The mind's eye – precuneus activation in memory-related imagery

“The precuneus, corresponding to monkey area PGm or 7m, participates to memory- and imageryrelated processes (Fletcher et al. 1995), which are plausibly involved when recalling the visual scene in the environment-centered frame of reference.”

“These regions have previously been found to activate during visual imagery tasks (Ishai, Ungerleider, & Haxby, 2000; Kosslyn & Thompson, 2000; Suchan et al., 2002), as well as during tasks involving visuospatial working memory or attention (Culham & Kanwisher, 2001; Fletcher et al., 1995; Labar, Gitelman, Parrish, & M…”

“Sixteen subjects (8 women and 8 men, mean age 26.8 Ϯ 4.38 yr) participated in the experiment after giving informed consent to procedures approved by the UC Berkeley Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects.”

“…et al. (1994) found orbitofrontal activation during SPECT during a simple theory of mind test requiring recognition of mental state terms, while Fletcher et al. (1995) found activation in Brodmanns area 8&9 in the left medial frontal cortex during a task of deception and belief attribution.”

“Previous functional imaging studies suggest a role for the precuneus in mental imagery during episodic memory retrieval (Shallice et al. 1994; Fletcher et al. 1995).”

“This also fits with the activation of the medial precuneus, which has been previously involved in imagery (Fletcher et al. 1995, 1996), also in the motor domain (Bonda et al. 1995; Parsons et al. 1995; Gerardin et al. 2000; Ruby and Decety 2001; Hanakawa et al. 2003).”

“The mental visual representations of those objects, places, and routes are produced by an area of the brain called the mind’s eye (Precuneus).(19) Because there is an overall decline of cognitive abilities in dementia, it is expected that the prerequisite to orientation, which is cognitive mapping, is also limited.”

“Fletcher et al. (1995) demonstrated the activation of precuneus during the recall of imaginable paired associates, and this activity was interpreted in association with the use of visual imagery strategy.”

“When remember judgments were directly contrasted with know judgments, a signifi cant cluster of activation was found in the precuneus, a region implicated in many episodic memory retrieval (e.g., Fletcher et al., 1995; Shannon and Buckner, 2004; Yago and Ishai, 2006; Yonelinas et al., 2005) and visual imagery (Ishai e…”

“In the present context, this possibility is pertinent in the case of the precuneus, a cortical region active during memory-related imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995) and one where we and Shulman et al. (1997c) found deactivation at neighboring sites (Table 3).”

“Because it is involved with visuospatial processing and memory, it is called the mind’s eye (Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“Activation was also observed the precuneus, a region which has been associated with representation of shape and spatial location (Baker et al., 1994; Haxby et al., 1991), visual imagery (Roland and Gulyas, 1994), and memory-related imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995a,b).”

“The precuneus is activated by tasks that require long-term memory [3] and by tasks that require imagery [9,19].”

“Neuronal reinstatement relating to consolidation has been described in rodents (Davidson et al., 2009; Karlsson and Frank, 2009; Foster and Wilson, 2006) and Received May 7, 2015; revised Aug. 20, 2015; accepted Aug. 31, 2015.”

“Activation of the precuneus could be related to the generally accepted role of this area in the recall of visual scenes (Fletcher et al. 1995).”

“Activationof this region was initially thought to reflect visual imagery processes during retrieval (e.g., Fletcher et al., 1995), although this interpretation has subsequently been challenged (e.g., Buckner, Raichle, Miezin, & Peterson, 1996; Krause et al., 1999; Maguire, Frith, & Morris, 1999)…”

“node of the neural substrate of visual imagery occurring in memory recall (Buckner et al. 1995; Fletcher et al. 1995; Halsband et al. 1998; Henson et al. 1999; Ishai et al. 2000; Lambert et al. 2004).”

