title: Selectivity in Postencoding Connectivity with High-Level Visual Cortex Is Associated with Reward-Motivated Memory.
abstract: Reward motivation has been demonstrated to enhance declarative memory by facilitating systems-level consolidation. Although high-reward information is often intermixed with lower reward information during an experience, memory for high value information is prioritized. How is this selectivity achieved? One possibility is that postencoding consolidation processes bias memory strengthening to those representations associated with higher reward. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the influence of differential reward motivation on the selectivity of postencoding markers of systems-level memory consolidation. Human participants encoded intermixed, trial-unique memoranda that were associated with either high or low-value during fMRI acquisition. Encoding was interleaved with periods of rest, allowing us to investigate experience-dependent changes in connectivity as they related to later memory. Behaviorally, we found that reward motivation enhanced 24 h associative memory. Analysis of patterns of postencoding connectivity showed that, even though learning trials were intermixed, there was significantly greater connectivity with regions of high-level, category-selective visual cortex associated with high-reward trials. Specifically, increased connectivity of category-selective visual cortex with both the VTA and the anterior hippocampus predicted associative memory for high- but not low-reward memories. Critically, these results were independent of encoding-related connectivity and univariate activity measures. Thus, these findings support a model by which the selective stabilization of memories for salient events is supported by postencoding interactions with sensory cortex associated with reward.
  
  
  
  Reward motivation is thought to promote memory by supporting memory consolidation. Yet, little is known as to how brain selects relevant information for subsequent consolidation based on reward. We show that experience-dependent changes in connectivity of both the anterior hippocampus and the VTA with high-level visual cortex selectively predicts memory for high-reward memoranda at a 24 h delay. These findings provide evidence for a novel mechanism guiding the consolidation of memories for valuable events, namely, postencoding interactions between neural systems supporting mesolimbic dopamine activation, episodic memory, and perception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213.
authors.forename: Vishnu P
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8928-9239
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Murty
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003.
authors.forename: Alexa
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7735-3849
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tompary
authors.affiliation: Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, and.|Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708.
authors.forename: R Alison
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Adcock
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, lila.davachi@nyu.edu.
authors.forename: Lila
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4317-0889
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Davachi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012201:Reward; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: VTA; category-selective visual cortex; consolidation; hippocampus; rest; reward