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  4. Re-membering: spontaneous reactivation of motor cortex during memory re-experiencing
 
preprint

Re-membering: spontaneous reactivation of motor cortex during memory re-experiencing

Boscheron, Juliette  
•
Schoenmakers, Pepijn
•
Trivier, Arthur  
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February 2, 2026

Episodic autobiographical memory (EAM) relies on reactivations of cortical regions engaged during event encoding. While reinstatement of sensory regions is well documented, the role of internal signals from the person's body has received less attention. Here, we investigated whether motor representations from encoding, which are self-generated and ubiquitous in everyday experience, are reinstated at retrieval. Using mixed-reality, participants encoded lifelike episodes involving specific motor actions. The next day, they freely retrieved these episodes while undergoing fMRI (N=30) or EMG (N=23). fMRI results revealed lateralized, effector-specific reactivation in primary and supplementary motor cortices. Moreover, hippocampal-motor connectivity increased during retrieval, and activity in premotor and supplementary motor areas scaled with subjective re-experiencing ratings. EMG recordings extended these findings showing, during retrieval, sub-threshold activation of the muscle active during encoding. These results provide evidence for cortical and peripheral motor reinstatement during the re-experiencing of past events, emphasizing the embodied nature of EAM.

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Type
preprint
DOI
10.64898/2026.01.29.702278
Author(s)
Boscheron, Juliette  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Schoenmakers, Pepijn
Trivier, Arthur  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Lance, Florian  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Herbelin, Bruno  

EPFL

Babo-Rebelo, Mariana
Van De Ville, Dimitri  

EPFL

Blanke, Olaf  

EPFL

Date Issued

2026-02-02

Publisher

bioRxiv

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LNCO  
MIPLAB  
Available on Infoscience
February 4, 2026
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/258870
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