Distinct reinstatement of multi-voxel patterns predicts memory for complex audio-visual stimuli

The extent to which the pattern of neural response over voxels is repeated across different viewings of the same stimulus (‘pattern reinstatement’) has been suggested to predict subsequent memory performance. Previous studies used relatively simple stimuli and only one or a few characteristics of multi-voxel patterns. We investigate the properties of spatiotemporal multi-voxel patterns that predict memory performance in 36 people watching short audiovisual clips during fMRI. In several regions, including occipital, inferior temporal and frontoparietal cortices, the degree of spatiotemporal activity pattern reinstatement on repeated viewing predicted participants’ memory. The more similar the spatiotemporal patterns across viewings, the more accurately participants recalled the clip details. However, reinstatement is only one potentially informative feature of multi-voxel patterns. We characterised a number of other …