Jörn Alexander Quent Posts

I just posted a tutorial that explains how to get from this

Abstract Although the distinction between episodic and semantic memory is supported by numerous neuropsychological studies, neuroimaging data have shown considerable overlap between regions that are activated during semantic and episodic remembering. This might indicate similar or shared mechanisms but might also result from inadequate task designs or poor functional magnetic resonance imaging signal coverage. Here we compared neural activations and representations associated with successful retrieval of episodic and semantic memories, using tasks that are more closely matched. A total of n = 40 participants recalled pairings between logos and brand names, where the pairings corresponded to real-world knowledge (semantic task) or were…

Abstract Successful navigation relies on the ability to process and encode detailed information about our dynamic environments. Beyond familiarity, emerging studies now highlight the crucial role of novelty detection in this process, the precise neural mechanism of which remains poorly understood. Using ultra-high field 7T fMRI, we investigated how the human brain encodes spatial novelty during virtual navigation, with a particular focus on graded representations that follow systematic transitions between novel and familiar spaces. Our results revealed novelty and familiarity specific neural responses within the posterior and anterior poles of the bilateral hippocampus, respectively. On the cortical surface, two separable…

Download link for the poster

Download the .pdf of the poster here. Password: OHBM2024 Jörn Alexander Quent1,2, Xinyu Liang1, Liangyue Song1, Yueting Su1, Kaixiang Zhuang1, Deniz Vatansever1 1Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 200433 2MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 200433 Introduction: Recognition of novelty constitutes a vital aspect of our ability to encode and navigate our surroundings. Though extensively studied e.g. in the context of item novelty [1], human neuroimaging studies of spatial novelty and its impact on long-term memory formation remains relatively scarce. Limited reports show that spatial novelty can boost long-term memory [e.g.…

After years of work my new paper titled Shape of U: The Nonmonotonic Relationship Between Object–Location Memory and Expectedness is finally out in Psychological Science with Andrea Greve & Rik Henson (PDF, Supplementary). The idea for this work came from my desire to directly test these shiny pet examples that we use in our academic writing to provide real-world context. So I created a realistic virtual reality experiment with Unity3D, which can seen in this video. A particular example I was inspired by was the butcher-in-the-bus. In this context, a neuroscientific model called SLIMM predicts that the relationship between how…

Simple summary Studies suggest that novelty can enhance memory not only for the novel event itself but also for things that happen before/after. Despite my personal strong priors in favour of this idea, I found evidence against this. This paper is now out in QJEP. There is a lot of work in animals showing how novel experiences can tag memory as envisioned by the tag-and-capture theory. Some work including my own suggests that this is also true for humans and not only works for novelty but also reward, stress, fear, physical exercise etc. Importantly, animal work also suggests that only…