Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory Consolidation

Abstract

The anatomical and neurophysiological bases of memory have been significantly advanced by integrative approaches bridging previously existing gaps between individual neuroscientific disciplines. The time- and content-based division of memory has been widely accepted: episodic and semantic memory, procedural memory and priming are frequently used terms. On the anatomical side, a division into forms of memory dependent on the limbic system (episodic and semantic information) and others (procedural memory and priming) being independent of these regions, has gained entrance into cognitive neuroscience as well. More disputed are ideas on the possible representation of stored information in the brain and on the existence of regions centrally implicated in its retrieval. Even more controversial are possible similarities between psychogenic and organic forms of amnesia. The present overview discusses these and related issues and points to some possibilities for integration. Last, but not least, this overview introduces the nine individual contributions making up this special issue on brain-memory interrelations.