FUNCTIONAL MAPPING OF VERBAL MEMORY AND LANGUAGE

Francis O. Schmitt wrote in his introduction to The Mindful Brain(1) that 'Many theories of higher brain function (learning, memory, perception, self-awareness, consciousness) have been proposed; but in general these lack cogency with respect to the established anatomical and physiological facts and are without biophysical and biochemical plausibility'. A central aim of functional mapping studies of the human brain is a physiological and anatomical description of the brain regions that participate in different brain functions. Language and memory have become, with the advent of modern imaging technologies, the subject of a comparatively large number of mapping studies in recent years. The quality of the data and of the experimental design continue to evolve so that sophisticated questions are being addressed, and convergent findings are now being reported. This article will critically review mapping studies of language and memory and assess how they advance our knowledge of the functional organization of these human faculties.