Cited by 41Cholinesterase and Neurodegenerative DiseasesMemory Processes and InfluencesMemory and Neural Mechanisms

Modulation of fusiform cortex activity by cholinesterase inhibition predicts effects on subsequent memory

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Bentley, P., Driver, J., Dolan, R.J.·2009·Brain

Abstract

Cholinergic influences on memory are likely to be expressed at several processing stages, including via well-recognized effects of acetylcholine on stimulus processing during encoding. Since previous studies have shown that cholinesterase inhibition enhances visual extrastriate cortex activity during stimulus encoding, especially under attention-demanding tasks, we tested whether this effect correlates with improved subsequent memory. In a within-subject physostigmine versus placebo design, we measured brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging while healthy and mild Alzheimer's disease subjects performed superficial and deep encoding tasks on face (and building) visual stimuli. We explored regions in which physostigmine modulation of face-selective neural responses correlated with physostigmine effects on subsequent recognition performance. In healthy subjects physostigmine led to enhanced later recognition for deep- versus superficially-encoded faces, which correlated across subjects with a physostigmine-induced enhancement of face-selective responses in right fusiform cortex during deep- versus superficial-encoding tasks. In contrast, the Alzheimer's disease group showed neither a depth of processing effect nor restoration of this with physostigmine. Instead, patients showed a task-independent improvement in confident memory with physostigmine, an effect that correlated with enhancements in face-selective (but task-independent) responses in bilateral fusiform cortices. Our results indicate that one mechanism by which cholinesterase inhibitors can improve memory is by enhancing extrastriate cortex stimulus selectivity at encoding, in a manner that for healthy people but not in Alzheimer's disease is dependent upon depth of processing.

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  1. Perry RJ, Watson P, Hodges JR. The nature and staging of attention dysfunction in early (minimal and mild) Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia 2000; 38: 252-71.

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Authors
Bentley, P., Driver, J., & Dolan, R. J.
Affiliations
Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
Venue
Brain
Published
2009-07-15
Volume
132
Issue
9
Pages
2356-2371
ISSN
  • 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-2156
OpenAlex
W2082602981
Cited by
41
References
103
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 2
FWCI
3.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Brain (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
Wellcome Trust
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Cholinesterase and Neurodegenerative Diseases
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Keywords
cholinesterase inhibition, physostigmine, fusiform cortex, face-selective responses, subsequent memory, recognition memory, levels of processing, encoding, acetylcholine, Alzheimer's disease
MeSH terms
Aged, Alzheimer Disease, Attention, Brain Mapping, Cholinesterase Inhibitors, Double-Blind Method, Face, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory, Memory Disorders, Middle Aged, Neural Pathways, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Photic Stimulation, Physostigmine, Reaction Time, Temporal Lobe

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