Reduced multimodal integration of memory features following continuous theta burst stimulation of angular gyrus

Abstract Background Lesions of the angular gyrus (AnG) region of human parietal cortex do not cause amnesia, but appear to be associated with reduction in the ability to consciously experience the reliving of previous events. Objectives/Hypothesis We used continuous theta burst stimulation to test t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain stimulation 2017-05, Vol.10 (3), p.624-629
Main Authors: Yazar, Yasemin, Bergström, Zara M, Simons, Jon S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Auditory Perception
Brain stimulation
Female
Humans
Male
Memory
Mental Recall
Neurology
Parietal lobe
Parietal Lobe - physiology
Recollection
Source monitoring
Theta Rhythm
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Visual Perception
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Summary:Abstract Background Lesions of the angular gyrus (AnG) region of human parietal cortex do not cause amnesia, but appear to be associated with reduction in the ability to consciously experience the reliving of previous events. Objectives/Hypothesis We used continuous theta burst stimulation to test the hypothesis that the cognitive mechanism implicated in this memory deficit might be the integration of retrieved sensory event features into a coherent multimodal memory representation. Methods Healthy volunteers received stimulation to AnG or a vertex control site after studying stimuli that each comprised a visual object embedded in a scene, with the name of the object presented auditorily. Participants were then asked to make memory judgments about the studied stimuli that involved recollection of single event features (visual or auditory), or required integration of event features within the same modality, or across modalities. Results Participants' ability to retrieve context features from across multiple modalities was significantly reduced after AnG stimulation compared to stimulation of the vertex. This effect was observed only for the integration of cross-modal context features but not for integration of features within the same modality, and could not be accounted for by task difficulty as performance was matched across integration conditions following vertex stimulation. Conclusion These results support the hypothesis that AnG is necessary for the multimodal integration of distributed cortical episodic features into a unified conscious representation that enables the experience of remembering.
ISSN:1935-861X
1876-4754
DOI:10.1016/j.brs.2017.02.011