Default mode network gates the retrieval of task-irrelevant incidental memories

• Episodic memories can be retrieved by an intentional search for certain information. Alternatively, a past episode may enter our consciousness without any intention to retrieve it, prompted by a stimulus in our surroundings. Incidental retrieval does not occur upon each encounter with a familiar stimulus, suggesting that a gating mechanism exists which regulates incidental retrieval activity. We analyzed data from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study on incidental retrieval in healthy young adults and found that failure to incidentally retrieve was selectively associated with reduced activation of lateral and medial parietal regions as well as ventromedial frontal cortex, areas implicated in default mode network. This is the first demonstration that relative deactivation of the brain regions associated with the default mode gates the consciousness from currently irrelevant memories.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Neurovetenskaper (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Neurosciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Default mode network

Episodic memory

Incidental retrieval

Functional magnetic resonance imaging

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