Trach Juliana E, McDougle Samuel D
Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Nat Hum Behav. 2025 Jun 2. doi: 10.1038/s41562-025-02217-2.
Much of human memory takes the form of cognitive graphs that allow us to relate and generalize knowledge. The influence of structured memory in the motor system is less clear. Here we examine how structured memory representations influence action selection when responses are retrieved from newly learned, hierarchical visuomotor maps. Human participants (N = 182) learned visuomotor mappings with (or without) an imposed latent structure that linked visual stimulus features (for example, colour or shape) to intuitive motor distinctions, such as hands and pairs of fingers. In participants who learned structured visuomotor mappings, transitional response times indicated that retrieving the correct response from memory invoked the 'traversal' of a structured mental graph. Forced-response experiments revealed similar computations within individual trials. Moreover, graph-like representations persisted even after multiple days of practice with the visuomotor mappings. Our results point to direct links between internal computations over structured memory representations and the preparation of movements.
人类记忆的大部分采取认知图的形式，使我们能够关联和归纳知识。结构化记忆在运动系统中的影响尚不清楚。在这里，我们研究当从新学习的分层视觉运动映射中检索反应时，结构化记忆表征如何影响动作选择。人类参与者（N = 182）学习了具有（或不具有）将视觉刺激特征（例如颜色或形状）与直观的运动区分（如手和手指对）相联系的潜在结构的视觉运动映射。在学习了结构化视觉运动映射的参与者中，过渡反应时间表明从记忆中检索正确反应会引发对结构化心理图的“遍历”。强制反应实验在单个试验中揭示了类似的计算。此外，即使在对视觉运动映射进行多日练习之后，类似图的表征仍然存在。我们的结果表明，基于结构化记忆表征的内部计算与动作准备之间存在直接联系。
