title: Intrinsic monitoring of learning success facilitates memory encoding via the activation of the SN/VTA-Hippocampal loop.
abstract: Humans constantly learn in the absence of explicit rewards. However, the neurobiological mechanisms supporting this type of internally-guided learning (without explicit feedback) are still unclear. Here, participants who completed a task in which no external reward/feedback was provided, exhibited enhanced fMRI-signals within the dopaminergic midbrain, hippocampus, and ventral striatum (the SN/VTA-Hippocampal loop) when successfully grasping the meaning of new-words. Importantly, new-words that were better remembered showed increased activation and enhanced functional connectivity between the midbrain, hippocampus, and ventral striatum. Moreover, enhanced emotion-related physiological measures and subjective pleasantness ratings during encoding were associated with remembered new-words after 24 hr. Furthermore, increased subjective pleasantness ratings were also related to new-words remembered after seven days. These results suggest that intrinsic-potentially reward-related-signals, triggered by self-monitoring of correct performance, can promote the storage of new information into long-term memory through the activation of the SN/VTA-Hippocampal loop, possibly via dopaminergic modulation of the midbrain.
authors.affiliation: Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute - IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.|Department of Basic Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ripollés
authors.affiliation: Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute - IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.|Department of Basic Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marco-Pallarés
authors.affiliation: Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute - IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alicart
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tempelmann
authors.affiliation: Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute - IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.|Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, ICREA, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Fornells
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.|Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Toemme
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9611-9713
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Noesselt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000502:physiology*; D066328:Ventral Striatum / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: SN/VTA-Hippocampal loop; dopamine; fMRI; human; memory; neuroscience; reward; word learning