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Testing the Causal Role of the Posterior Medial Network in Episodic Memory Specificity

Poster Session E - Monday, March 9, 2026, 2:30 – 4:30 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Sandry M. Garcia¹, Natalia Ladyka-Wojcik, Nina Curko¹, Hannah Piccirilli¹, Brigitte Guzman³, Colette Chen⁴, Preston Thakral², Maureen Ritchey¹; ¹Boston College, ²Smith College, ³University of California, Los Angeles, ⁴Northeastern University

A key aspect of episodic memory is its specificity or the precision with which information is remembered – a process that is supported by the posterior medial (PM) network including the hippocampus and angular gyrus (AG). Although PM network interactions are associated with memory specificity, their causal role remains unclear. Prior work showed that stimulating the AG reduced hippocampal activity and hippocampal-AG functional connectivity, corresponding to worse performance on simulation and divergent thinking tasks. The present study tested whether AG stimulation alters PM network interactions and episodic memory specificity, as well as their relation to subjective memory vividness. Participants completed two sessions in which they encoded object-scene pairs, memorizing the object’s location within each scene. After encoding, they received continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) over the left AG or a control site (vertex). The AG site was chosen based on its functional connectivity with the hippocampus. Immediately after cTBS, participants completed a scanned retrieval in which they rated memory vividness and reconstructed the object-scene pairs. We hypothesized that AG cTBS would reduce hippocampal activity and hippocampal-AG connectivity, and behaviorally, decrease memory specificity and subjective vividness. Behaviorally, AG stimulation did not significantly affect memory specificity or subjective vividness. Ongoing fMRI analyses will examine whether AG stimulation modulates PM network activity and connectivity, and whether these neural changes relate to individual differences in retrieval performance. This work will help clarify the causal contributions of the PM network interactions to episodic memory and advance understanding of how targeted neurostimulation can probe memory-related brain networks.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic