Individual Differences in Episodic Memory: The Role of Self-initiated Encoding Strategies

The vast majority of functional neuroimaging studies to date that have investigated the neural correlates of encoding and retrieval of episodic memories have examined brain activity within or between groups of several research participants (typi-cally 12–30 per group). There are multiple benefits to group analyses of functional neuroimaging data. These analyses allow researchers to identify the brain regions that are commonly engaged during use of a particular cognitive process. Having several research participants within a group results in substantial statistical power for detecting brain regions that play important roles in episodic memory, and therefore decreases the risk of false negatives. In addition, random-effects group analyses allow researchers to generalize their results to the entire population of interest (e.g., healthy young adults) instead of just to the individuals who partici-pated in the research study. However, a major draw-back of group analyses of functional neuroimagin