Attention is crucial for encoding information into memory, and current dual-process models seek to explain the roles of attention\nin both recollection memory and incidental-perceptual memory processes. The present study combined an incidental memory\nparadigm with event-related functional MRI to examine the effect of attention at encoding on the subsequent neural activation\nassociated with unintended perceptual memory for spoken words. At encoding, we systematically varied attention levels as listeners\nheard a list of single English nouns.We then presented these words again in the context of a recognition task and assessed the effect\nof modulating attention at encoding on the BOLD responses to words that were either attended strongly, weakly, or not heard\npreviously. MRI revealed activity in right-lateralized inferior parietal and prefrontal regions, and positive BOLD signals varied\nwith the relative level of attention present at encoding. Temporal analysis of hemodynamic responses further showed that the time\ncourse of BOLD activity was modulated differentially by unintentionally encoded words compared to novel items. Our findings\nlargely support current models of memory consolidation and retrieval, but they also provide fresh evidence for hemispheric\ndifferences and functional subdivisions in right frontoparietal attention networks that help shape auditory episodic recall.
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