Hippocampal ripples initiate cortical dimensionality expansion for memory retrieval.

Abstract

How are past experiences reconstructed from memory? Learning is thought to compress external inputs into low-dimensional hippocampal representations, later expanded into high-dimensional cortical activity during recall. Hippocampal ripples, brief high-frequency bursts linked to retrieval, may initiate this expansion. Analysing intracranial EEG data from patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsy during an episodic memory task, we found that cortical dimensionality increased following ripple events during correct, but not incorrect, retrieval. This expansion correlated with faster reaction times and reinstatement of the target association. Crucially, hippocampal theta and cortical gamma phase-amplitude coupling emerged after ripples but before cortical expansion, suggesting a mechanism for ripple-driven communication. Ripple events also marked the separation of task-relevant variables in cortical state space, revealing how hippocampal output reshapes the geometry of memory representations to support successful recall.