Functional organisation of the human medial temporal lobe

• Applicant: Dr. Tobias Sommer-Blöchl, since 1/2013
• Subject Area: Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
• Term: from 2009 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 141784378

The medial temporal lobes (MTL) of the primate brain have long been known to play a crucialrole in memory processes. Yet, the precise functional roles of the individual subregions thatconstitute this brain system remain a matter of controversy. Recent findings suggest that theinput regions of the MTL in the anterior and posterior parahippocampal gyrus, i.e. the perirhinal(PRC) and parahippocampal cortices (PHC), may operate on distinct types of representationsrelayed to them via neocortical afferences. This concept is known as domain-specificity.Numerous experimental findings are consistent with this hypothesis, yet systematicinvestigations remain sparse. Furthermore, recent data indicate that, apart from anatomicalsubdivisions, the PHC may also be functionally heterogeneous, with an anterior portionsupporting domain-general contextual processing and a posterior portion supporting spatialfunctions. Functional magnetic resonance imaging will be used to test the hypothesis that PRCand posterior PHC show domain-specificity during memory processing, whereas anterior PHCand hippocampus have a domain-general function. Such functional dissociations are expectedto be reflected also in distinct connectivity profiles of PRC and PHC subregions with theneocortex in man, which we aim to investigate using diffusion tensor imaging and probabilisticfibre tracking.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Christian Büchel
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Jan Peters, until 12/2012