“Similarly, the human parietal cortex is activated during tasks based on object features (Roland et al., 1990; Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“…Frith & Frith, 2012; Saxe & Kanwisher, 2003), retrieval of information from long termmemory (precuneus; Burgess, Maguire, Spiers, & O’Keefe, 2001; Fletcher et al., 1995; GornoTempini et al., 1998; Ishai et al., 2000; Leveroni et al., 2000), and emotional response and processing of biological…”

“2006), episodic memory encoding and retrieval (Fletcher et al. 1995; Cavanna & Trimble, 2006) and self-referential processing (Kircher et al.”

“In contrast, the PCC/anterior precuneus is linked to specific aspects of EMR, including memory-related imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995), recollection of contextual details (Henson et al.”

“…however, that these processes can also act on information retrieved from semantic memory; what matters is not the memory system from which information is retrieved, but that the information is evaluated with regard to whether it belongs to a specific past episode (cf. Fletcher et al., 1995a).”

“The precuneus has been associated with a number of higher order cognitive functions important for mnemonic processes, including visuospatial imagery, familiarity and self-referential processes (Cavanna and Trimble, 2006; Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“…parietal regions with spatial navigation (Burgess et al., 2002; Bird and Burgess, 2008; Epstein, 2008; Vann et al., 2009), episodic memory (Wagner et al., 2005; Viard et al., 2007, 2010, 2011), and imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995; Burgess et al., 2001; Cavanna and Trimble, 2006; Byrne et al., 2007).”

“The cuneus and precuneus are principal areas involved in conscious recall of memory-related imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995) and may participate in representation of polymodal imagery associated with successful memory retrieval (Maddock et al., 2001), namely these brain areas play a specific role in…”

“... is correct, then this integration is clearly not essential for the retrieval of mental images, however complex they may be. The location of our patient's lesions at the border between the occipital and the temporal lobes would suggest that visual mental imagery is mediated by neural structures placed outside the o…”

“The precuneus has been called ‘‘the mind’s eye’’ for its role in memory-related visual imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“This representation is assumed to be in a medial parietal area (the precuneus), following functional imaging studies of the imageability of retrieval products (e.g., Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“It is interesting that, because of its central role in visual imagery, it was described twenty years ago as “the mind's eye” (Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“Likewise, cochlear implant patients may expect, visual representation (Fletcher et al., 1995) of the sound even in the absence of visual input, to use the visual source sources which (like memory mechanisms) might help task of sounds to resolve acoustic ambiguities.”

“…that imagery valence of the HF characters can be higher than low-frequency characters used in the experiment so that early visual processing might be invoked automatically, which in turn couples with semantic association and targets the precuneus in the context of retrieval (Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“…Vaidya, Zhao, Desmond, & Gabrieli, 2002; Ishai, Ungerleider, & Haxby, 2000; Wheeler, Petersen, & Buckner, 2000; Kosslyn, Thompson, & Alpert, 1997; Fletcher et al., 1995), our findings of activity in visual processing regions (e.g., superior occipital gyrus and precuneus) likely reflect the…”

“These findings indicate that obesity is associated with reduced functional activity in core brain areas supporting episodic memory and that insulin resistance may be a key player in this association.”

“The precuneus is involved in the retrieval of visuomotor sequences (Fletcher et al, 1995) and in the imagination of motor actions in space (Ogido et al, 2000; Ruby & Decety, 2001).”

“The forward part of the precuneus is related to the mental imagery concerning the self, and the posterior areas are involved with episodic memory.(26) It is associated with the left prefrontal cortex and involved with the recall of episodic memory, including past self-related episodes.”

“…heard also report activation in the anterior fusiform-and parahippocampal gyri and in the hippocampus (Bartha et al., 2003; DÕEsposito et al., 1997; Fletcher et al., 1995; Wise et al., 2000), though others have failed to find a difference between concrete and abstract words (Buchel, Price, &…”

“Its role in the present setting is probably multiple: There are likely engagements related to anticipation, arousal, visual imagery or re-experiencing [6, 16–18,44,59] and to hypothesis testing and response selection [16] – processes necessary for a successful retrieval of already experienced information.”

