Medial temporal lobe BOLD activity at rest predicts individual differences in memory ability in healthy young adults.

ABSTRACT: Human beings differ in their ability to form and retrieve lasting long-term memories. To explore the source of these individual differences, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activity in healthy young adults (n = 50) during periods of resting fixation that were interleaved with periods of simple cognitive tasks. We report that medial temporal lobe BOLD activity during periods of rest predicts individual differences in memory ability. Specifically, individuals who exhibited greater magnitudes of task-induced deactivations in medial temporal lobe BOLD signal (as compared to periods of rest) demonstrated superior memory during offline testing. This relationship was independent of differences in general cognitive function and persisted

SUBMITTER: Wig GS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2582045 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature