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Neural activations and representations during episodic versus semantic memory retrieval

Nature Human Behaviour (2026)Cite this article

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Abstract

Although the distinction between episodic and semantic memory is supported by numerous neuropsychological studies, neuroimaging data have shown considerable overlap between regions that are activated during semantic and episodic remembering. This might indicate similar or shared mechanisms but might also result from inadequate task designs or poor functional magnetic resonance imaging signal coverage. Here we compared neural activations and representations associated with successful retrieval of episodic and semantic memories, using tasks that are more closely matched. A total of n = 40 participants recalled pairings between logos and brand names, where the pairings corresponded to real-world knowledge (semantic task) or were learned in an initial study phase (episodic task). Neither a priori-defined networks nor clusters generally activated by our task provided evidence for any difference between successful semantic and episodic retrieval, with the Bayes factor for the a priori networks supporting the null hypothesis of no difference. Protocol registration The Stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 15 September 2021. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://osf.io/dm47y/.

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Fig. 1: Schematic illustration of the test phase of the two critical tasks.
Fig. 2: Locations of interest.
Fig. 3: Behavioural results from n = 36 participants.
Fig. 4: Data from n = 36 participants in the two a priori-defined networks and the two data-defined clusters.
Fig. 5: Data from exploratory data-defined ROIs with n = 36 participants.
Fig. 6: Results of univariate and similarity exploratory analyses, conducted for 16 data-defined ROIs.

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Data availability

Raw neuroimaging data, behavioural data and lab logs are available at https://openneuro.org/datasets/ds004495/. Processed data, pilot data and materials are available at https://osf.io/dm47y/.

Code availability

All code used for the study is available at https://osf.io/dm47y/.

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Acknowledgements

R.T. was supported by a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (grant no. SUAI/028 RG94188). G.H. was supported by an MRC Programme grant to Matt Lambon Ralph (grant no. MR/R023883/1) and MRC intramural funding (grant no. MC_UU_00005/18). J.A.Q. was supported by the Gates Cambridge Trust PhD studentship. R.H. and A.G. were supported by a UK Medical Research Council grant (grant no. SUAG/010 RG91365). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to A. Halai for advice on acquisition and preprocessing of multi-echo data, to L. Johnson for help with data collection and to D. Suchowski and I. Leitner for help with figure preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    Roni Tibon

  2. MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Roni Tibon, Andrea Greve, Gina Humphreys, Jörn Alexander Quent & Richard Henson

  3. Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Jörn Alexander Quent

  4. MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Jörn Alexander Quent

  5. Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Richard Henson

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Contributions

R.T. directed the project together with R.H., designed and planned the project, collected the data, carried out the analyses and wrote the paper with input from all authors. A.G. consulted on design and analyses, helped with data collection and provided input on the analyses and the paper. G.H. consulted on design and analyses and provided input on the analyses and the paper. J.A.Q. designed and executed sample size determination and provided input on the analyses and the paper. R.H. directed the project together with R.T., consulted on design and analyses and provided input on the analyses and the paper.

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Correspondence to Roni Tibon.

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Nature Human Behaviour thanks Louis Renoult, Deniz Vatansever and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.

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Supplementary Table 1 Exploratory data-defined ROIs. Supplementary Table 2 Univariate analyses results with exploratory data-defined ROIs. Supplementary Table 3 Similarity analyses results with exploratory data-defined ROIs.

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Tibon, R., Greve, A., Humphreys, G. et al. Neural activations and representations during episodic versus semantic memory retrieval. Nat Hum Behav (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02390-4

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