What does the retrosplenial cortex do?

Abstract

The past decade has seen a transformation in research on the retrosplenial cortex (RSC). This cortical area has emerged as a key member of a core network of brain regions that underpins a range of cognitive functions, including episodic memory, navigation, imagination and planning for the future. It is now also evident that the RSC is consistently compromised in the most common neurological disorders that impair memory. Here we review advances on multiple fronts, most notably in neuroanatomy, animal studies and neuroimaging, that have highlighted the importance of the RSC for cognition, and consider why specifying its precise functions remains problematic.

Evidencing a place for the hippocampus within the core scene processing network

“…In terms of RSC, both the animal and human literature indicates that RSC is an important brain region for spatial navigation [Byrne et al, 2007; Epstein and Vass, 2014; Knight and Hayman, 2014; Kravitz et al, 2011b; Vann et al, 2009]. As such, RSC responses have been shown to attenuate across multiple views of the same scene, suggesting that this region maintains information about the local environment across visual transformations [Marchette et al, 2014; Park and Chun, 2009].…”

“…Also, while the one‐back localiser task was sufficient to identify significant RSC voxels in individual brains, particularly at lower voxel‐wise thresholds, it is not necessarily attuned to the precise function of this brain region in scene processing (i.e., spatial navigation), which could account for the reduced inter‐individual consistency found here. In addition, there are inconsistencies in the field when defining the RSC [Knight and Hayman, 2014; Vann et al, 2009], to the extent that some researchers have restricted analysis to anatomical boundaries [Auger and Maguire, 2013], whereas others use the more liberal, and functionally‐defined retrosplenial complex [Bar and Aminoff, 2003; Epstein et al, 2007]. …”

“…As such, it is unsurprising that functional neuroimaging techniques have revealed a putative “core” scene processing network in the human brain that responds strongly when viewing navigationally relevant stimuli (e.g., scenes) versus other visual categories. This core network is thought to include posterior parahippocampal gyrus [PHG; Aguirre et al, 1998a; Epstein et al, 2003; Epstein and Kanwisher, 1998], retrosplenial cortex [RSC; Auger et al, 2012; Epstein et al, 2007; Vann et al, 2009] and the transverse occipital sulcus [TOS; Dilks et al, 2013; Ganaden et al, 2013; He et al, 2013; Mullin and Steeves, 2011; Nasr et al, 2011]. As seen in the neural processing of other visual categories [Taylor and Downing, 2011], these regions appear to support distinct but complementary aspects of scene processing, and are differentially modulated by changes in viewpoint [Epstein et al, 2003, 2007; Park and Chun, 2009], spatial layout [Harel et al, 2013; Park et al, 2015], and lower‐level spatial features [Kravitz et al, 2011a; Nasr et al, 2014].…”

Functional and anatomical connectivity‐based parcellation of human cingulate cortex

“…The CC is implicated in a diverse array of functions, such as emotion (George et al., 1995; Kross, Davidson, Weber, & Ochsner, 2009; Liotti et al., 2000; Rogers et al., 2004; Rolls, Grabenhorst, & Parris, 2008; Walter et al., 2008, 2009), movement (Beckmann, Johansen‐Berg, & Rushworth, 2009; Paus, 2001; Picard & Strick, 1996, 2001), self‐relevant assessment (Kelley et al., 2002; Vogt, Vogt, & Laureys, 2006), cognition (Luo et al., 2007; Pourtois et al., 2010; Sohn, Albert, Jung, Carter, & Anderson, 2007; Ursu, Clark, Aizenstein, Stenger, & Carter, 2009), memory (Maguire, 2001), visuospatial orientation (Vogt et al., 2006), navigation, imagination, and planning for the future (Vann, Aggleton, & Maguire, 2009). …”

Functional integrity of the retrosplenial cortex is essential for rapid consolidation and recall of fear memory

“…Situated at the crossroads between the hippocampal formation and many neocortical areas, it has attracted much attention especially for its involvement in cognition (Vann et al 2009). Although RSC inactivation produces memory impairments similar to those caused by hippocampal lesions (Cooper and Mizumori 2001;Vann and Aggleton 2004), and it has been shown that RSC is activated during retrieval of contextual information and autobiographical memory (Valenstein et al 1987, Daselaar et al 2006), the precise function of this area is poorly understood (Ranganath and Ritchey 2012).…”