ReviewNature reviews. Neuroscience2019
A contextual binding theory of episodic memory: systems consolidation reconsidered.
Review in Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05910762 (Learning Novel Structure Across Time and Sleep), which is not on this map. Cited by 185 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Learning Novel Structure Across Time and Sleep
Who cites it
185 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 468 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effects of acute exercise on long-term episodic memory: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in cognition · 2024Pooled it
- The rodent object-in-context task: A systematic review and meta-analysis of important variables.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- The Effect of Immersive Virtual Reality on Anterograde Amnesia and Subjective Pain During Procedures: A Within-Subject Randomized Controlled Study.Anesthesia and analgesia · 2026Trial
- Circuit-based neuromodulation enhances delayed recall in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Functional connectivity correlates of sequence memory decline in healthy older adults.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Electrophysiological Correlates of Encoding Indicate Altered Processing but Comparable Subsequent Memory Effects Across Virtual Reality and Desktop-Based Conditions.The European journal of neuroscience · 2026Article
- Music enhances associative generalization: Evidence from a memory integration task.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- Concept Cells and the Neural Bases of Human Memory.Acta physiologica (Oxford, England) · 2026Review
- Contextual elaboration shapes object recognition memory across levels of childhood adversity in healthy adults.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Respiratory phase alignment across memory encoding and retrieval improves task efficiency.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Dentate gyrus and CA3 activity mediates light-tone second-order conditioning expression in mice.iScience · 2026Article
- Emotional learning selectively distorts the temporal organization of memory: A quantitative synthesis.Cognition · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- A feasible probability and graph model for memory engrams.Frontiers in computational neuroscience · 2026Article
- Humans and neural networks show similar patterns of transfer and interference during continual learning.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Representational dynamics during extinction of fear memories in the human brain.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Episodic memory in aging: neurocognitive bases and clinical implications of the distinction between hippocampal and frontal patterns.Dementia & neuropsychologia · 2026Review
- Acute normobaric hypoxia as a reversible probe of oxygen-limitation contributions to cognitive aging.Aging brain · 2026Review
- Spatial contexts with reliable neural representations support reinstatement of subsequently placed objects.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
125 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Episodic memory reflects the ability to recollect the temporal and spatial context of past experiences. Episodic memories depend on the hippocampus but have been proposed to undergo rapid forgetting unless consolidated during offline periods such as sleep to neocortical areas for long-term storage. Here, we propose an alternative to this standard systems consolidation theory (SSCT) - a contextual binding account - in which the hippocampus binds item-related and context-related information. We compare these accounts in light of behavioural, lesion, neuroimaging and sleep studies of episodic memory and contend that forgetting is largely due to contextual interference, episodic memory remains dependent on the hippocampus across time, contextual drift produces post-encoding activity and sleep benefits memory by reducing contextual interference.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.