The mind's eye – precuneus activation in memory-related imagery
Open accessAbstract
We examined brain activity associated with visual imagery at episodic memory retrieval using positron emission tomography (PET). Twelve measurements of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were taken in six right-handed, healthy, male volunteers. During six measurements, they were engaged in the cued recall of imageable verbal paired associates. During the other six measurements, they recalled nonimageable paired associates. Memory performance was equalized across all word lists. The subjects' use of an increased degree of visual imagery during the recall of imageable paired associates was confirmed using subjective rating scales after each scan. Memory-related imagery was associated with significant activation of a medial parietal area, the precuneus. This finding confirms a previously stated hypothesis about the precuneus and provides strong evidence that it is a key part of the neural substate of visual imagery occurring in conscious memory recall.
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These regions have been linked previously with episodic imagery, contextual detail and scene construction processes important to both past and future events.
“Notably, these regions have been linked previously with episodic imagery, contextual detail and scene construction processes important to both past and future events (Fletcher et al., 1995;Bar and Aminoff, 2003;Okuda et al., 2003;Hassabis and Maguire, 2007;Hassabis et al., 2007a;Szpunar et al., 2009;Andrews-Hanna et al., 2010).”
From Considering the role of semantic memory in episodic future thinking: evidence from semantic dementia (2012) · cites this paper as Fletcher et al., 1995
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“In a landmark PET study, Fletcher et al. (1995) used a mnemonic strategy during retrieval to test a hypothesis about the possible relationship of precuneus activity to visual imagery.”
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“The precuneus, which supports episodic imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995), was also expected to be active primarily during elaboration, and indeed the left precuneus exhibited this pattern of responsiveness .”
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“According to the nomenclature of Talairach and Tournoux, this region is the lateral border of the precuneus, an area often implicated in episodic retrieval and which has been associated with imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995, 1996; but see Buckner et al., 1996).”
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“Therefore, it is conceivable that the bilateral activity seen in the precuneus is related to its role in visuo-spatial processing [Fletcher et al., 1995], and in the imagination of con- Figure 5.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialTransition of Brain Activation from Frontal to Parietal Areas in Visuomotor Sequence Learning
Sakai, K., Hikosaka, O., Miyauchi, S., Takino, R., Sasaki, Y., & Pütz, B. (1998) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.18-05-01827.1998 · Cited by 468 · see citing works
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“Notably, these regions have been linked previously with episodic imagery, contextual detail and scene construction processes important to both past and future events (Fletcher et al., 1995; Bar and Aminoff, 2003; Okuda et al., 2003; Hassabis and Maguire, 2007; Hassabis et al., 2007a; Szpunar et al., 2009; Andrews-Hann…”
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“Brain Regions Activated during Both CA and CL Conditions (Conjunction Analysis) Talairach Coordinates T score T score”
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“…precuneual activation (e.g., Cabeza and Nyberg, 2000; Rugg and Henson, 2003) as well as work that has shown the precuneus to be involved in mental imagery recall (e.g., Fletcher et al., 1995; Grasby et al., 1993; Shallice et al., 1994) and retrieval independent of imagery (Krause et al., 1999).”
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“Moreover, imagery activated the precuneus, a region involved in retrieval from episodic memory during memory-related imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995; Ishai et al., 2000a).”
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“The posterior cingulate/precuneus is involved in the retrieval of images and other long-term memories (Burgess et al., 2001; Fletcher et al., 1995; Gorno-Tempini et al., 1998; Ishai et al., 2000; Leveroni et al., 2000; Nakamura et al., 2001; Shah et al., 2001).”
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“These regions are known to play a role in visuospatial processing, and the precuneus and parietal regions have been associated with visual imagery in episodic memory retrieval (e.g., Andreasen et al., 1999; Burgess et al., 2001; Cabeza and Nyberg, 2000; Cabeza et al., 2003; Fletcher et al., 1995).”
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“The precuneus is a principal area involved in the conscious recall of memory-related imagery (20) and may participate in the representation of polymodal imagery associated with successful memory retrieval (5).”
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“Given that all the event types required some degree of visual imagery, this finding is consistent with a suggested link between the precuneus and episodic imagery processes (Fletcher et al., 1995).”
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“It has been proposed that activity in the precuneus reflects the requirement for mental imagery during retrieval (Fletcher et al., 1995).”
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“Activations were observed bilaterally in polar aspects of the ATL (for similar results see Fletcher et al., 1995b).”
