Encoding novel face-name associations: A functional MRI study

The process of forming new associations between previously unrelated items of information, such as a name and a face, likely requires the integration of activity within multiple brain regions. The hippocampus and related stru ctures in the medial temporal lobe are thought to be particularly critical in binding together items of information. We studied eight healthy young su bjects with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the encodin g of novel face-name associations compared to viewing repeated face-name pa irs. A consistent pattern of activation was observed in the hippocampus, pu lvinar nucleus of the thalamus, fusiform and dorsolateral prefrontal. corti ces across individual subjects. The location of the activation within the h ippocampus was more anterior than previously reported in studies using simi lar novel vs. repeated paradigms with stimuli that did not specifically req uire relational processing among unrelated items. These data suggest that t he process of forming new face-name associations is supported by a distribu ted network of brain regions, and provide additional evidence for the essen tial role of the hippocampus in associative memory processes. (C) 2001 Wile y-Liss, Inc.