Ad. Wagner et al., BUILDING MEMORIES - REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING OF VERBAL EXPERIENCES AS PREDICTED BY BRAIN ACTIVITY, Science, 281(5380), 1998, pp. 1188-1191
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.