Memory Reactivation during Learning Simultaneously Promotes Dentate Gyrus/CA2,3 Pattern Differentiation and CA1 Memory Integration

Events that overlap with previous experience may trigger reactivation of existing memories. However, such reactivation may have different representational consequences within the hippocampal circuit. Computational theories of hippocampal function suggest that dentate gyrus and CA(2,3) (DG/CA(2,3)) are biased to differentiate highly similar memories, whereas CA(1) may integrate related events by representing them with overlapping neural codes. Here, we tested whether the formation of differentiated or integrated representations in hippocampal subfields depends on the strength of memory reactivation during learning. Human participants of both sexes learned associations (AB pairs, either face-shape or scene-shape), and then underwent fMRI scanning while they encoded overlapping associations (BC shape-object pairs). Both before and after learning, participants were also scanned while viewing indirectly related elements of the overlapping memories (A and C images) in isolation. We used multivariate pattern analyses to measure reactivation of initial pair memories (A items) during overlapping pair (BC) learning, as well as learning-related representational change for indirectly related memory elements in hippocampal subfields. When prior memories were strongly reactivated during overlapping pair encoding, DG/CA(2,3) and subiculum representations for indirectly related images (A and C) became less similar, consistent with pattern differentiation. Simultaneously, memory reactivation during new learning promoted integration in CA(1), where representations for indirectly related memory elements became more similar after learning. Furthermore, memory reactivation and subiculum representation predicted faster and more accurate inference (AC) decisions. These data show that reactivation of related memories during new learning leads to dissociable coding strategies in hippocampal subfields, in line with computational theories.

Automated summary

Reactivation of related memories during new learning leads to dissociable coding strategies in hippocampal subfields, with dentate gyrus and CA(2,3) biased towards differentiation and CA(1) towards integration.