Associative memory task design and memory behavior.

(a) Study phase task design. (b) Match/mismatch test phase task design. (c) Behavior in the match/mismatch retrieval task. D’ (left) and RTs (right) in dark teal for strong pairings and light teal for weak pairings. Frontal theta power (d), posterior alpha power (e), and pupil diameter (f) for strong (top) and weak (bottom) trials, color coded by match/mismatch condition (blue/orange). Subplots on the left depict mean and standard error of z-scored power/size across participants. Mean and standard error of participant-level betas for the effects of Mismatch, Strength, and Mismatch x Strength are depicted on the right. Horizontal lines below beta plots indicate significant clusters (permutation-corrected; all p<0.001).

Pupil components sensitive to MPEs and their relationships with frontal theta and posterior alpha.

(a) Pupil components extracted by temporal PCA with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals. PC scores for PC3 (b) and PC4 (c) as a function of match/mismatch conditions and memory strength (middle) and as related to reaction times (right). (d) Schematic of observed relationships among frontal theta, posterior alpha, PC3 scores, and PC4 scores. Time windows over which frontal theta and posterior alpha were averaged in trial-level analyses are underlined in yellow and correspond to those displayed in Fig. 1. (e) Relationship between frontal theta cognitive control signals and attention signals in posterior alpha. (f and g) Relationships between frontal theta cognitive control signals and PC3 (f) and PC4 (g). (h and i) Relationships between posterior alpha MPE-related attention signals and PC3 (h) and PC4 (i).

PC3 scores as a function of Mismatch and Strength

PC3 scores as a function of Mismatch, Strength, and Memory Accuracy

PC3 scores and RTs

PC4 scores as a function of Mismatch and Strength

PC4 scores as a function of Mismatch, Strength, and Memory Accuracy

PC4 scores and RTs

Pupil components sensitive to memory retrieval strength and cognitive effort and their relationships with frontal theta and posterior alpha.

PC scores for PC1 (a) and PC5 (b) as a function of match/mismatch conditions and memory strength (left) and as related to response times (right). (d) Schematic of observed relationships among frontal theta, posterior alpha, PC1 scores, and PC3 scores. Time windows over which frontal theta and posterior alpha were averaged in trial-level analyses are underlined in yellow and correspond to those displayed in Fig. 1. (e) Relationship between posterior alpha and PC1 during memory retrieval. (f) Relationship between posterior alpha during memory retrieval and PC3 scores.

PC1 scores as a function of Mismatch and Strength

PC1 scores and RTs

PC5 scores as a function of Mismatch and Strength

PC5 scores and RTs

MPE-driven increases in frontal theta by strong MPEs enhance learning.

Subsequent recognition memory for frontal theta during strong and weak MPEs. The time window over which frontal theta was averaged in trial-level analyses is underlined in yellow and correspond to that displayed in Fig. 1.