Differential engagement of the default mode network, hippocampus, and amygdala in subjective versus objective recollection: An fMRI meta-analysis

Description: Recollection can be defined subjectively, through phenomenological judgments such as Remember/Know (R/K), or objectively, by accurate retrieval of contextual details (source-correct/source-incorrect, SC/SI). Both approaches have been widely used to investigate recollection, yet their neural distinctions remain unclear. To address this, a large-scale fMRI meta-analysis was conducted on 65 studies (29 R/K, 34 SC/SI) using whole-brain activation likelihood estimation and network-level analyses. Subjective recollection was associated with stronger and more widespread engagement of the hippocampus and DMN, particularly the core subsystem. These findings suggest that subjective paradigms are especially sensitive to memory strength and vividness, capturing aspects of recollection that objective contrasts may miss. By contrast, the amygdala was more reliably engaged by objective recollection, particularly in pictorial tasks, suggesting that picture-based source memory may recruit amygdala-mediated salience processing more strongly than corresponding item memory tasks. Together, these results clarify the distinct contributions of the hippocampus, DMN, and amygdala to recollection and demonstrate that the operational definition of memory critically shapes observed neural profiles, with implications for both methodology and theories of episodic memory.