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Entorhinal Cortex Functional Connectivity during Item Long-Term Memory and the Role of Sex.
Dylan S Spets1, Scott D Slotnick2
1Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Brain Sciences
|March 29, 2023
Summary
Men show stronger brain connectivity than women in visual memory areas during item recall. This study explored sex differences in functional brain connectivity related to memory.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Existing research highlights sex differences in brain activity patterns during long-term memory.
- Evidence regarding sex differences in functional brain connectivity remains limited.
- Previous work identified sex differences in hippocampal connectivity during spatial memory.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate sex differences in functional connectivity of the perirhinal/entorhinal cortex during item memory.
- To examine the role of sex in the brain's functional networks supporting item memory.
Main Methods:
- Utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study brain activity during an item memory task.
- Defined an entorhinal region of interest (ROI) based on memory performance (hits vs. misses).
- Analyzed functional connectivity between the entorhinal ROI and other brain regions.
Main Results:
- The entorhinal ROI showed connectivity with visual memory and processing regions, including the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and visual cortex (V1, cuneus, lingual gyrus).
- Males exhibited greater functional connectivity than females between the right IFG/insula and visual areas (right V1/bilateral cuneus).
Conclusions:
- The findings reveal sex differences in functional brain connectivity associated with item memory.
- These results contribute to the understanding of sex-based variations in neural mechanisms underlying memory.
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