, 2005), although it has also been suggested that this “anticorrelation” may reflect a statistical

artifact ( Murphy et al., 2009; Anderson et al., 2011). Given the proposal that the neural systems mediating Cilengitide purchase attention and memory are anatomically segregated, and perhaps even in opposition, it is unclear what neural systems are involved when visual attention is recruited during episodic retrieval. Does the recruitment of visual attention by episodic retrieval engage the same brain regions implicated in top-down visual attention in the perceptual domain (dorsal attention network), brain regions associated with episodic retrieval (default network), or both? In the experiment described here, we directly investigated the recruitment of visual attention during episodic retrieval. Specifically, we dissociated attention

to specific perceptual detail and successful retrieval of specific perceptual detail. We accomplished this goal selleck screening library using a paradigm we recently developed that shows that gist-based false recognition, which occurs when one mistakenly recognizes an item that is similar to an item that was previously encountered ( Reyna and Brainerd, 1995; Koutstaal and Schacter, 1997), occurs primarily because of a failure to retrieve detailed information that is still stored in memory ( Guerin et al., 2012). Critically, our data established that attention to the specific perceptual details relevant to the task is not sufficient to overcome this failure. Rather, reinstatement of the studied item, a potent cue that enables participants to retrieve diagnostic details from memory, Carnitine dehydrogenase is required to substantially reduce gist-based false recognition. Thus, attention to specific perceptual details can occur in the absence of successful retrieval of task-relevant perceptual

details. In addition to shedding light on the mechanisms leading to memory distortion, this experimental paradigm also enables us to isolate and directly investigate the recruitment of visual attention during episodic retrieval. The experimental paradigm is illustrated in Figure 1. Participants study a series of pictures. Then, they undergo a memory test while brain activity is indirectly measured with fMRI. On each trial of the recognition test, participants are presented with three pictures. Their task is to select one of the pictures as a previously studied item or reject all three items as novel. Note that the task is not a forced-choice recognition task: on some trials, no target is presented and the correct response is to reject all three items as new. In contrast to standard yes/no recognition, in the present task participants are switching their attention between test items over the course of the trial.