Memory consolidation in humans: new evidence and opportunities

New Findings What is the topic of this review? This lecture is concerned with autobiographical memory representations, how they evolve and change over time, and the brain regions that support them. What advances does it highlight? The use of high resolution structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging combined with methods such as multi-voxel pattern analysis are opening up new opportunities to study memory consolidation in vivo in humans. We are endlessly fascinated by memory; we desire to improve it and fear its loss. While it has long been recognized that brain regions such as the hippocampus are vital for supporting memories of our past experiences (autobiographical memories), we still lack fundamental knowledge about the mechanisms involved. This is because the study of specific neural signatures of autobiographical memories in vivo in humans presents a significant challenge. However, recent developments in high-resolution structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging coupled with advanced analytical methods now permit access to the neural substrates of memory representations that has hitherto been precluded in humans. Here, I describe how the application of decoding' techniques to brain-imaging data is beginning to disclose how individual autobiographical memory representations evolve over time, deepening our understanding of systems-level consolidation. In particular, this prompts new questions about the roles of the hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex and offers new opportunities to interrogate the elusive memory trace that has for so long confounded neuroscientists.