The neuroanatomical structures that govern associative memory are found in the medial temporal lobe and functionally connected cortical areas.
[6] Additionally, involvement from the prefrontal cortex,[7][8] frontal motor areas,[9] and the striatum has been shown in the formation of associative memories.
The convergence of the biologically important information drives the neural plasticity that is the basis of associative memory formation.
For a long time, the ability to establish the relationship between unrelated items has been considered as an emergent feature of the nonlinear dynamics of large neural networks.
[15] More recent experimental discovery of the so-called concept or grandmother cells ascribes some functions in episodic memory to single neurons.