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Sketchpad Series

Neural Dynamics of Sequential Task Simulation in the Human Brain

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Nicholas Menghi¹ (menghi@cbs.mpg.de), Simone Viganò^1,2, Ceren Eksi³, Julia Hofschildt¹, Christian Doeller^1,4; ¹Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany, ²Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy, ³La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, ⁴Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, the Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, Jebsen Centre for Alzheimer’s Disease, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7034 Trondheim, Norway

Our daily lives often involve navigating complex sequences of events that rely on diverse skills organized in a precise temporal order. Each task requires the recruitment of specialized brain regions in a coordinated sequence. How does the brain orchestrate the temporal dynamics underlying such sequential mental simulations? To address this question we trained participants to memorize three sequences of audio-visual-motor material, each involving specific cortical modules activated in a particular temporal order. Participants rehearsed these sequences mentally using word cues and verified their memorization by identifying whether two stimuli appeared in the correct sequence. We recorded whole-brain activity using MEG, both during the main task as well as during a functional localizer aimed at independently identifying the regions involved in sensory-motor representations. Preliminary analysis of the localizer data revealed the recruitment of visual, motor, and auditory areas, which aligned with the corresponding sensory and motor stimuli. This will provide Regions of Interest for studying the dynamics of neural activity during sequence rehearsal. More specifically, planned analyses will investigate 1) the decoding of different sequences at the sensor and source level, 2) the sequential reactivation of the sensory-motor regions during the main task, and 3) whether this reactivation is modulated by associative regions in medial temporal and parietal lobes. These results will be paired with a parallel fMRI study on the same paradigm, to comprehensively elucidate the spatio-temporal dynamics of sequential mental simulation.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic