Schedule of Events | Symposia

Representational gradient of the hippocampal long axis extends beyond memory to visual processing

Poster Session F - Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Benjamin Chaloupka¹, Troy Houser¹, Dagmar Zeithamova¹; ¹University of Oregon

Prior memory research has shown a representational gradient along the long axis of the hippocampus, such that coarse-grained (global) information is represented by the anterior hippocampus while fine-grained (local) information is represented by the posterior hippocampus. However, whether this representational gradient in the hippocampus extends to visual processing remains an open question. Here, 61 participants completed Navon’s task while undergoing functional MRI. In Navon’s task, participant viewed large letters made up of smaller letters and had to identify within each block either the large letter (global information) or the small letters (local information). Participants completed four counterbalanced runs with two local blocks and two global blocks within each run. We found that the anterior hippocampus was preferentially active during global processing, while the posterior hippocampus was preferentially active during local processing. This indicates that the representational gradient in the hippocampus extends beyond memory to visual processing of global and local information.

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Vision