Current and future goals are represented in opposite patterns in object-selective cortex

Abstract
Data availability
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Abstract

Adaptive behavior requires the separation of current from future goals in working memory. We used fMRI of object-selective cortex to determine the representational (dis)similarities of memory representations serving current and prospective perceptual tasks. Participants remembered an object drawn from three possible categories as the target for one of two consecutive visual search tasks. A cue indicated whether the target object should be looked for first (currently relevant), second (prospectively relevant), or if it could be forgotten (irrelevant). Prior to the first search, representations of current, prospective and irrelevant objects were similar, with strongest decoding for current representations compared to prospective (Experiment 1) and irrelevant (Experiment 2). Remarkably, during the first search, prospective representations could also be decoded, but revealed anti-correlated voxel patterns compared to currently relevant representations of the same category. We propose that the brain separates current from prospective memories within the same neuronal ensembles through opposite representational patterns.

Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files and source code files have been provided for Figures 2,3,4, 5, S1,S2,S3 and the fMRI data is made available via the open science framework:""Current and Future Goals Are Represented in Opposite Patterns in Object-Selective Cortex."" Open Science Framework. May 31. osf.io/hcp47.For the newly added experiment 2, the data and scripts have also been provided.

The following data sets were generated

1. van Loon A
2. Olmos Solis K
(2018) Current and Future Goals Are Represented in Opposite Patterns in Object-Selective Cortex
Open Science Framework, osf.io/hcp47.

https://osf.io/hcp47/

Article and author information

Author details

Anouk Mariette van Loon

Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

For correspondence
anouk.vanloon@gmail.com

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9015-7647
Katya Olmos-Solis

Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Johannes Jacobus Fahrenfort

Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9025-3436
Christian N L Olivers

Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

For correspondence
c.n.l.olivers@vu.nl

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Funding

European Research Council (615423)

Christian N L Olivers

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Human subjects: Human subjects: Twenty-four healthy volunteers participated in Experiment 1 and twenty-five healthy volunteers participated in Experiment 2. The experiment was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam and conformed to the Declaration of Helsinki. All subjects provided written informed consent and consent to publish.

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.