Autobiographical Memory across the Life Span Brain Imaging and Neuropsychology

Memory is defined as being composed of several systems, each with its distinct neural basis. Of these systems the episodic-autobiographical one is considered to have evolved latest and to be most vulnerable to brain damage or stress conditions. Especially structures of the limbic and the prefrontal cortex are regarded as essential for an appropriate processing of autobiographical events. The importance of these structures is exemplified on the basis of three principle disease conditions: Klüver-Bucy syndrome, Urbach-Wiethe disease and dissociative amnesia. These symptoms also serve to illustrate the vulnerability of autobiographical memory. Furthermore, functional imaging studies in normal subjects of different ages are used to depict the development of autobiographic memory across the life span and to argue for the importance of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex for an integrated binding of memory, based on aspects of time, self, and consciousness.