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. 2005 Feb 15;102(7):2626-31.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.0409848102. Epub 2005 Feb 9.

Remembering one year later: role of the amygdala and the medial temporal lobe memory system in retrieving emotional memories

Florin Dolcos  1 , Kevin S LaBar, Roberto Cabeza
Affiliations

Remembering one year later: role of the amygdala and the medial temporal lobe memory system in retrieving emotional memories

Florin Dolcos et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

The memory-enhancing effect of emotion can be powerful and long-lasting. Most studies investigating the neural bases of this phenomenon have focused on encoding and early consolidation processes, and hence little is known regarding the contribution of retrieval processes, particularly after lengthy retention intervals. To address this issue, we used event-related functional MRI to measure neural activity during the retrieval of emotional and neutral pictures after a retention interval of 1 yr. Retrieval activity for emotional and neutral pictures was separately analyzed for successfully (hits) vs. unsuccessfully (misses) retrieved items and for responses based on recollection vs. familiarity. Recognition performance was better for emotional than for neutral pictures, and this effect was found only for recollection-based responses. Successful retrieval of emotional pictures elicited greater activity than successful retrieval of neutral pictures in the amygdala, entorhinal cortex, and hippocampus. Moreover, in the amygdala and hippocampus, the emotion effect was greater for recollection than for familiarity, whereas in the entorhinal cortex, it was similar for both forms of retrieval. These findings clarify the role of the amygdala and the medial temporal lobe memory regions in recollection and familiarity of emotional memory after lengthy retention intervals.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Corrected recognition scores (hits-FAs) for emotional and neutral pictures are presented. Emo, Emotional; Neu, Neutral; Remember, Recollection-based responses; Know, Familiarity-based responses.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Greater RS in the AMY and MTL memory systems for emotional than for neutral pictures. Compared with the neutral RS, the overall emotional RS was associated with greater activity in the AMY, EC, and HC. In the left column are presented representative brain slices showing the active voxels as identified in the MTL subregions by random-effects group analysis comparing Emo RS with Neu RS. The active voxels (in color) are displayed on a high-resolution anatomical image normalized to the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) template. The numbers at the left bottom side of each brain slice (e.g., y =-4) represent the y values in MNI space. On the right column are presented graphs displaying the emotional and neutral RS expressed in percent signal change as extracted from the active voxels identified in the MTL subregions. RS (hits-misses); Emo, emotional; Neu, neutral; L, left; and R, right.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Differential effects of recollection on RS activity for emotional pictures on different MTL subregions. In the right AMY and HC head, RS activity for emotional pictures was greater for recollection than for familiarity, whereas in the EC, it was similar for recollection and familiarity. For the AMY and HC head, the bars are based on the percent signal change extracted from the voxels showing the maximum recollection vs. familiarity difference. RS, hits-misses; Remember, recollection-based RS (hits-R > misses); Know, familiarity-based RS (hits-K > misses); Emo, emotional; and Neu, neutral.
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