BackgroundAnderson, N. D., Iidaka, T., Cabeza, R. E. L., Kapur, S., McIntosh, A. R., & Craik, F. I. M. (2000) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892900562598 · Cited by 258 · see citing works
Attenuated Frontal Activation During a Verbal Fluency Task in Patients With Schizophrenia
Curtis, V. A., Bullmore, E. T., Brammer, M. J., Wright, I. C., Williams, S., Morris, R. G., Sharma, T. S., Murray, R. M., & McGuire, P. K. (1998) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.155.8.1056 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Disrupted cortical connectivity theory as an explanatory model for autism spectrum disorders
Kana, R. K., Libero, L. E., & Moore, M. S. (2011) · Physics of Life Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.plrev.2011.10.001 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
Neural correlates of religious experience
Azari, N. P., Nickel, J., Wunderlich, G., Niedeggen, M., Hefter, H., Tellmann, L., Herzog, H. R., Stoerig, P., Birnbacher, D., & Seitz, R. J. (2001) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1046/j.0953-816x.2001.01527.x · Cited by 252 · see citing works
“The medial parietal area activated in the religious subjects was the precuneus, which has strong anatomical connections to prefrontal cortex (Goldman-Rakic, 1988; Petrides & Pandya, 1984), and plays a key role in visual memory (Fletcher et al., 1995).”
BackgroundThe Concreteness Effect: Evidence for Dual Coding and Context Availability
Jessen, F., Heun, R., Erb, M., et al. (2000) · Brain and Language · doi:10.1006/brln.2000.2340 · Cited by 245 · see citing works
Neural correlates of semantic and episodic memory retrieval
Wiggs, C. L., Weisberg, J., & Martin, A. D. (1998) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(98)00044-x · Cited by 245 · see citing works
Learning by strategies and learning by drill—evidence from an fMRI study
Delazer, M., Ischebeck, A. K., Domahs, F., Zamarian, L., Koppelstaetter, F., Siedentopf, C., Kaufmann, L., Benke, T., & Felber, S. R. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.12.009 · Cited by 240 · see citing works
“Whether this activation is related to visual imagery in memory processes (Fletcher et al., 1995) or is also found in retrieval regardless of visual imagery (Krause et al., 1999; Schmidt et al., 2002) has been discussed.”
Dissociable Temporal Lobe Activations during Emotional Episodic Memory Retrieval
Dolan, R. J., Lane, R., Chua, P., & Fletcher, P. (2000) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.2000.0538 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
“Furthermore, the profile of retrieval-related activation in these regions has been shown to be modulated by the nature of the stimulus material, for example, whether it is verbal, visual, or imageable (Fletcher et al., 1995).”
BackgroundSelf-citationReopening the Mental Imagery Debate: Lessons from Functional Anatomy
Mellet, E., Petit, L., Mazoyer, B., Denis, M., & Tzourio, N. (1998) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.1998.0355 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
“, is involved in the imagery process that accompanies the recollection (Fletcher et al., 1995), or whether it is independent of this process (Buckner et al.”
BackgroundLearning to find your way: a role for the human hippocampal formation
Maguire, E. A., Frackowiak, R. S. J., & Frith, C. (1996) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.1996.0255 · Cited by 236 · see citing works
Self-citationMarkowitsch, H. J., Vandekerckhove, M. M. P., Lanfermann, H., & Russ, M. (2003) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/s0010-9452(08)70858-x · Cited by 231 · see citing works
Functional abnormalities of the default network during self- and other-reflection in autism
Kennedy, D. P., & Courchesne, E. (2008) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsn011 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
“…used a self- and otherreflection task, which has been shown previously to robustly activate regions of the default network, including the MPFC, RSC/PCC and ANG (Fletcher et al., 1995; Gusnard et al., 2001; Johnson et al., 2002; Kelley et al., 2002; Gallagher and Frith, 2003; Ochsner et al., 2005).”
BackgroundInfluentialDesgranges, B., Baron, J., & Eustache, F. (1998) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.1998.0359 · Cited by 231 · see citing works
Posner, J. E., Russell, J. A., Gerber, A. J., Gorman, D. A., Colibazzi, T., Yu, S., Wang, Z., Kangarlu, A., Hongtu Zhu, B., & Peterson, B. S. (2008) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.20553 · Cited by 225 · see citing works
“…studies of the right precuneus have reported activation during spatial memory tasks that require a significant reallocation of attentional resources and that are frequently associated with negatively valenced emotions, such as frustration or anger [Fletcher et al., 1995; Ghaem et al., 1997].”
