A pilot fMRI study of event-based prospective memory in healthy adults

Objective To investigate the neural mechanism of prospective memory(PM) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods Fifteen healthy volunteers were enrolled, and all subjects were scanned with fMRI while performing the event-based PM tasks (double-task paradigm, including the ongoing task and PM task). And the image data were preprocessed and analyzed by using SPM8 software. Results (1) Compared to the control task, bilateral rostral prefrontal cortex (x, y, z=6/-2, 54/42, -8/-12, t=3.71), right somatosensory association area (x, y, z=14, -62, 64, t=4.64), superior temporal gyrus (x, y, z=42, -46, 16, t=3.95) and right paracentral lobule (x, y, z=10, -22, 76, t=4.01) were activated significantly by the ongoing task (P<0.001). (2) Bilateral rostral prefrontal cortex (x, y, z=-2/6, 42/54, -12/-12, t=3.28) and paracentral lobule (x, y, z=-30/10, -22/-22, 72/76, t=4.25), left postcentral gyrus (x, y, z=-38, -46, 64, t=3.13) and middle occipital gyrus (x, y, z=-30, -70, 0, t=3.97) were activated significantly by the PM task (P<0.001). Conclusion Rostral prefrontal cortex (BA 10 area) is the major area of prospective memory, and medial BA10 area may be involved in the monitoring of external cues.The present study supports the gateway hypotheses of prospective memory. Key words: Prospective Memory; Prefrontal Cortex; Brodmann Area 10