Memory of music: roles of right hippocampus and left inferior frontal gyrus

Abstract

We investigated neural correlates of retrieval success for music memory using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. To minimize the interference from MRI scan noise, we used sparse temporal sampling technique. Newly composed music materials were employed as stimuli, which enabled us to detect regions in absence of effects of experience with the music stimuli in this study. Whole brain analyses demonstrated significant retrieval success activities in the right hippocampus, bilateral lateral temporal regions, left inferior frontal gyrus and left precuneus. Anatomically defined region-of-interests analyses showed that the activity of the right hippocampus was stronger than that of the left, while the activities of the inferior frontal gyri showed the reverse pattern. Furthermore, performance-based analyses demonstrated that the retrieval success activity of the right hippocampus was positively correlated with the corrected recognition rate, suggesting that the right hippocampus contributes to the accuracy of music retrieval outcome.