obama, Trump), and conditional-response probabilities revealed that presidents from similar eras were recalled in close proximity, indicating that the retrieval of distinct presidents can facilitate memory for presidents from a similar era. Collectively, we demonstrate the potential interplay of the mechanisms that influence the organisation of retrieval such that distinctiveness and temporal contiguity effects may simultaneously impact recall. Specifically, semantic and temporal-contextual associations can drive semantic autobiographical memory and people likely organise retrieval from long-term memory according to familiarity and distinctiveness.

A Longitudinal Study of Episodic and Semantic Autobiographical Memory in aMCI and Alzheimer's Disease Patients.

Background: The main objective of this study was to analyze the evolution of autobiographical memory (both episodic and semantic) in patients with mild cognitive impairment, patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and a healthy control group. We compared these groups at two time points: first, at baseline, and in a follow-up after 18 months. Method: Twenty-six healthy older adults, 17 patients with mild amnestic cognitive impairment, and 16 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, matched on age and educational level, were evaluated at both time points with the Autobiographical Memory Interview. Results: The results showed significant longitudinal deterioration in episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in patients with mild cognitive impairment and in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, but not in healthy older adults. Conclusions: The deterioration of episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in AD is confirmed; however, although the episodic was impaired in aMCI, a pattern that evolved toward deterioration over a period of eighteen months was observed for the semantic autobiographical memory.

Mental representation of autobiographical memories along the sagittal mental timeline: Evidence from spatiotemporal interference

Time is usually conceived of in terms of space: many natural languages refer to time according to a back-to-front axis. Indeed, whereas the past is usually conceived to be “behind us”, the future is considered to be “in front of us.” Despite temporal coding is pivotal for the development of autonoetic consciousness, little is known about the organization of autobiographical memories along this axis. Here we developed a spatial compatibility task (SCT) to test the organization of autobiographical memories along the sagittal plane, using spatiotemporal interference. Twenty-one participants were asked to recall both episodic and semantic autobiographical memories (EAM and SAM, respectively) to be used in the SCT. Then, during the SCT, they were asked to decide whether each event occurred before or after the event presented right before, using a response code that could be compatible with the back-to-front axis (future in front) or not (future at back). We found that performance was significantly worse during the non-compatible condition, especially for EAM. The results are discussed in light of the evidence for spatiotemporal encoding of episodic autobiographical memories, taking into account possible mechanisms explaining compatibility effects.

Impact of familiar olfactory stimulation on self‐consciousness

AbstractBackgroundAutobiographical memory facilitates the construction and meaning attributed to a lifetime story. The episodic autobiographical memory involves the personal experiences related to a place and a specific time, and the semantic autobiographical memory is associated to a general knowledge related to repetitive events and past experiences over a long period of time (Allen, Doyle, Commins &amp; Roche, 2018). Autobiographical events trigger an autonomic consciousness in which it revives the past memories, while the autobiographical semantic knowledge involves a consciousness of past limited and noetic familiar sensation (Irish et al., 2018; El Haj, Nandrino &amp; Kapogiannis, 2015; Rathbone, Ellis, Ahmed, Moulin, Ernst, &amp; Butler, 2019). Decline of autobiographical episodic memory involves a progressive loss of self‐consciousness in Alzheimer’s disease (A.D). Some studies like Glachet, Gandolphe, Gallouj, Antonie, and El Haj (2018) demonstrate positive effects of olfactory stimulation on autobiographical memory. However, no research has evaluated the influence of familiar olfactory stimulation on A.D related to improve self‐consciousness in Dominican Republic. This study aims to evaluate the evoked autobiographical memories from familiar olfactory stimulation has an enforcement or facilitator effect on self‐consciousness.MethodFifty people with mild and moderate A.D will participate. The Control group, will have an olfactory stimulation without familiar smells and the experimental group, will have an olfactory stimulation with familiar smells. After intervention: Evaluation of autobiographical episodic memory (controlled process) and self‐consciousness. During Intervention: Olfactory familiar stimulation with experimental group and placebo olfactory stimulation with control group. Then there will be an evaluation of autobiographical episodic memory (automatic process). Before intervention: Post olfactory stimulation of self‐consciousness.ResultsWe expect that the positive valiance of familiar olfactory intervention will be evoked more in the autobiographical episodic memories than the placebo stimulation olfactory in patients with A.D; and that autobiographical episodic automatic or involuntary memories evoked will be more elevated about subjective content that the voluntary or explicit ones. We also hope that the group of patients with familiar olfactory stimulation evoke autobiographical episodic memory and improve their level of self‐consciousness.ConclusionThis study will be a framework for non‐pharmacologic interventions and future clinical trials with familiar olfactory intervention.

Gender identity better than sex explains individual differences in episodic and semantic components of autobiographical memory: An fMRI study

Advances in the literature of sex-related differences in autobiographical memory increasingly tend to highlight the importance of psychosocial factors such as gender identity, which may explain these differences better than sex as a biological factor. To date, however, none of these behavioral studies have investigated this hypothesis using neuroimaging. The purpose of this fMRI study is to examine for the first time sex and gender identity-related differences in episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in healthy participants (M=19, W=18). No sex-related differences were found; however, sex-related effects of masculine and feminine gender identity were identified in men and women independently. These results confirm the hypothesis that differences in episodic and semantic autobiographical memory are best explained by gender but are an interaction between biological sex and gender identity and extend these findings to the field of neuroimaging. We discuss the importance of hormonal factors to be taken into consideration in the future.

The Impact of Reminiscence on Autobiographical Memory, Cognition and Psychological Well-Being in Healthy Older Adults.

