Signy Sheldon – 28 octobre 2016

Hippocampal contributions to memory and mental construction

The hippocampus is a critical brain structure for remembering our past. Current findings suggest that the hippocampus is recruited differently depending on the way we retrieve past event information. Other work has shown that hippocampal processes contribute to tasks outside the domain of remembering. In this talk, I will discuss neuroimaging evidence to support the idea that differences in the way information is retrieved is reflected in how we recruit particular subregions of the hippocampus. I will also discuss findings that suggest that the hippocampal processes that are needed for autobiographical memory are not exclusive to remembering, but contribute to a number of goal-oriented tasks. Finally, I will address a major question in autobiographical memory research by indicating how individual differences in approaches to remembering relate to underlying neurocognitive processes. Together, these experiments advocate for a view of the hippocampus as part of a flexible neural network that helps us recover information in different ways.