BUILDING MEMORIES - REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING OF VERBAL EXPERIENCES AS PREDICTED BY BRAIN ACTIVITY

A fundamental question about human memory is why some experiences are remembered whereas others are forgotten. Brain activation during word encoding was measured using blocked and event-related functional magne tic resonance imaging to examine how neural activation differs for sub sequently remembered and subsequently forgotten experiences. Results r evealed that the ability to later remember a verbal experience is pred icted by the magnitude of activation in left prefrontal and temporal c ortices during that experience. These findings provide direct evidence that left prefrontal and temporal regions jointly promote memory form ation for verbalizable events.