Context-dependent abstraction of temporal relationships during naturalistic episodic memory.

Overview

1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (Ministry of Education), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
2. Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application, Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for the Mental Health and Crisis Intervention of Children and Adolescents, School of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
3. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Adolescent Mental Health and Psychological Development, Center for Brain and Mental Well-Being, Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
4. Peng Cheng Laboratory, Shenzhen 518000, China
5. Department of Computing Science, University of York, YO10 5DD York, UK
6. Phylo-Cognition Laboratory, Duke Kunshan University - The First People’s Hospital of Kunshan Joint Brain Sciences Laboratory, Division of Natural and Applied Sciences, Digital Innovation Research Center, Duke Kunshan University, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Kunshan 215316, China

Abstract

How does the human brain represent how far apart in time two remembered moments occurred? Healthy adults played a first-person interactive video game and subsequently judged the temporal order of pairs of event moments during functional MRI. Using representational similarity analysis, we identified a distributed multivoxel activity pattern in the precuneus and surrounding posterior medial cortex whose representational geometry tracked retrieved temporal-distance magnitude across intervals ranging from less than 1 s to approximately 18 min. This representation could not be explained by perceptual similarity, situational change, or task difficulty, and was stronger for events sharing a common episodic context. Applying inhibitory brain stimulation to the precuneus before retrieval attenuated this representational pattern while leaving overall BOLD activity levels unchanged. These findings suggest that the precuneus contributes to organizing temporal relationships among remembered events, representing temporal distance within structured episodic contexts rather than as a simple metric of elapsed time.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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Data

Datasets cited

• osf:4xf2k, at OSF; found in “Data and code availability”

Data and code availability

• The data generated during the analysis are available at https://osf.io/4xf2k/. Raw data are available from the corresponding author upon request. • All analyses of fMRI data were performed using MATLAB R2021a with standard functions and toolboxes. Behavioral data analyses were carried out using R 4.4.2, utilizing standard functions and packages. Codes for the mixed-effects models are available at https://osf.io/4xf2k/. • Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 3, 28 September 2026

• Authors: added Yixuan Ku (0000-0003-2804-5123); Sze Chai Kwok (0000-0002-7439-1193); removed Yixuan Ku; Sze Chai Kwok

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 5 authors, 6 keywords, 1 funder, 112 references.

Cite

This paper

Ye, Q., Hu, Y., Ku, Y., Appiah, K., & Kwok, S. C. (2026). Context-dependent abstraction of temporal relationships during naturalistic episodic memory. iScience, 29(9), 117391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117391

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