Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Subscribe

Logo for

Science 306 (5695): 435-440

Copyright © 2004 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Cognitive Memory: Cellular and Network Machineries and Their Top-Down Control

Yasushi Miyashita

Abstract: A brain-wide distributed network orchestrates cognitive memorizing and remembering of explicit memory (i.e., memory of facts and events). The network was initially identified in humans and is being systematically investigated in molecular/genetic, single-unit, lesion, and imaging studies in animals. The types of memory identified in humans are extended into animals as episodic-like (event) memory or semantic-like (fact) memory. The unique configurational association between environmental stimuli and behavioral context, which is likely the basis of episodic-like memory, depends on neural circuits in the medial temporal lobe, whereas memory traces representing repeated associations, which is likely the basis of semantic-like memory, are consolidated in the domain-specific regions in the temporal cortex. These regions are reactivated during remembering and contribute to the contents of a memory. Two types of retrieval signal reach the cortical representations. One runs from the frontal cortex for active (or effortful) retrieval (top-down signal), and the other spreads backward from the medial temporal lobe for automatic retrieval. By sending the top-down signal to the temporal cortex, frontal regions manipulate and organize to-be-remembered information, devise strategies for retrieval, and also monitor the outcome, with dissociated frontal regions making functionally separate contributions. The challenge is to understand the hierarchical interactions between these multiple cortical areas, not only with a correlational analysis but also with an interventional study demonstrating the causal necessity and the direction of the causality.

Department of Physiology, University of Tokyo School of Medicine, Hongo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.

E-mail: yasushi_miyashita{at}m.u-tokyo.ac.jp

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Specialized Cortical Subnetworks Differentially Connect Frontal Cortex to Parahippocampal Areas.
Y. Hirai, M. Morishima, F. Karube, and Y. Kawaguchi (2012)
J. Neurosci. 32, 1898-1913
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Perceptual Learning Incepted by Decoded fMRI Neurofeedback Without Stimulus Presentation.
K. Shibata, T. Watanabe, Y. Sasaki, and M. Kawato (2011)
Science 334, 1413-1415
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Reversal of Interlaminar Signal Between Sensory and Memory Processing in Monkey Temporal Cortex.
D. Takeuchi, T. Hirabayashi, K. Tamura, and Y. Miyashita (2011)
Science 331, 1443-1447
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
In vivo visualization of single-unit recording sites using MRI-detectable elgiloy deposit marking.
K. W. Koyano, A. Machino, M. Takeda, T. Matsui, R. Fujimichi, Y. Ohashi, and Y. Miyashita (2011)
J Neurophysiol 105, 1380-1392
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Retrieval of Associative Information Congruent with Prior Knowledge Is Related to Increased Medial Prefrontal Activity and Connectivity.
M. T. R. van Kesteren, M. Rijpkema, D. J. Ruiter, and G. Fernandez (2010)
J. Neurosci. 30, 15888-15894
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Triphasic Dynamics of Stimulus-Dependent Information Flow between Single Neurons in Macaque Inferior Temporal Cortex.
T. Hirabayashi, D. Takeuchi, K. Tamura, and Y. Miyashita (2010)
J. Neurosci. 30, 10407-10421
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Hierarchical Interaction Structure of Neural Activities in Cortical Slice Cultures.
G. S. Santos, E. D. Gireesh, D. Plenz, and H. Nakahara (2010)
J. Neurosci. 30, 8720-8733
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Thoughts Not Our Own: Whatever Happened to Selective Attention?.
B. M. Stafford (2009)
Theory Culture Society 26, 275-293
   Abstract »    PDF »
Effects of Familiarity on Neural Activity in Monkey Inferior Temporal Lobe.
B. Anderson, R. E.B. Mruczek, K. Kawasaki, and D. Sheinberg (2008)
Cereb Cortex 18, 2540-2552
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Internally Generated Reactivation of Single Neurons in Human Hippocampus During Free Recall.
H. Gelbard-Sagiv, R. Mukamel, M. Harel, R. Malach, and I. Fried (2008)
Science 322, 96-101
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Functional Architecture and Spike Timing Properties of Corticofugal Projections From Rat Ventral Temporal Cortex.
T. Chomiak, S. Peters, and B. Hu (2008)
J Neurophysiol 100, 327-335
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Neural Correlates of Availability and Accessibility in Memory.
R. Habib and L. Nyberg (2008)
Cereb Cortex 18, 1720-1726
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Towards understanding of the cortical network underlying associative memory.
T. Osada, Y. Adachi, H. M Kimura, and Y. Miyashita (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 2187-2199
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
How Progesterone Impairs Memory for Biologically Salient Stimuli in Healthy Young Women.
G. van Wingen, F. van Broekhoven, R. J. Verkes, K. M. Petersson, T. Backstrom, J. Buitelaar, and G. Fernandez (2007)
J. Neurosci. 27, 11416-11423
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Broad-Spectrum Efficacy across Cognitive Domains by {alpha}7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Agonism Correlates with Activation of ERK1/2 and CREB Phosphorylation Pathways.
R. S. Bitner, W. H. Bunnelle, D. J. Anderson, C. A. Briggs, J. Buccafusco, P. Curzon, M. W. Decker, J. M. Frost, J. H. Gronlien, E. Gubbins, et al. (2007)
J. Neurosci. 27, 10578-10587
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ventrolateral Prefrontal Neuronal Activity Related to Active Controlled Memory Retrieval in Nonhuman Primates.
G. Cadoret and M. Petrides (2007)
Cereb Cortex 17, i27-i40
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Functional Interactions between Prefrontal and Visual Association Cortex Contribute to Top-Down Modulation of Visual Processing.
A. Gazzaley, J. Rissman, J. Cooney, A. Rutman, T. Seibert, W. Clapp, and M. D'Esposito (2007)
Cereb Cortex 17, i125-i135
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Schemas and Memory Consolidation.
D. Tse, R. F. Langston, M. Kakeyama, I. Bethus, P. A. Spooner, E. R. Wood, M. P. Witter, and R. G. M. Morris (2007)
Science 316, 76-82
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Context preexposure prevents forgetting of a contextual fear memory: Implication for regional changes in brain activation patterns associated with recent and remote memory tests.
J. C. Biedenkapp and J. W. Rudy (2007)
Learn. Mem. 14, 200-203
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Emotional Arousal and Memory Binding: An Object-Based Framework.
M. Mather (2007)
Perspectives on Psychological Science 2, 33-52
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Temporal and spatial dynamics of brain structure changes during extensive learning..
B. Draganski, C. Gaser, G. Kempermann, H. G. Kuhn, J. Winkler, C. Buchel, and A. May (2006)
J. Neurosci. 26, 6314-6317
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Declarative memory consolidation in humans: A prospective functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
A. Takashima, K. M. Petersson, F. Rutters, I. Tendolkar, O. Jensen, M. J. Zwarts, B. L. McNaughton, and G. Fernandez (2006)
PNAS 103, 756-761
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Fast track to the medial prefrontal cortex.
P. W. Frankland and B. Bontempi (2006)
PNAS 103, 509-510
   Full Text »    PDF »
Retrieval Attempts Transiently Interfere with Concurrent Encoding of Episodic Memories But Not Vice Versa.
K. Allan and R. Allen (2005)
J. Neurosci. 25, 8122-8130
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Prefrontal cortex and the organization of recent and remote memories: An alternative view.
J. W. Rudy, J. C. Biedenkapp, and R. C. O'Reilly (2005)
Learn. Mem. 12, 445-446
   Full Text »    PDF »

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882