Hippocampal mechanisms underlying the resolution of competition in memory and perception

Behaving adaptively requires selection of relevant memories and sensations and suppression of competing ones. We hypothesize that these mechanisms are linked, such that hippocampal computations that resolve competition in memory also shape the precision of sensory representations to guide selective attention. We leverage fMRI-based pattern similarity, receptive field modeling, and eye tracking to test this hypothesis in humans performing a memory-dependent visual search task.

In the hippocampus, more distinct representations of competing memories are associated with the accuracy of memory-guided eye movements. In visual cortex, preparatory coding of remembered target locations precedes search successes, whereas preparatory coding of competing locations precedes search failures due to interference. These effects are linked: more distinct hippocampal memories are associated with lower competitor activation in visual cortex, yielding more precise preparatory representations.

These results demonstrate a role for memory distinctiveness in shaping the precision of sensory representations, highlighting links between mechanisms that overcome competition in memory and perception. The authors thank Shelton Brister and Kaylee Wang for their assistance with data collection and the Alyssano Group and Brice Kuhl for their helpful feedback on this project. M.A. discloses research support from the NSF (BCS-1844241, BCS-2435322).

S.E.F. discloses research support from the NIH (K00EY031607). Present address: Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA Present address: Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA The authors declare no competing interests. Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Hippocampal mechanisms underlying the resolution of competition in memory and perception. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77400-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77400-8