Ahsan Khan1,4 · Jing Liu2 · Maité Crespo‑García3 · Kai Yuan4 · Cheng‑Peng Hu4 · Ziyin Ren4 · Chun‑Hang Eden Ti4 · Desmond J. Oathes1 · Raymond Kai‑Yu Tong4
1 Center for Brain Imaging and Stimulation, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2 Department of Applied and Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
3 MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 7EF, United Kingdom
4 Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Abstract
Episodic memory, our ability to recall past experiences, is supported by structures in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) particularly the hippocampus, and its interactions with fronto-parietal brain regions. Understanding how these brain regions coordinate to encode, consolidate, and retrieve episodic memories remains a fundamental question in cognitive neuroscience. Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) methods, especially transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), have advanced episodic memory research beyond traditional lesion studies and neuroimaging by enabling causal investigations through targeted magnetic stimulation to specific brain regions. This review begins by delineating the evolving understanding of episodic memory from both psychological and neurobiological perspectives and discusses the brain networks supporting episodic memory processes. Then, we review studies that employed TMS to modulate episodic memory, with the aim of identifying potential cortical regions that could be used as stimulation sites to modulate episodic memory networks. We conclude with the implications and prospects of using NIBS to understand episodic memory mechanisms.
Keywords
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS); Episodic memory; Hippocampus; Medial temporal lobe; Brain stimulation; Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); Electroencephalography (EEG)
