2017 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Remembering the dear past - how do emotions modulate the neural substrates of autobiographical memory recall?
| Project/Area Number |
17K00220
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| Research Institution | National Institute of Information and Communications Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
NAWA Norberto・E 国立研究開発法人情報通信研究機構, 脳情報通信融合研究センター脳機能解析研究室, 主任研究員 (40395116)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | autobiographical memory / episodic memory / hippocampus / ventromedial PFC / amygdala |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Autobiographical memories (AMs) are often colored by emotions experienced during an event or those arising following further appraisals. However, how affective components of memories such as emotional intensity or valence (i.e., positive or negative) affect the brain-wide network recruited during the recollection of AMs remains largely unknown.
In the fiscal year of 2017, we completed the collection of the neuroimaging data using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We performed several analyses, including a dynamic causal modelling analysis. Results primarily showed that the amygdala modulates the activity of the hippocampus during the elaboration of emotional memories, as we had hypothesized. However, most importantly, we also included the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in the network, and the results showed that the vmPFC is a major modulator of both amygdala and hippocampus. On the one hand, these results highlight the central role played by the hippocampus during memory elaboration, as it is a target for both amygdala and vmPFC. On the other hand, it also suggests an important role for the vmPFC, since it feeds both the amygdala and the hippocampus during memory elaboration. Since this research involves the participation of human subjects, we are paying utmost attention to act in accordance with the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology bylaws regarding the collection and handling of personal information, as stated in our original research plan.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
So far, this project has progressed smoothly and we were able to fulfill all the steps that were described in the original research plan for the fiscal year of 2017.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
For the fiscal year of 2018 and onwards, the original plan was to first examine where and how the emotional intensity and valence of autobiographical memories are represented during memory elaboration. We still plan to work towards fulfilling that goal, in parallel with another interesting question that has arisen, namely, do the interactions that we have identified between the amygdala-hippocampus-ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) during memory elaboration exist in the preceding stages of memory retrieval, i.e., memory search?
Our current results point out to the vmPFC as a major controller of both amygdala and hippocampal activity during memory elaboration. We plan to verify whether the same hierarchy exists during memory search.
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| Causes of Carryover |
A major reason for not incurring in the expenses as planned in the original research plan was that we have not yet succeeded in finding personnel willing to join this project under the conditions we can offer. Efforts will continue to find such a suitable staff, and at the same time we will consider other options to effectively use the allocated budget.
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