“…in regions mediating episodic imagery, detail and the contextual content of autobiographical events in young adults: the hippocampus (Addis and Schacter, 2008), parahippocampal cortex (Szpunar, Chan, & McDermott, 2009) and the precuneus (Fletcher et al., 1995; Hassabis, Kumaran, & Maguire, 2007).”

“Differences detected by visual inspection in the arithmetical/interference task minus rest/interference compared to the arithmetical task minus rest, were tested using a masking approach, thereby yielding a more sensitive method of analysis (Fletcher et al., 1995b, 1995a).”

“Patients also showed greater activations than controls in a dorsal occipital region (precuneus, BA 19) that has been associated with episodic verbal retrieval (Grasby et al., 1994; Krause et al., 1998) and memory-related imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“It has been argued that this latter region acts as the 'mind's eye' allowing the inspection of mental images (Fletcher et al., 1995; Burgess et al., 2001), a function it performs as part of the network including the retrosplenial cortex and MTL (Burgess et al., 2001; Moscovitch et al., 2005; Byrne…”

“The precuneus is known to be involved in episodic memory retrieval and in imagery processes (Grasby et al., 1993; Tulving et al., 1994; Kosslyn, 1994; Fletcher et al., 1995, 1996).”

“Furthermore, neuroimaging investigations of memory-related visual imagery reported activation of a medial parietal lobe area called the precuneu”

“The precuneus has repeatedly been associated with mental imagery during memory tasks (Fletcher et al., 1995, 1996; Ghaem et al., 1997).”

“We also observed more activity in the precuneus, a region thought to support visual imagery during EM and AM (Burgess, Maguire, Spiers, & OʼKeefe, 2001; Snyder, Grieve, Brotchie, & Andersen, 1998; Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“Activation of these areas has been found during spatial navigation and retrieval of episodic spatial relations (Fletcher et al., 1995; Parslow et al., 2004; Rosenbaum et al., 2004) as well as during scene construction (Hassabis and Hippocampus Maguire, 2007).”

“As the so-called “mind’s eye” (Fletcher et al., 1995), the precuneus has long been associated with mental imagery processes during St Jacques et al.”

“Ventral precuneus is one of the regions most consistently activated during tasks that are heavily dependent on visual imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995; Kosslyn, 2003).”

“…are altered by antidepressant interventions in mid-life and geriatric depressed patients (eg Mayberg et al, 2000; Smith et al, 1999, 2002a) and also overlap with the regions activated by mood induction paradigms, as well as attentional and memory tasks (eg Liotti et al, 2000; Fletcher et al, 1995).”

“The precuneus is another region that has often implicated for memory-related imagery (Bottini et al., 1994; Fletcher, Shallice, Frith, Frackowiak, & Dolan, 1996; Fletcher et al., 1995; Just, Newman, Keller, McEleney, & Carpenter, 2004; Kosslyn, 1994).”

“The effect of this type of vivid detail is not limited to when people witness events first hand, but extends to when they read text or listen to rhetoric that brings this type of vivid detail to mind (Fletcher, Frith, Baker, Shallice, Frackowiak, & Dolan, 1995).”

“The posterior medial parietal region observed here has been implicated in connection to visual imagery (Fletcher et al., 1995; Knauff et al., 2002, but see Buckner et al., 1996).”

“In addition, the precuneus which was active during both session one and two may mediate the inspection of imagery in service of mental navigation (Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“These regions are also activated in mood induction paradigms, attentional and memory tasks, and during conditions of hunger and satiety (Liotti et al., 2000, Fletcher et al., 1995, Tataranni et al., 1999).”

“Activity in the precuneus has been linked to mental imagery recall (Fletcher et al., 1995; Shallice et al., 1994) and could represent stronger subjective re-experiencing of emotional images (Cavanna & Trimble, 2006).”

“As for the left precuneus, this region was reported to be active when subjects recollected a previously encoded image (Fletcher et al., 1995).”

“BA refers to approximate Brodmann area corresponding to atlas coordinates.”

“This suggestion has neurological parallels since areas involved in visual imagery (e.g., precuneus; Fletcher et al., 1995; Fulford et al., 2018) are activated when members of the general population”