Reminiscence therapy has improved autobiographical memory in older adults with memory impairment. However, there has been a relative lack of research examining the impact of reminiscence interventions on healthy older adults, despite the fact that healthy ageing has been associated with a reduction in episodic autobiographical memory. The current study examined the effects of a semi-structured reminiscence program, compared to a no-intervention control and an active control group focused on current life, in healthy older adults. Before and after reminiscence or control, we assessed episodic and semantic autobiographical memory, as well as reliving of the memory and re-experiencing the emotion associated with the memory. We also examined new learning and executive function, as well as quality of life, satisfaction with life, anxiety, depression, and mood. The reminiscence intervention did not lead to a differing impact on autobiographical memory, cognition or psychological well-being, compared to the control groups. The current results indicate that simple reminiscence does not lead to enhanced autobiographical memory performance in healthy older adults.

EVALUATING ITEM NONRESPONSE IN A LIFE HISTORY CALENDAR: AN ANALYSIS OF MEMORY EFFECTS

Memory decline contributes to response inaccuracy and can produce item missing data, especially in retrospective surveys with older adults. Event history calendars, or the life grid approaches, are commonly used to obtain retrospective life history data. As indicated in previous literature, this approach can assist respondents’ memory retrieval. Despite its wide use, the important issue of item nonresponse due to memory effects in life grid questions has received little attention. Autobiographical memory (AM) research has shown that there are two interconnected long-term memory systems: episodic memories of event details from specific remote times in an individual’s life; and semantic memories of the important facts and themes that define an individual’s life history. Episodic and semantic AM may introduce different levels of difficulty in retrieving memory and thus contribute to different levels of missing data. This study examines the effects of both item-level predictors (e.g., types of memories) and respondent-level predictors (e.g., cognitive status, age, and health status) on the likelihood of item missing data in life grid questions. We analyzed missing data in the 2017 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Life History Mail Survey (n = 3,844), using multilevel logistic regression. The results revealed higher rates of item missing for episodic memories, and that overall respondents’ cognitive status was significantly associated with their likelihood of providing item missing data. Recent residential information was better recalled than childhood information. These results have implications for life course analysis of exposures linked to residential histories.

Using memories to support the self in Alzheimer's disease

The impact of memory loss on the self in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is poorly understood. Previous research is mixed on whether episodic or semantic memories are most important for supporting identity. The present study examined autobiographical memories cued by self-images (e.g., I am a father) and non-self-related cues in 16 AD patients and 29 healthy older adults. The AD group generated fewer self-images and memories compared to controls, but demonstrated similar temporal organization of self-cued memories. In both groups, self-images were supported by semantic memories that were temporally clustered around times of identity-formation. These self-supporting memories are proposed to form a scaffold to support the self and may persist the longest in AD, as opposed to memories from early adulthood per se. In both AD and control groups, self-images cued more semantic memories than non-self-relevant cues, further suggesting that semantic autobiographical memories play a fundamental role in supporting the self. These findings demonstrate that the self remains largely intact in AD, in spite of severe episodic memory deficits and global cognitive decline. In later stages of the disease, these self-supporting memories could provide effective tools for reminiscence therapy.

Autobiographical memory deficits in remitted patients with bipolar disorder I: The effect of impaired memory retrieval

Autobiographical memory (AM) has been studied extensively in different psychiatric disorders. However, less is known about AM in bipolar disorder (BD). Aim of the present study was to investigate BD patients’ ability to recall episodic and semantic autobiographical memories after controlling for the effect of other possible neurocognitive deficits. Participants included 30 clinically remitted outpatients with BD type I and 30 healthy controls, matched for age, gender and educational level. Autobiographical memory was examined by the Questionnaire of Autobiographical Memory. Premorbid intellectual functioning, verbal memory, verbal fluency, attention and working memory were also assessed. Bipolar patients were impaired in both episodic and semantic AM, compared with healthy individuals. Deficits involved recall of memories from childhood-adolescence, early adulthood and recent life. Additionally, patients were impaired in verbal memory compared with controls. Differences between study groups in both episodic and semantic AM remained significant even after controlling for the effect of verbal memory deficits. Remitted BD-I patients showed deficits in recalling personal episodic memories and facts dating to three different life periods. These deficits were independent of patients’ lower verbal memory performance. Additional research is required to gain a better understanding of the pattern and the mechanisms underlying AM impairment in BD.

Common Recruitment of Angular Gyrus in Episodic Autobiographical Memory and Bodily Self-Consciousness.

Parietal cortex and adjacent parts of the temporal cortex have recently been associated with bodily self-consciousness (BSC). Similarly, growing evidence suggests that the lateral parietal cortex is crucial for the subjective aspects of episodic autobiographical memory (EAM), which is based on the conscious experience of reliving past events. However, the neuroanatomical relationship between both fundamental aspects remains currently unexplored. Moreover, despite the wealth of neuroimaging data on EAM, only few neuroimaging studies have examined BSC and even fewer examined those aspects of BSC that are most closely related to EAM. Here, we investigated whether regions in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) that have been involved in spatial aspects of BSC (self-location and first-person perspective), as described by Ionta et al. (2011) are also active in studies investigating autobiographical memory. To examine this relation, we thus compared the regions indicated in the study by Ionta et al. (2011) based on data in healthy participants and neurological patients, with the results from a meta-analytical study we performed based on functional neuroimaging studies on EAM and semantic autobiographical memory (SAM). We report an anatomical overlap bilaterally in the angular gyrus (AG), but not in other parietal or temporal lobe structures between BSC and EAM. Moreover, there was no overlap between BSC and SAM. These preliminary data suggest that the bilateral AG may be a key structure for the conscious re-experiencing of past life episodes (EAM) and the conscious on-line experience of being located and experiencing the world in first-person (BSC).