Neuroimaging, memory and the human hippocampus

The hippocampus has long been implicated in mnemonic function, although its precise role is still keenly debated, Neuroimaging techniques such as posi tron emission tomography, functional magnetic resonance imaging and structu ral MRI, provide the means to examine in vivo the dynamic nature of human m emory. Here, I briefly discuss how neuroimaging has investigated complex re al-world memories of the kind typically reported lost by patients in the cl inical context. A role, paralleling that documented in animals, for the rig ht hippocampus in navigation is clearly apparent from functional and struct ural neuroimaging findings. In contrast, the left hippocampus is more respo nsive to memories for events that occur in a specific time and place (episo dic memory) that characterise one's personal, or autobiographical, memory s tore from throughout the lifetime. Neuroimaging is well-placed to extend ou r understanding of the differential contributions the left and right hippoc ampi make to aspects of memory and how they interface to produce a unitary representation of the past.