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Amygdala lesions selectively impair familiarity in recognition memory

Nature Neuroscience volume 14, pages 1416–1417 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

A major controversy in the study of memory concerns whether there are distinct medial temporal lobe (MTL) substrates of recollection and familiarity. Studies using receiver operating characteristics analyses of recognition memory indicate that the hippocampus is essential for recollection, but not for familiarity. We found the converse pattern in the amygdala, wherein damage impaired familiarity while sparing recollection. Combined with previous findings, these results dissociate recollection and familiarity by selective MTL damage.

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Figure 1: Recognition memory task.
Figure 2: ROC function in recognition performance.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Yonelinas and M. Sauvage for their thoughtful comments on data analysis, and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) for valuable inspiration. This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Project Grant MH52090.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Memory and Brain, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Anja Farovik, Ryan James Place, Danielle Renée Miller & Howard Eichenbaum

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  1. Anja Farovik
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  2. Ryan James Place
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  3. Danielle Renée Miller
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  4. Howard Eichenbaum
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Contributions

H.E. and A.F. designed the study and wrote the manuscript. A.F. carried out the surgery and analyzed the data. R.J.P., D.R.M. and A.F. performed the experiment, and R.J.P. and A.F. performed the histological analysis.

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Correspondence to Howard Eichenbaum.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Supplementary Results, Supplementary Methods and Supplementary Figure 1 (PDF 81 kb)

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Farovik, A., Place, R., Miller, D. et al. Amygdala lesions selectively impair familiarity in recognition memory. Nat Neurosci 14, 1416–1417 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2919

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