Jiang Jiefeng, Brashier Nadia M, Egner Tobias
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708.
J Neurosci. 2015 Nov 4;35(44):14885-95. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2957-15.2015.
The human brain encodes experience in an integrative fashion by binding together the various features of an event (i.e., stimuli and responses) into memory "event files." A subsequent reoccurrence of an event feature can then cue the retrieval of the memory file to "prime" cognition and action. Intriguingly, recent behavioral studies indicate that, in addition to linking concrete stimulus and response features, event coding may also incorporate more abstract, "internal" event features such as attentional control states. In the present study, we used fMRI in healthy human volunteers to determine the neural mechanisms supporting this type of holistic event binding. Specifically, we combined fMRI with a task protocol that dissociated the expression of event feature-binding effects pertaining to concrete stimulus and response features, stimulus categories, and attentional control demands. Using multivariate neural pattern classification, we show that the hippocampus and putamen integrate event attributes across all of these levels in conjunction with other regions representing concrete-feature-selective (primarily visual cortex), category-selective (posterior frontal cortex), and control demand-selective (insula, caudate, anterior cingulate, and parietal cortex) event information. Together, these results suggest that the hippocampus and putamen are involved in binding together holistic event memories that link physical stimulus and response characteristics with internal representations of stimulus categories and attentional control states. These bindings then presumably afford shortcuts to adaptive information processing and response selection in the face of recurring events.
Memory binds together the different features of our experience, such as an observed stimulus and concurrent motor responses, into so-called event files. Recent behavioral studies suggest that the observer's internal attentional state might also become integrated into the event memory. Here, we used fMRI to determine the brain areas responsible for binding together event information pertaining to concrete stimulus and response features, stimulus categories, and internal attentional control states. We found that neural signals in the hippocampus and putamen contained information about all of these event attributes and could predict behavioral priming effects stemming from these features. Therefore, medial temporal lobe and dorsal striatum structures appear to be involved in binding internal control states to event memories.
人类大脑通过将事件的各种特征（即刺激和反应）整合在一起形成记忆“事件文件”，以一种整合的方式对经验进行编码。事件特征随后再次出现时，可提示记忆文件的检索，从而“启动”认知和行动。有趣的是，最近的行为研究表明，除了将具体的刺激和反应特征联系起来，事件编码还可能纳入更抽象的“内部”事件特征，如注意力控制状态。在本研究中，我们对健康人类志愿者使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来确定支持这种整体事件绑定的神经机制。具体而言，我们将fMRI与一种任务方案相结合，该方案区分了与具体刺激和反应特征、刺激类别以及注意力控制需求相关的事件特征绑定效应的表达。使用多变量神经模式分类，我们发现海马体和壳核与代表具体特征选择性（主要是视觉皮层）、类别选择性（后额叶皮层）和控制需求选择性（脑岛、尾状核、前扣带回和顶叶皮层）事件信息的其他区域一起，整合了所有这些层面的事件属性。总之，这些结果表明，海马体和壳核参与将整体事件记忆绑定在一起，这些记忆将物理刺激和反应特征与刺激类别的内部表征以及注意力控制状态联系起来。这些绑定可能为面对反复出现的事件时的适应性信息处理和反应选择提供捷径。
记忆将我们经验的不同特征（如观察到的刺激和同时发生的运动反应）整合在一起，形成所谓的事件文件。最近的行为研究表明，观察者的内部注意力状态也可能被整合到事件记忆中。在这里，我们使用功能磁共振成像来确定负责将与具体刺激和反应特征、刺激类别以及内部注意力控制状态相关的事件信息绑定在一起的脑区。我们发现海马体和壳核中的神经信号包含了所有这些事件属性的信息，并可以预测源于这些特征的行为启动效应。因此，内侧颞叶和背侧纹状体结构似乎参与将内部控制状态与事件记忆绑定在一起。
