Korean J Leg Med.  2018 Nov;42(4):146-152. 10.7580/kjlm.2018.42.4.146.

Increased Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Activation during Accurate Eyewitness Memory Retrieval: An Exploratory Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

• Ham K
• Kim KP
• Jeong H
• Yoo SH

• KMID: 2427561
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2018.42.4.146

Abstract

We investigated the neural correlates of accurate eyewitness memory retrieval using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. We analyzed oxygenated hemoglobin (HbOâ‚‚) concentration in the prefrontal cortex during eyewitness memory retrieval task and examined regional HbOâ‚‚ differences between observed objects (target) and unobserved objects (lure). We found that target objects elicited increased activation in the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which is known for monitoring retrieval processing via bottom-up attentional processing. Our results suggest bottom-up attentional mechanisms could be different during accurate eyewitness memory retrieval. These findings indicate that investigating retrieval mechanisms using functional nearinfrared spectroscopy might be useful for establishing an accurate eyewitness recognition model.

Keyword

Memory; Recognition; Spectroscopy; near-infrared; Prefrontal cortex; Cognitive neuroscience

MeSH Terms

Cognitive Neuroscience
Memory*
Oxygen
Prefrontal Cortex*
Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared*
Spectrum Analysis
Oxygen