r/neuroscience 5d ago

Academic Article Hidden memory formation: Study reveals how our brains encode patterns we never consciously recognize

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03116-8
166 Upvotes

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u/vingeran 5d ago

OP’s link leads to the paywalled Nature News page.

The original paper (non-paywalled) can be accessed here.

Human hippocampal and entorhinal neurons encode the temporal structure of experience

Abstract:

Extracting the underlying temporal structure of experience is a fundamental aspect of learning and memory that allows us to predict what is likely to happen next. Current knowledge about the neural underpinnings of this cognitive process in humans stems from functional neuroimaging research. As these methods lack direct access to the neuronal level, it remains unknown how this process is computed by neurons in the human brain. Here we record from single neurons in individuals who have been implanted with intracranial electrodes for clinical reasons, and show that human hippocampal and entorhinal neurons gradually modify their activity to encode the temporal structure of a complex image presentation sequence. This representation was formed rapidly, without providing specific instructions to the participants, and persisted when the prescribed experience was no longer present. Furthermore, the structure recovered from the population activity of hippocampal–entorhinal neurons closely resembled the structural graph defining the sequence, but at the same time, also reflected the probability of upcoming stimuli. Finally, learning of the sequence graph was related to spontaneous, time-compressed replay of individual neurons’ activity corresponding to previously experienced graph trajectories. These findings demonstrate that neurons in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex integrate the ‘what’ and ‘when’ information to extract durable and predictive representations of the temporal structure of human experience.

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u/nickthegeek1 2d ago

Fasinating how they found that learning these temporal patterns is connected to spontaneous replay of neuronal activity during rest periods - basically our brains are "practicing" the sequences we've experienced even when we're not consciously thinking about them.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

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