Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39764707›Full record

ArticleHuman brain mapping2025

Decoding Salience: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Reward and Contextual Unexpectedness in Memory Encoding and Retrieval.

Yeo-Jin Yi, Michael C Kreißl, Oliver Speck, Emrah Düzel, Dorothea Hämmerer

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Human brain mapping, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Unexpected Events Resist Directed Forgetting.Journal of cognitive enhancement : towards the integration of theory and practice · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Yeo-Jin YiInstitute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-9904-6284
Michael C KreißlGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany.
Oliver SpeckGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany.
Emrah DüzelInstitute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.
Dorothea HämmererInstitute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.

Funding

Alzheimer's Research Trust SRF2018B-004Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Sonderforschungsbereich 1315 B06Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Sonderforschungsbereich 1436 A08Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Sonderforschungsbereich 779 A07
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The present study investigated the neuromodulatory substrates of salience processing and its impact on memory encoding and behaviour, with a specific focus on two distinct types of salience: reward and contextual unexpectedness. 46 Participants performed a novel task paradigm modulating these two aspects independently and allowing for investigating their distinct and interactive effects on memory encoding while undergoing high-resolution fMRI. By using advanced image processing techniques tailored to examine midbrain and brainstem nuclei with high precision, our study additionally aimed to elucidate differential activation patterns in subcortical nuclei in response to reward-associated and contextually unexpected stimuli, including distinct pathways involving in particular dopaminergic modulation. We observed a differential involvement of the ventral striatum, substantia nigra (SN) and caudate nucleus, as well as a functional specialisation within the subregions of the cingulate cortex for the two salience types. Moreover, distinct subregions within the SN in processing salience could be identified. Dorsal areas preferentially processed salience related to stimulus processing (of both reward and contextual unexpectedness), and ventral areas were involved in salience-related memory encoding (for contextual unexpectedness only). These functional specialisations within SN are in line with different projection patterns of dorsal and ventral SN to brain areas supporting attention and memory, respectively. By disentangling stimulus processing and memory encoding related to two salience types, we hope to further consolidate our understanding of neuromodulatory structures' differential as well as interactive roles in modulating behavioural responses to salient events.

Indexed as

Brain MappingMagnetic Resonance ImagingRewardAdultBrainFemaleHumansImage Processing, Computer-AssistedMaleMemoryMental RecallYoung Adultcognitioncontextual unexpectednessfMRImemorymidbrainreward

Identifiers

PMID39764707
PMCPMC11705450

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.