Activity in motor areas while remembering action events

Episodic memory for simple commands is better following enacted than verbal encoding. This has been proposed to be due to the possibility to base retr ieval on motor information. Here we used PET to test the hypothesis that mo tor brain areas show increased retrieval-related activity following enacted compared to verbal encoding. Brain activity was also monitored during retr ieval after imaginary enactment during encoding. It was found that activity in the right motor cortex was maximal following encoding enactment, interm ediate following imaginary encoding enactment, and lowest following verbal encoding. These findings provide support that one basis for the facilitatin g effect on memory performance of overt, and to a lesser degree covert, enc oding enactment is the possibility to base retrieval on motor information. NeuroReport 11:2199-2201 (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.