Hippocampal-cingulate dynamics in the human brain link reinforcement-learning and memory.

ABSTRACT: Reinforcement learning (RL) models describe how reward computations shape our choices, but whether the same computations also shape memory in the human brain is unclear. To address this question, we combined multi-areal intracranial recordings with computational modeling of reward and memory in neurosurgical patients. Patients played a gambling task in which decisions yielded monetary rewards tied to trial-unique images, followed immediately by a recognition test for those images. Model-derived positive reward prediction errors (RPEs) predicted later memory for each image. During feedback, multivariate high-frequency activity revealed the spatiotemporal evolution of RPE representations across distributed prefrontal cortex. During subsequent recognition, however, only anterior cingulate cor

SUBMITTER: Qasim SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC13622676 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature