Abstract
Mental schemas form associative knowledge structures that can promote the encoding and consolidation of new and related information. Schemas are facilitated by a distributed system that stores components separately, presumably in the form of inter-connected neocortical representations. During retrieval, these components need to be recombined into one representation, but where exactly such recombination takes place is unclear. Thus, we asked where different schema components are neuronally represented and converge during retrieval. Subjects acquired and retrieved two well-controlled, rule-based schema structures during fMRI on consecutive days. Schema retrieval was associated with midline, medial-temporal, and parietal processing. We identified the multi-voxel representations of different schema components, which converged within the angular gyrus during retrieval. Critically, convergence only happened after 24-hour-consolidation and during a transfer test where schema material was applied to novel but related trials. Therefore, the angular gyrus appears to recombine consolidated schema components into one memory representation.
Highlights
Associative knowledge structures in the form of so-called "mental schemas" (Bartlett, 1932) are built on the basis of several encounters with similar material
We report the local maximum of each cluster
We investigated the retrieval dynamics of well-controlled, rule-based schemas and identified representations of their constituting components. These components consisted of rule-based associations and low-level visual features. Both levels of information converged within the left angular gyrus (AG) after 24-hour-consolidation
Summary
Associative knowledge structures in the form of so-called "mental schemas" (Bartlett, 1932) are built on the basis of several encounters with similar material. They may be applicable to a wide range of instances in which new information is integrated into established or newly established knowledge (Ghosh and Gilboa, 2014), and thereby promote encoding and subsequent consolidation (Tse et al, 2007, 2011; van Kesteren et al, 2010b).
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