Recognition memory and prefrontal cortex: Dissociating recollection and familiarity processes using rTMS

Issue title: A New Impulse for Neuropsychology in Europe: The Federation of the European Societies of Neuropsychology

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Turriziani, Patrizia^; | Oliveri, Massimiliano^; | Salerno, Silvia | Costanzo, Floriana | Koch, Giacomo^; | Caltagirone, Carlo^; | Carlesimo, Giovanni Augusto^;

Affiliations: Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy | IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy | Clinica Neurologica, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy

Note: [] Corresponding author: Patrizia Turriziani, PhD, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 15, 90128 Palermo, Italy. Tel.: +39 0917028429; Fax: +39 0917028429; E-mail: p.turriziani@hsantalucia.it

Abstract: Recognition memory can be supported by both the assessment of the familiarity of an item and by the recollection of the context in which an item was encountered. The neural substrates of these memory processes are controversial. To address these issues we applied repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of healthy subjects performing a remember/know task. rTMS disrupted familiarity judgments when applied before encoding of stimuli over both right and left DLPFC. rTMS disrupted recollection when applied before encoding of stimuli over the right DLPFC. These findings suggest that the DLPFC plays a critical role in recognition memory based on familiarity as well as recollection.

Keywords: Recognition memory, recollection, familiarity, prefrontal cortex

Journal: Behavioural Neurology, vol. 19, no. 1-2, pp. 23-27, 2008