Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundaries

Abstract Ripples are fast oscillatory events widely recognized as crucial markers for memory consolidation and neural plasticity. These transient bursts of activity are thought to coordinate information transfer between the hippocampus and neocortical areas, providing a temporal framework that suppo...

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Main Authors: Marta Silva, Xiongbo Wu, Marc Sabio, Estefanía Conde-Blanco, Pedro Roldán, Antonio Donaire, Mar Carreño, Nikolai Axmacher, Christopher Baldassano, Lluís Fuentemilla
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60788-0
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author Marta Silva
Xiongbo Wu
Marc Sabio
Estefanía Conde-Blanco
Pedro Roldán
Antonio Donaire
Mar Carreño
Nikolai Axmacher
Christopher Baldassano
Lluís Fuentemilla
author_facet Marta Silva
Xiongbo Wu
Marc Sabio
Estefanía Conde-Blanco
Pedro Roldán
Antonio Donaire
Mar Carreño
Nikolai Axmacher
Christopher Baldassano
Lluís Fuentemilla
author_sort Marta Silva
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Ripples are fast oscillatory events widely recognized as crucial markers for memory consolidation and neural plasticity. These transient bursts of activity are thought to coordinate information transfer between the hippocampus and neocortical areas, providing a temporal framework that supports the stabilization and integration of new memories. However, their role in human memory encoding during naturalistic scenarios remains unexplored. Here, we recorded intracranial electrophysiological data from ten epilepsy patients watching a movie. Ripples were analyzed in the hippocampus and neocortical regions (i.e., temporal and frontal cortex). Our results revealed a differential dynamical pattern of ripple occurrence during encoding. Enhanced hippocampal ripple recruitment was observed at event boundaries, reflecting hippocampal involvement in event segmentation, whereas higher ripple rates were seen within an event for cortical electrodes with higher ripple occurrence at the temporal cortex, reflecting whether an event was later recalled. These findings shed light on the neural mechanisms underlying memory encoding and provide insights into the potential role of ripples in the encoding of an event, suggesting an impact on the formation of long-term memories of distinct episodes.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2041-1723
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publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
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series Nature Communications
spelling doaj-art-5f5af7d8ab9f4b96aa41f1be65ebc13b2025-08-20T03:45:31ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116111110.1038/s41467-025-60788-0Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundariesMarta Silva0Xiongbo Wu1Marc Sabio2Estefanía Conde-Blanco3Pedro Roldán4Antonio Donaire5Mar Carreño6Nikolai Axmacher7Christopher Baldassano8Lluís Fuentemilla9Department of Cognition, Development and Education Psychology, University of BarcelonaDepartment of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenDepartment of Cognition, Development and Education Psychology, University of BarcelonaDepartment of Neurology, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Universitat de BarcelonaDepartment of Neurology, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Universitat de BarcelonaDepartment of Neurology, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Universitat de BarcelonaDepartment of Neurology, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Universitat de BarcelonaDepartment of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-Universität BochumDepartment of Psychology, Columbia UniversityDepartment of Cognition, Development and Education Psychology, University of BarcelonaAbstract Ripples are fast oscillatory events widely recognized as crucial markers for memory consolidation and neural plasticity. These transient bursts of activity are thought to coordinate information transfer between the hippocampus and neocortical areas, providing a temporal framework that supports the stabilization and integration of new memories. However, their role in human memory encoding during naturalistic scenarios remains unexplored. Here, we recorded intracranial electrophysiological data from ten epilepsy patients watching a movie. Ripples were analyzed in the hippocampus and neocortical regions (i.e., temporal and frontal cortex). Our results revealed a differential dynamical pattern of ripple occurrence during encoding. Enhanced hippocampal ripple recruitment was observed at event boundaries, reflecting hippocampal involvement in event segmentation, whereas higher ripple rates were seen within an event for cortical electrodes with higher ripple occurrence at the temporal cortex, reflecting whether an event was later recalled. These findings shed light on the neural mechanisms underlying memory encoding and provide insights into the potential role of ripples in the encoding of an event, suggesting an impact on the formation of long-term memories of distinct episodes.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60788-0
spellingShingle Marta Silva
Xiongbo Wu
Marc Sabio
Estefanía Conde-Blanco
Pedro Roldán
Antonio Donaire
Mar Carreño
Nikolai Axmacher
Christopher Baldassano
Lluís Fuentemilla
Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundaries
Nature Communications
title Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundaries
title_full Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundaries
title_fullStr Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundaries
title_full_unstemmed Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundaries
title_short Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundaries
title_sort movie watching evokes ripple like activity within events and at event boundaries
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60788-0
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