Hippocampus Predicts Rewards, Beyond Memory Storage

A new study finds the hippocampus reorganizes memories to anticipate future outcomes, beyond just storing past experiences.

Jan. 30, 2026 at 1:55am

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A preclinical study published in Nature has found evidence that the hippocampus, the brain region that stores memory, also reorganizes memories to anticipate future outcomes. The findings reveal a learning process that had not been directly observed before, where neural activity that initially peaked at a reward gradually shifted to earlier moments, eventually appearing before the reward was reached.

Why it matters

The new findings suggest the hippocampus supports a more sophisticated version of reward learning, using memory and context to anticipate outcomes. This offers a new framework for understanding why learning and decision-making are affected early in Alzheimer's disease, as the disease often impacts a patient's ability to remember the past and learn from experience.

The details

Researchers obtained these findings by tracking brain activity in mice as they learned a task with a predictable reward. Rather than relying on traditional electrodes, the team used new imaging techniques that cause active neurons to glow, enabling them to follow cells over several weeks and track slow changes that traditional methods often miss.

  • The study was published in Nature on January 30, 2026.

The players

Mark Brandon

Associate Professor in McGill's Department of Psychiatry and Researcher at the Douglas Research Centre, who led the study.

Brandon Lab

A research lab at McGill University that investigates the core mechanisms of memory, including how memories are encoded, stored, and retrieved in the brain, as well as how memory breaks down in Alzheimer's disease.

Harvard University

The institution where some of the study's collaborators are based.

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What they’re saying

“The hippocampus is often described as the brain's internal model of the world. What we are seeing is that this model is not static; it is updated day by day as the brain learns from prediction errors. As outcomes become expected, hippocampal neurons start to respond earlier as they learn what will happen next.”

— Mark Brandon, Associate Professor in McGill's Department of Psychiatry and Researcher at the Douglas Research Centre

“What we found was surprising. Neural activity that initially peaked at the reward gradually shifted to earlier moments, eventually appearing before mice reached the reward.”

— Mark Brandon, Associate Professor in McGill's Department of Psychiatry and Researcher at the Douglas Research Centre

What’s next

The study offers a new framework for understanding why learning and decision-making are affected early in Alzheimer's disease, and opens the door to research into how this predictive signal may fail and be restored.

The takeaway

The findings demonstrate that the hippocampus, long known for its role in memory storage, also plays a sophisticated role in anticipating future outcomes by reorganizing memories. This provides valuable insights into the brain's learning processes and could have important implications for understanding and treating Alzheimer's disease.