Functional specialisation in the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex during the encoding of verbal associations

► fMRI investigation of how medial temporal lobe structures contribute to memory encoding. ► This study involves encoding of different classes of word pair. ► The results suggest there are two functionally distinct processes that underpin memory judgments. ► Activity in the perirhinal cortex during encoding predicts levels of familiarity at test. ► Activity in anterior hippocampus during encoding predicts the occurrence of to recollection at test.