Consolidation Enhances Sequential Multistep Anticipation but Diminishes Access to Perceptual Features

Abstract

Many experiences unfold predictably over time. Memory for these temporal regularities enables anticipation of events multiple steps into the future. Because temporally predictable events repeat over days, weeks, and years, we must maintain—and potentially transform—memories of temporal structure to support adaptive behavior. We explored how individuals build durable models of temporal regularities to guide multistep anticipation. Healthy young adults (Experiment 1: N = 99, age range = 18–40 years; Experiment 2: N = 204, age range = 19–40 years) learned sequences of scene images that were predictable at the category level and contained incidental perceptual details. Individuals then anticipated upcoming scene categories multiple steps into the future, immediately and at a delay. Consolidation increased the efficiency of anticipation, particularly for events further in the future, but diminished access to perceptual features. Further, maintaining a link-based model of the sequence after consolidation improved anticipation accuracy. Consolidation may therefore promote efficient and durable models of temporal structure, thus facilitating anticipation of future events.