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Engram neurons: Encoding, consolidation, retrieval, and forgetting of memory

2023· review· en· 135 citations· W4382344442 on OpenAlex· 10.1038/s41380-023-02137-5

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A frame that forgets how it found something cannot be audited. These are the routes that admitted this work.

Canadian affiliationAn author listed a Canadian institution. This is the only route the usual frame has.
Canadian funderA Canadian agency funded it. The work may carry no Canadian affiliation at all.

The three-model screen

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All three models called this out of scope.

stratum: aff_core · design weight: 5595.24 (the sample is stratified; any rate computed without the weight is wrong)
Claude Opus 4.8OUT
genre: other
about Canada: no
confidence: high

Neuroscience review synthesizing engram mechanisms across memory encoding, consolidation, retrieval, and forgetting; the object is memory biology.

GPT-5.6 (high)OUT
genre: conceptual
about Canada: no
confidence: high

This review synthesizes neurobiological knowledge about memory engrams rather than studying research itself.

Grok 4.5OUT
genre: conceptual
about Canada: no
confidence: high

Neuroscience review of memory engram mechanisms; object is brain function, not research practice.

Abstract

Tremendous strides have been made in our understanding of the neurobiological substrates of memory - the so-called memory "engram". Here, we integrate recent progress in the engram field to illustrate how engram neurons transform across the "lifespan" of a memory - from initial memory encoding, to consolidation and retrieval, and ultimately to forgetting. To do so, we first describe how cell-intrinsic properties shape the initial emergence of the engram at memory encoding. Second, we highlight how these encoding neurons preferentially participate in synaptic- and systems-level consolidation of memory. Third, we describe how these changes during encoding and consolidation guide neural reactivation during retrieval, and facilitate memory recall. Fourth, we describe neurobiological mechanisms of forgetting, and how these mechanisms can counteract engram properties established during memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. Motivated by recent experimental results across these four sections, we conclude by proposing some conceptual extensions to the traditional view of the engram, including broadening the view of cell-type participation within engrams and across memory stages. In collection, our review synthesizes general principles of the engram across memory stages, and describes future avenues to further understand the dynamic engram.

Stored with the screening record, where it is evidence for the labels above.

The record

Venue
Molecular Psychiatry
Topic
Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Field
Neuroscience
Canadian institutions
University of British Columbia HospitalUniversity of British Columbia
Funders
Canadian Institutes of Health ResearchNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaGovernment of Canada
Keywords
EngramForgettingMemory consolidationEncoding (memory)NeuroscienceRecallPsychologyConsolidation (business)MemorizationLong-term memoryCognitive scienceCognitive psychologyHippocampusCognition
Has abstract in OpenAlex
yes