The Neural Correlates of Encoding Memory Associations

Abstract

A veridical memory for an episodic event contains multiple pieces of information, which include associations between different items in the environment, temporal information about when different items were experienced, and contextual information such as where the items were experienced. In a series of three experiments presented in this thesis, the subsequent memory procedure was used to investigate the neural correlates of successfully encoding these various types of episodic memory associations. The overarching aim of these studies was to identify neural correlates that indexed encoding operations that led to later successful memory for item-item, item-context, and temporal order information. Although each type of memory association had been investigated on its own in previous studies, the three experiments in this dissertation were the first to investigate the neural correlates of encoding item-item and item-context/temporal order associations within a common study episode. The first two experiments employed fMRI techniques to directly contrast the encoding of item-item and temporal order/item-context associations, respectively. The third experiment employed EEG/ERP techniques to directly contrast the encoding of item-item and item-context associations. Collectively, the findings across the three experiments further our understanding of the neural correlates underlying the memory encoding of different aspects of an experience.