The cognitive neuroscience of remembering

Remembering draws on a diverse array of cognitive processes to construct a representation that is experienced as a copy of the original past. The resu lts of brain-imaging, neuropsychological and physiological studies indicate that distinct neocortical regions might interact with medial temporal lobe structures to reinstate a memory. Frontal regions mediate the strategic re trieval attempt and monitor its outcome, with dissociated frontal regions m aking functionally separate contributions to retrieval. Parietal and fronta l regions might supply a signal that information is old during the process of retrieval, allowing us to perceive that reconstructed representations ar e memories, rather than the products of new stimuli in the environment. Dom ain-specific cortical regions are reactivated during vivid remembering and contribute to the contents of a memory. Here, we describe how these regions interact to orchestrate an act of remembering.