An extensive cortical network consisting of structures in the medial temporal lobe (hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex), lateral parietal cortex, retrosplenial cortex, and medial prefrontal cortex has recently attracted attention in cognitive neuroscience research, linking the network to both episodic memory and spatial processing. It has been suggested that its function may be best characterized as supporting the processing of contextual associations (context network). In this study, we explored whether the role of this network in contextual processing extends to associations that are evoked in a spontaneous manner. In a novel memory encoding task, participants indicated whether they encoded pictures (objects and novel faces) based on an evoked association or based on a perceptual feature. Memory encoding with subjective associations enhanced memory formation relative to feature-based encoding, and this effect was more pronounced for rapidly evoked associations. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during encoding yielded significant activations in all regions of the context network, i.e., medial prefrontal cortex, lateral parietal cortex, retrosplenial cortex, and posterior medial temporal lobe for the associative vs. feature-based comparisons. The low number of misses did not permit the analysis of a subsequent memory contrast. Our data suggest that the context network, which includes the posterior hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex, might support the linkage of external stimuli to long-term memory representations.
