Distinct contributions of hippocampal pathways in learning regularities and exceptions revealed by functional footprints.

ABSTRACT: Fundamental aspects of learning are theorized to be supported by hippocampal pathways: The monosynaptic pathway (MSP) extracts regularities, whereas the trisynaptic pathway (TSP) rapidly encodes exceptional items. Yet, the empirical evidence for the dynamic involvement of MSP and TSP in learning remains unresolved. We leveraged diffusion-weighted imaging to estimate the endpoints of MSP- and TSP-related white matter structures (i.e., footprints) within hippocampal subfields and the entorhinal cortex. We then measured the activation of pathway-specific footprints with functional MRI while participants learned novel concepts defined by regularities and exceptions. The functional footprint method revealed links between MSP-related footprint activation and regularity encoding early in learning

SUBMITTER: Gumus M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12818569 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature