Funding sources: The project "Developing a methodology of therapy through theatre with an effect at the neurochemical and neurocognitive levels" (MET) is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through Competitiveness Operational Programme 2014-2020, SMIS code 106688 and implemented by UNATC "I.L. Caragiale", CINETic Centre, LDCAPEI LAB. Additionally, the study was also funded by an European Economic Area (EEA)/Norway grant, EEA-RO-NO-2018-0606.

In order to understand how the brain operates we should take into account it’s component which consume most of the energy, which is spontaneous neuronal activity. Imaging techniques like resting state functional connectivity MRI and Independent Component Analysis technique arrived at the conclusion that there are a couple of neuronal networks activated in tasks implying goal-oriented activity, and include the systems named “dorsal and ventral attention networks”. These networks are anti-correlated with another network comprising regions which are deactivated during these tasks, and are involved in the self referential activity. The last ones are named Default network and it’s abnormalities are associated with depressive disorders, schizophrenia, Alzheimer disease and autism. Various studies revealed that the “attention networks” are responsive to specific cognitive trainings using working memory and inhibitory control tasks, both in children and adults, and can be used as an effective treatment for some mental disease or for optimizing healthy people mental performance.

Training of autobiographical memory has been proposed as intervention to improve cognitive functions. The neural substrates for such improvements are poorly understood. Several brain networks have been previously linked to autobiographical recollections, including the default mode network (DMN) and the sensorimotor network. Here we tested the hypothesis that different neural networks support distinct aspects of memory improvement in response to training on a group of 59 subjects. We found that memory training increases DMN connectivity, and this associates with improved recollection of cue-specific memories. On the contrary, training decreased connectivity in the sensorimotor network, a decrease that correlated with improved ability for voluntary recall. Moreover, only decreased sensorimotor connectivity associated with training-induced decrease in the TNFalpha; immunological factor, which has been previously linked to improved cognitive performance. We identified functional and biochemical factors that associate with distinct memory processes improved by autobiographical training. Pathways which connect autobiographical memory to both high level cognition and somatic physiology are discussed.

Training of autobiographical memory has been proposed as intervention to improve cognitive functions. The neural substrates for such improvements are poorly understood. Several brain networks have been previously linked to autobiographical recollections, including the default mode network (DMN) and the sensorimotor network. Here we tested the hypothesis that different neural networks support distinct aspects of memory improvement in response to training on a group of 59 subjects. We found that memory training using olfactory cues increases resting-state intra-network DMN connectivity, and this associates with improved recollection of cue-specific memories. On the contrary, training decreased resting-state connectivity within the sensorimotor network, a decrease that correlated with improved ability for voluntary recall. Moreover, only the decrease in sensorimotor connectivity associated with the training-induced decrease in the TNFα factor, an immune modulation previously linked to improved cognitive performance. We identified functional and biochemical factors that associate with distinct memory processes improved by autobiographical training. Pathways which connect autobiographical memory to both high level cognition and somatic physiology are discussed.