Hippocampal convergence during anticipatory midbrain activation promotes subsequent memory formation

作者：Jia-Hou Poh, Mai-Anh T. Vu, Jessica K. Stanek, Abigail Hsiung, Tobias Egner, R. Alison Adcock · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1038/s41467-022-34459-3 · 被引用次数：18 · 研究领域：Memory and Neural Mechanisms、Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms、Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

The hippocampus has been a focus of memory research since H.M's surgery abolished his ability to form new memories, yet its mechanistic role in memory remains debated. Here, we identify a candidate memory mechanism: an anticipatory hippocampal "convergence state", observed while awaiting valuable information, and which predicts subsequent learning. During fMRI, participants viewed trivia questions eliciting high or low curiosity, followed seconds later by its answer. We reasoned that encoding success requires a confluence of conditions, so that hippocampal states more conducive to memory formation should converge in state space. To operationalize convergence of neural states, we quantified the typicality of multivoxel patterns in the medial temporal lobes during anticipation and encoding of trivia answers. We found that the typicality of anticipatory hippocampal patterns increased during high curiosity. Crucially, anticipatory hippocampal pattern typicality increased with dopaminergic midbrain activation and uniquely accounted for the association between midbrain activation and subsequent recall. We propose that hippocampal convergence states may complete a cascade from motivation and midbrain activation to memory enhancement, and may be a general predictor of memory formation.