BackgroundNeural correlates of cross-modal binding
Bushara, K. O., Hanakawa, T., Immisch, I., Toma, K., Kansaku, K., & Hallett, M. (2003) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn993 · Cited by 226 · see citing works
“These were all in occipital and temporal areas, except for the precuneus—an area known to be active during visual imager”
BackgroundDeriving meaning: Distinct neural mechanisms for metaphoric, literal, and non-meaningful sentences
Stringaris, A. K., Medford, N., Giampietro, V., Brammer, M. J., & David, A. S. (2005) · Brain and Language · doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2005.08.001 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
“Parietal areas, in particular the precuneus, have been consistently implicated in memory-related imagery (Bottini et al., 1994; Kosslyn, 1994; Fletcher et al., 1995; Fletcher, Shallice, Frith, Frackowiak, & Dolan, 1996).”
BackgroundCortical midline involvement in autobiographical memory
Summerfield, J., Hassabis, D., & Maguire, E. (2009) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.09.033 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
“In support of this, several studies have implicated the precuneus in imagery and visualisation of visual-spatial information in perception andmemory (Cavanna and Trimble, 2006; Fletcher et al., 1995).”
Neural substrates for recognition of familiar voices: a PET study
Nakamura, K., Kawashima, R., Sugiura, M., Kato, T., Nakamura, A., Hatano, K., Nagumo, S., Kubota, K., Fukuda, H., Ito, K., et al. (2001) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(01)00037-9 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Brain Regions Differentially Involved in Remembering What and When: a PET Study
Cabeza, R. E. L., Mangels, J. A., Nyberg, L. H., Habib, R., Houle, S., McIntosh, A. R., & Tulving, E. (1997) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80967-8 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
“…since in each trial of the tests subjects saw one old word and one new word in the item conditionsodic memory retrieval (e.g., Kapur et al., 1995; Fletcher et al., 1995b; Moscovitch et al., 1995; Haxby et al., 1996; but two old words in the temporal-order condition, it is possible that some of…”
BackgroundSimons, J. S., Koutstaal, W., Prince, S. E., Wagner, A. D., & Schacter, D. L. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00096-x · Cited by 210 · see citing works
“Only the precuneus region differentiated between repeated same and repeated different objects, F (1, 15) ϭ 6.7, P Ͻ 0.05, perhaps consistent with the proposed role for this region in visual imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995).”
BackgroundInfluentialHawes, Z. C. K., Sokolowski, H. M., Ononye, C. B., & Ansari, D. (2019) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.05.007 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
Lundstrom, B. N. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.07.017 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
“Activation of the precuneus has been proposed to play a crucial role in mental imagery used during recall, such as during imagery of concrete nouns (e.g., Grasby et al., 1993; Fletcher et al., 1995; Shallice et al., 1994).”
Attention-related activity during episodic memory retrieval: a cross-function fMRI study
Cabeza, R. E. L., Dolcos, F., Prince, S. E., Rice, H. J., Weissman, D. H., & Nyberg, L. H. (2002) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00170-7 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Sex Differences in Spatial Cognition: Advancing the Conversation
Levine, S. C., Foley, A., Lourenco, S., Ehrlich, S., & Ratliff, K. (2016) · WIREs Cognitive Science · doi:10.1002/wcs.1380 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
“In contrast, men showed greater activation than women in areas implicated in automatic, effortless task performance, including the basal ganglia as well as in Broadmann area 7, implicated in memory-related visual imagery.(94) Only a few studies have examined whether there are sex differences in the brain areas involve…”
Brain mechanisms associated with top-down processes in perception
Frith, C., & Dolan, R. J. (1997) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.1997.0104 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
“Previous brain imaging studies suggest that this region is involved in a crude form of imagery associated with long-term memory (Fletcher et al. 1995).”
BackgroundSelf-citationRowe, J. B., & Passingham, R. E. (2001) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.2001.0784 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
- Authors
- Fletcher, P. C., Frith, C. D., Baker, S. C., Shallice, T., Frackowiak, R. S. J., & Dolan, R. J.
- Affiliations
- The Royal Free Hospital (GB)
- Venue
- NeuroImage
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1995-09
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 195-200
- ISSN
- 1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1966326035
- Cited by
- 680
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 41 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 8.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- Locations
- NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- SDL (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- precuneus, visual imagery, episodic memory retrieval, paired associates, imageability, medial parietal cortex, regional cerebral blood flow
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention, Brain Mapping, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Imagination, Male, Paired-Associate Learning, Parietal Lobe, Mental Recall, Reference Values, Regional Blood Flow, Tomography, Emission-Computed, Visual Perception
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