PreprintCited by 281Memory Processes and InfluencesMemory and Neural MechanismsCognitive Functions and Memory

How we transmit memories to other brains: constructing shared neural representations via communication

Open access
Zadbood, A., Chen, J., Leong, Y.C., Norman, K.A., Hasson, U.·2016·Cerebral Cortex

Preprint — published as 10.1093/cercor/bhx202 · Paper page

Abstract

Humans are able to mentally construct an episode when listening to another person’s recollection, even though they themselves did not experience the events. However, it is unknown how strongly the neural patterns elicited by mental construction resemble those found in the brain of the individual who experienced the original events. Using fMRI and a verbal communication task, we traced how neural patterns associated with viewing specific scenes in a movie are encoded, recalled, and then transferred to a group of naïve listeners. By comparing neural patterns across the three conditions, we report, for the first time, that event-specific neural patterns observed in the default mode network are shared across the encoding, recall, and construction of the same real-life episode. This study uncovers the intimate correspondences between memory encoding and event construction, and highlights the essential role our common language plays in the process of transmitting one's memories to other brains.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1101/081208

Cites

58 of 59 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Event-related representations generalize across modalities and between encoding and recall.

    “we demonstrated that event-related representations generalize across modalities and between encoding and recall (thereby supporting hypotheses 3 and 5, J. Chen et al., 2017; Zadbood, Chen, Leong, Norman, & Hasson, 2016)”

    From Discovering Event Structure in Continuous Narrative Perception and Memory (2017) · cites this paper as Zadbood et al., 2016

  • Prior study found that activity patterns evoked by corresponding events in movie and narration were correlated in a network including angular gyrus, precuneus, retrosplenial cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and mPFC.

    “The prior study used a hand-labeled event correspondence between these two stimuli to show that activity patterns evoked by corresponding events in the movie and narration were correlated in a network of regions including angular gyrus, precuneus, retrosplenial cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and mPFC (Zadbood et al., 2016).”

    From Discovering Event Structure in Continuous Narrative Perception and Memory (2017) · cites this paper as Zadbood et al., 2016

  • Other analyses of these datasets found reactivation during recall and shared event structure across modalities.

    “Other analyses of these datasets also found reactivation during recall (J. Chen et al., 2017) and shared event structure across modalities (Zadbood et al., 2016)”

    From Discovering Event Structure in Continuous Narrative Perception and Memory (2017) · cites this paper as Zadbood et al., 2016

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zadbood, A., Chen, J., Leong, Y. C., Norman, K. A., & Hasson, U.
Affiliations
  • Princeton University (US)
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
  • Stanford University (US)
Corresponding author
Zadbood, A.
Venue
Cerebral Cortex
Publisher
openRxiv
Published
2016-10-16
Volume
27
Issue
10
Pages
4988-5000
ISSN
1047-3211 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2949078032
Cited by
281
References
58
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 58 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 56 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1
FWCI
14.90
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cerebral Cortex (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (1r01mh112357-01)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH112566)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
Keywords
memory transmission, shared neural representations, verbal communication, default mode network, memory encoding, memory retrieval, language and memory
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Communication, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Mental Recall, Young Adult, Memory, Episodic

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review