Evidence that neural information flow is reversed between object perception and object reconstruction from memory

Linde-Domingo, Juan, Treder, Matthias S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5955-2326, Kerren, Casper and Wimber, Maria 2019. Evidence that neural information flow is reversed between object perception and object reconstruction from memory. Nature Communications 10 , 179. 10.1038/s41467-018-08080-2

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Abstract

Remembering is a reconstructive process, yet little is known about how the reconstruction of a memory unfolds in time in the human brain. Here, we used reaction times and EEG time-series decoding to test the hypothesis that the information flow is reversed when an event is reconstructed from memory, compared to when the same event is initially being perceived. Across three experiments, we found highly consistent evidence supporting such a reversed stream. When seeing an object, low-level perceptual features were discriminated faster behaviourally, and could be decoded from brain activity earlier, than high-level conceptual features. This pattern reversed during associative memory recall, with reaction times and brain activity patterns now indicating that conceptual information was reconstructed more rapidly than perceptual details. Our findings support a neurobiologically plausible model of human memory, suggesting that memory retrieval is a hierarchical, multi-layered process that prioritises semantically meaningful information over perceptual details.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Computer Science & Informatics Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC)
Publisher:	Nature Research
ISSN:	2041-1723
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	14 September 2020
Date of Acceptance:	3 November 2018
Last Modified:	06 May 2023 04:52
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/134802

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