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Does hippocampus associate discontiguous events? Evidence from event-related fMRI

  1. Jing Luo1,3,
  2. Kazuhisa Niki2,3,*

Article first published online: 2 NOV 2004

DOI: 10.1002/hipo.20054

Issue

Hippocampus

Hippocampus

Volume 15, Issue 2, pages 141–148, 2005

Additional Information

How to Cite

Luo, J. and Niki, K. (2005), Does hippocampus associate discontiguous events? Evidence from event-related fMRI. Hippocampus, 15: 141–148. doi: 10.1002/hipo.20054

Author Information

  1. 1

    Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China

  2. 2

    Neuroscience Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

  3. 3

    Brainscience and Education, RISTEX, JST, Tokyo, Japan

*Neuroscience Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba central-2, 1-1-1 Umezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan 305-8568

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 3 MAR 2005
  2. Article first published online: 2 NOV 2004
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 1 SEP 2004

Funded by

  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Grant Numbers: 30370480, 30270464
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Grant Number: KSCX2-SW-221

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Keywords:

  • associative processing;
  • associations across time;
  • episodic memory;
  • hippocampus;
  • event-related fMRI

Abstract

To examine the hypothesis that the hippocampus is necessary to overcome temporal or spatial “discontiguity” (Wallenstein et al., Trends Neurosci 1998; 21:317–323), subjects were imaged by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) when they were making judgments as to whether two words were semantically related. Two words were presented, either at the same time (the Simultaneous Presentation Condition) or one after the other with a short unfilled rest period (the Delayed Presentation Condition). The latter condition, relative to the former, was proposed to involve the process of “discontiguity association.” Event-related fMRI results of eight subjects showed that, relative to the binding of simultaneously presented words, the binding of delay presented words was associated with left hippocampus activity. This result provided direct neuroimaging evidence for the role of the hippocampus in “discontiguity association.” © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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