The subiculum: a key interface between scene representation and event memory?
Lead Research Organisation:
Cardiff University
Department Name: Sch of Psychology
Abstract
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Technical Summary
The subiculum lies at the interface between the hippocampus and the rest of the brain, and thus possesses unique significance for understanding human memory and how it emerges via anatomical and functional interactions within a broader neural network supporting scene representation, event memory and navigation. The subiculum's strategic anatomical position in the brain is also thought to confer particular vulnerability to poor later life cognitive outcomes in old age, as well as increased risk of dementia. Despite this, remarkably little is known about the subiculum's functional and connectional neuroanatomy in humans.
We will address this gap in our knowledge in this proposal by applying multimodal 7T imaging to investigate how the human subiculum - via its unique anatomical connectivity within an extended brain network - contributes to scene representation and event memory.
First, we will fuse whole-brain high-resolution diffusion and functional MRI (1.2mm isotropic) to map the extrinsic connections of the subiculum and their topography, thus providing vital new knowledge about how the subiculum is organised in the living human brain.
Second, we will use ultra-high-resolution fMRI (0.8mm isotropic), focused on the hippocampus and posteromedial cortex, to test whether the subiculum integrates scenes into unified representations during perception and memory.
Finally, we will use a naturalistic movie-viewing paradigm to test whether the subiculum's putative role in scene representation underpins a broader role in event perception and memory.
The findings from this proposal have the potential to reveal new insights into the neuroarchitecture of brain circuitry supporting human event memory, and facilitate the development of novel cognitive tools for assessing brain health across the life course.
We will address this gap in our knowledge in this proposal by applying multimodal 7T imaging to investigate how the human subiculum - via its unique anatomical connectivity within an extended brain network - contributes to scene representation and event memory.
First, we will fuse whole-brain high-resolution diffusion and functional MRI (1.2mm isotropic) to map the extrinsic connections of the subiculum and their topography, thus providing vital new knowledge about how the subiculum is organised in the living human brain.
Second, we will use ultra-high-resolution fMRI (0.8mm isotropic), focused on the hippocampus and posteromedial cortex, to test whether the subiculum integrates scenes into unified representations during perception and memory.
Finally, we will use a naturalistic movie-viewing paradigm to test whether the subiculum's putative role in scene representation underpins a broader role in event perception and memory.
The findings from this proposal have the potential to reveal new insights into the neuroarchitecture of brain circuitry supporting human event memory, and facilitate the development of novel cognitive tools for assessing brain health across the life course.
Organisations
Publications
Read ML
(2023)
A role for the fornix in temporal sequence memory.
in The European journal of neuroscience