Memories of items and their contexts are encoded by separate groups of human brain cells

Human memory often needs to link specific items to the situation in which they feature. Brain recordings reveal that two distinct groups of neurons respond to stimuli and contextual information. These groups then cooperate to form flexible memories, rather than individual neurons encoding both signal types.

Publication Details

Journal
Nature
Published
2026-01-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00016-x
Primary Topic
Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Memories of items and their contexts are encoded by separate groups of human brain cells

Nature
Memory and Neural Mechanisms
article

Memories of items and their contexts are encoded by separate groups of human brain cells

article en

Abstract

Human memory often needs to link specific items to the situation in which they feature. Brain recordings reveal that two distinct groups of neurons respond to stimuli and contextual information. These groups then cooperate to form flexible memories, rather than individual neurons encoding both signal types.

Nature
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 89%
Memory and Neural Mechanisms
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Memories of items and their contexts are encoded by separate groups of human brain cells · Nature (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS