Post-learning hippocampal dynamics promote preferential retention of rewarding events

By Matthias J. Gruber, Maureen Ritchey, Shao-Fang Wang, Manoj K. Doss, Charan Ranganath. 2016

190 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Reward motivation is known to modulate memory encoding, and this effect depends on interactions between the substantia nigra/ ventral tegmental area complex (SN/VTA) and the hippocampus. It is unknown, however, whether these interactions influence offline neural activity in the human brain that is thought to promote memory consolidation. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test the effect of reward motivation on post-learning neural dynamics and subsequent memory for objects that were learned in high- or low-reward motivation contexts. We found that post-learning increases in resting-state functional connectivity between the SN/VTA and hippocampus predicted preferential retention of objects that were learned in high-reward contexts. In addition, multivariate pattern classification revealed that hippocampal representations of high-reward contexts were preferentially reactivated during post-learning rest, and the number of hippocampal reactivations was predictive of preferential retention of items learned in high-reward contexts. These findings indicate that reward motivation alters offline post-learning dynamics between the SN/VTA and hippocampus, providing novel evidence for a potential mechanism by which reward could influence memory consolidation.

Subfields: Behavioral Neuroscience, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Behavioral Neuroscience

Nathaniel D. Daw

In Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

In Cognitive Neuroscience

Citations in the corpus

Offline replay supports planning in human reinforcement learning (2018, background): “In parallel, human fMRI research work reveals how memories are reactivated offline, such as during periods of rest that follow rewarding episodes (Gruber et al., 2016; Murty et al., 2016).”
Selectivity in Postencoding Connectivity with High-Level Visual Cortex Is Associated with Reward-Motivated Memory (2017, background): “Interestingly, the majority of studies investigating reward memory in humans have mainly focused on encoding, rather than postencoding processes (but see Oudiette et al., 2013; Gruber et al., 2016).”