We have used whole brain fMRI and canonical variate analysis to investigate the anatomical location of brain activity subserving episodic memory encoding and recognition. Recognition of previously presented words did not specifically activate right prefrontal areas although right-sided activations were seen during transitions between the target and reference phases of the paradigm. Encoding was associated with left sided prefrontal activation, but this was within Broca's area rather than dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The temporal resolution of fMRI, combined with analysis of the apparent functional connectivity of activations observed, revealed activity within complex networks each functionally specialized for the demands of particular aspects of a cognitive task.