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@ARTICLE{Taube:285211,
      author       = {Taube, Julia and Leelaarporn, Pitshaporn and Bilzer, Maren
                      and Stirnberg, Rüdiger and Sagik, Yilmaz and McCormick,
                      Cornelia},
      title        = {{F}rom single scenes to extended scenarios: {T}he role of
                      the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the construction of
                      imagery-rich events.},
      journal      = {PLOS ONE},
      volume       = {21},
      number       = {2},
      issn         = {1932-6203},
      address      = {San Francisco, California, US},
      publisher    = {PLOS},
      reportid     = {DZNE-2026-00190},
      pages        = {e0324764},
      year         = {2026},
      abstract     = {Mental events are fundamental to daily cognition, including
                      the recollection of past experiences, the anticipation of
                      future scenarios, and engagement in imaginative, fictitious
                      thought. Typically, these temporally extended mental events
                      unfold within coherent spatial contexts, rich in
                      naturalistic scenes and objects. However, there remains a
                      significant gap in understanding how these events are
                      represented in the brain. This study aimed to investigate
                      the neural patterns involved in the construction of
                      temporally extended mental events. Using ultra-high field
                      functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined brain
                      regions previously implicated in this cognitive process,
                      including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC),
                      hippocampus, and posterior neocortex. We employed a novel
                      experimental paradigm in which participants engaged in three
                      forms of mental imagery: single objects (e.g., 'a black
                      espresso'), single scenes (e.g., 'a busy café'), and
                      extended scenarios (e.g., 'meeting a friend for coffee'). We
                      identified a shared neural network, comprising the vmPFC,
                      hippocampus, and posterior neocortex, engaged across all
                      forms of mental imagery. However, we observed a hierarchical
                      organization in their contributions: the posterior neocortex
                      supported the construction of objects, scenes, and
                      scenarios, while the hippocampus primarily contributed to
                      scenes and scenarios. The vmPFC exhibited a stepwise
                      increase in activation, peaking during scenario
                      construction. These findings suggest that the construction
                      of mental events involves dynamic interactions between
                      perceptual representations in the posterior neocortex,
                      spatial coherence provided by the hippocampus, and
                      integrative processes within the vmPFC. While the vmPFC may
                      play a particularly prominent role in constructing
                      temporally extended scenarios, it likely also contributes to
                      the integration of elements within single scenes.},
      keywords     = {Humans / Prefrontal Cortex: physiology / Prefrontal Cortex:
                      diagnostic imaging / Male / Female / Magnetic Resonance
                      Imaging / Imagination: physiology / Adult / Young Adult /
                      Brain Mapping / Hippocampus: physiology / Cognition:
                      physiology / Neocortex: physiology},
      cin          = {Patient Studies (Bonn) / Clinical Research Platform (CRP) /
                      AG Remy / Clinical Research (Bonn) / AG Stöcker},
      ddc          = {610},
      cid          = {I:(DE-2719)1011101 / I:(DE-2719)1011401 /
                      I:(DE-2719)1013006 / I:(DE-2719)1011001 /
                      I:(DE-2719)1013026},
      pnm          = {353 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF4-353) / 351 -
                      Brain Function (POF4-351) / 354 - Disease Prevention and
                      Healthy Aging (POF4-354)},
      pid          = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-353 / G:(DE-HGF)POF4-351 /
                      G:(DE-HGF)POF4-354},
      typ          = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
      pubmed       = {pmid:41678556},
      doi          = {10.1371/journal.pone.0324764},
      url          = {https://pub.dzne.de/record/285211},
}