Resting connectivity between salience nodes predicts recognition memory

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Affective Science

Background:

• Resting-state functional connectivity in the brain's salience network, especially its ventral subsystem, is linked to affective reactivity.
• Heightened emotional arousal improves memory consolidation, implying a role for affect in memory enhancement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether individuals with greater ventral salience network connectivity show enhanced memory responses to affective experiences.
• To test the hypothesis that pre-existing ventral salience network connectivity predicts the extent to which affect modulates memory.

Main Methods:

• Resting-state functional connectivity of the ventral salience network was measured in 41 young adults.
• Participants underwent neutral and negative affect inductions during a paired-associate memory task.
• Memory performance was correlated with resting connectivity between ventral salience nodes (ventral anterior insula and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex).

Main Results:

• A significant interaction was found between mood induction condition (negative vs. neutral) and connectivity between the ventral anterior insula and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex.
• Connectivity within the ventral salience network predicted memory performance specifically for material encoded during negative affect induction, not neutral induction.

Conclusions:

• The intrinsic network state of the brain, as measured by resting-state connectivity, significantly influences how emotional experiences modulate memory.
• These findings have implications for understanding memory alterations in affective disorders, which involve changes in both brain connectivity and emotional processing.