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Integrating memories: Congruency and reactivation aid memory integration through reinstatement of prior knowledge

View ORCID ProfileMarlieke T.R. van Kesteren, Paul Rignanese, Pierre G. Gianferrara, View ORCID ProfileLydia Krabbendam, View ORCID ProfileMartijn Meeter
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/716076
Marlieke T.R. van Kesteren
Section of Education Sciences and LEARN! Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The NetherlandsInstitute of Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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  • ORCID record for Marlieke T.R. van Kesteren
  • For correspondence: marlieke.van.kesteren@vu.nl
Paul Rignanese
Unit of Neural Circuits Dynamics and Decision Making, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris, France
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Pierre G. Gianferrara
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh 15289, United States
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Lydia Krabbendam
Institute of Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The NetherlandsSection of Clinical, Neuro and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Martijn Meeter
Section of Education Sciences and LEARN! Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Abstract

Building consistent knowledge schemas that organize information and guide future learning is of great importance in everyday life. Such knowledge building is suggested to occur through reinstatement of prior knowledge during new learning in stimulus-specific brain regions. This process is proposed to yield integration of new with old memories, supported by the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and medial temporal lobe (MTL). Possibly as a consequence, congruency of new information with prior knowledge is known to enhance subsequent memory. Yet, it is unknown how reactivation and congruency interact to optimize memory integration processes that lead to knowledge schemas. To investigate this question, we here used an adapted AB-AC inference paradigm in combination with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Participants first studied an AB-association followed by an AC-association, so B (a scene) and C (an object) were indirectly linked through their common association with A (an unknown pseudoword). BC-associations were either congruent or incongruent with prior knowledge (e.g. a bathduck or a hammer in a bathroom), and participants were asked to report subjective reactivation strength for B while learning AC. Behaviorally, both the congruency and reactivation measures enhanced memory integration. In the brain, these behavioral effects related to univariate and multivariate parametric effects of congruency and reactivation on activity patterns in the MTL, mPFC, and Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA). Moreover, mPFC exhibited larger connectivity with the PPA for more congruent associations. These outcomes provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying memory integration enhancement, which can be important for educational learning.

Significance statement How does our brain build knowledge through integrating information that is learned at different periods in time? This question is important in everyday learning situations such as educational settings. Using an inference paradigm, we here set out to investigate how congruency with, and active reactivation of previously learned information affects memory integration processes in the brain. Both these factors were found to relate to activity in memory-related regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the hippocampus. Moreover, activity in the parahippocampal place area (PPA), assumed to reflect reinstatement of the previously learned associate, was found to predict subjective reactivation strength. These results show how we can moderate memory integration processes to enhance subsequent knowledge building.

Footnotes

  • https://github.com/marliekevk/Integrating-Memories

  • https://neurovault.org/collections/5673/

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted July 26, 2019.
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Integrating memories: Congruency and reactivation aid memory integration through reinstatement of prior knowledge
Marlieke T.R. van Kesteren, Paul Rignanese, Pierre G. Gianferrara, Lydia Krabbendam, Martijn Meeter
bioRxiv 716076; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/716076
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Integrating memories: Congruency and reactivation aid memory integration through reinstatement of prior knowledge
Marlieke T.R. van Kesteren, Paul Rignanese, Pierre G. Gianferrara, Lydia Krabbendam, Martijn Meeter
bioRxiv 716076; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/716076

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