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Memory encoding and retrieval are critical sub-processes of episodic memory. While the hippocampus is involved in both, less is known about its connectivity with the neocortex during memory processing in humans. This is partially due to variations in demands in common memory tasks, which inevitably recruit cognitive processes other than episodic memory. Conjunctive analysis of data from different tasks with the same core elements of encoding and retrieval can reduce the intrusion of patterns related to subsidiary perceptual and cognitive processing. Leveraging data from two large-scale functional resonance imaging studies with different episodic memory tasks (514 and 237 participants), we identified hippocampal-cortical networks active during memory tasks. Whole-brain functional connectivity maps were similar during resting state, encoding, and retrieval. Anterior and posterior hippocampus had distinct connectivity profiles, which were also stable across resting state and memory tasks. When contrasting encoding and retrieval connectivity, conjunctive encoding-related connectivity was sparse. During retrieval hippocampal connectivity was increased with areas known to be active during recollection, including medial prefrontal, inferior parietal, and parahippocampal cortices. This indicates that the stable functional connectivity of the hippocampus along its longitudinal axis is superposed by increased functional connectivity with the recollection network during retrieval, while auxiliary encoding connectivity likely reflects contextual factors., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Systems consolidation of new experiences into lasting episodic memories involves hippocampal-neocortical interactions. Evidence of this process is already observed during early post-encoding rest periods, both as increased hippocampal coupling with task-relevant perceptual regions and reactivation of stimulus-specific patterns following intensive encoding tasks. We investigate the spatial and temporal characteristics of these hippocampally anchored post-encoding neocortical modulations. Eighty-nine adults participated in an experiment consisting of interleaved memory task- and resting-state periods. We observed increased post-encoding functional connectivity between hippocampus and individually localized neocortical regions responsive to stimuli encountered during memory encoding. Post-encoding modulations were manifested as a nearly system-wide upregulation in hippocampal coupling with all major functional networks. The configuration of these extensive modulations resembled hippocampal-neocortical interaction patterns estimated from active encoding operations, suggesting hippocampal post-encoding involvement exceeds perceptual aspects. Reinstatement of encoding patterns was not observed in resting-state scans collected 12 h later, nor when using other candidate seed regions. The similarity in hippocampal functional coupling between online memory encoding and offline post-encoding rest suggests reactivation in humans involves a spectrum of cognitive processes engaged during the experience of an event. There were no age effects, suggesting that upregulation of hippocampal-neocortical connectivity represents a general phenomenon seen across the adult lifespan., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permission@oup.com.)