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Updated: Aug 9, 2025
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Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotional Autobiographical Recollection
Published on: August 26, 2011
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Distinct brain networks for remote episodic memory depending on content and emotional experience
Anne Auguste1, Nicolas Fourcaud-Trocmé1, David Meunier2
1UMR 5292 CNRS, INSERM U1028, University Lyon1, Olfaction: From coding to Memory Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, F-69366 Lyon, France.
Progress in Neurobiology
|February 16, 2023
Summary
Rats can form and recall complex remote episodic memories, similar to humans. Brain imaging reveals that memory engrams are dynamic and influenced by emotional odor cues, impacting memory accuracy.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Episodic memory, crucial for personal narratives, is challenging to model comprehensively in animals.
- Mechanisms for storing remote, non-traumatic episodic memories remain largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and utilize a novel rodent task modeling human episodic memory (odor/place/context).
- To investigate the neural underpinnings (engrams) of remote episodic memory storage and retrieval.
Main Methods:
- A new behavioral task in rodents simulating human episodic memory components.
- Advanced behavioral and computational analyses.
- Cellular brain imaging and functional connectivity analyses.
Main Results:
- Rats successfully form and recollect integrated remote episodic memories of complex daily life events.
- Memory accuracy and content vary individually, influenced by emotional odor associations from initial experiences.
- Activated brain networks, including cortico-hippocampal and emotional odor networks, correlate with memory completeness and vividness.
- Episodic memory engrams are dynamic, with synaptic plasticity occurring during recall for memory updates.
Conclusions:
- This study provides the first direct evidence and neural correlates of remote episodic memory engrams in rodents.
- Emotional context, particularly odor-related, plays a critical role in maintaining accurate and vivid remote memories.
- Remote episodic memories are not static but are subject to ongoing dynamic changes and reinforcement during recall.
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