![]() This process is thought to underpin the slow extraction and cortical representation of statistical regularities common across overlapping episodes 6. How do such structured memories develop? Neuroscientific theories of systems-level consolidation posit that successful retrieval of episodic memories is initially supported by the hippocampus, but, over time, memories are supported by distributed cortical regions through incremental, coordinated reactivation of memories across the hippocampus and cortex 4, 5. Indeed, formal definitions of a schema require that it (1) is constructed from multiple episodes, and (2) lacks episode-specific details 3. It is thought that a schema encompasses commonalities across multiple unique experiences, but that the specific details of each experience are lost over time. In other words, when is a schema formed, and when is it used?. But while the impact of schemas on new memories is well documented, it is less clear both when schema knowledge is solidified (accessibility) and when it begins to exert an influence on episodic memories (expression). This incongruity suggests that schemas form rapidly, but their influence on episodic retrieval is dictated by the need to bolster fading memory representations.ĭecades of work in cognitive psychology has demonstrated that schemas can enhance 1, 2 memory formation. However, memory for the schema distribution, measured using generalization to novel images, also became less precise over time. We found that images that were more consistent with these distributions were more precisely retrieved, and this schematic influence increased over time. They could thus learn schemas of category locations by encoding specific episodes. ![]() In this experiment, participants encoded images from two categories, with the location of images in each category drawn from a different spatial distribution. To address this, we separately probed memory for newly learned schemas as well as their influence on episodic memory decisions. ![]() Episodic memory retrieval is increasingly influenced by schematic information as memories mature, but it is unclear whether this is due to the slow formation of schemas over time, or the slow forgetting of the episodes. ![]()
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