Fornix microstructure is associated with holistic recollection in early childhood
Abstract
Episodic memory in early childhood has been linked to individual differences in the fornix (e.g., Hoffman et al., 2022), the primary output tract of the hippocampus. In this study, we examined this relationship in greater detail and at higher spatial resolution using specific memory measures, including holistic recollection, defined here as the tendency for elements of an event to be remembered or forgotten together, and indexed by retrieval dependency. The sample consisted of 30 children (5.5-8.9 years of age) who completed a delayed multi-element binding task that also yielded measures of mnemonic discrimination and relational binding. Using diffusion MRI tractography, we reconstructed the fornix and sampled fractional anisotropy (FA), a diffusion-tensor measure of directional water diffusion, at 100 nodes per hemisphere. Higher FA, particularly in the right mid-tract crus/body segment, was associated with greater holistic recollection. No cluster-corrected associations were observed for mnemonic discrimination or relational binding. Unlike prior studies, we did not find an age-related change in the fornix. These findings suggest that diffusion-derived variation in the fornix is related to holistic recollection in early childhood.
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BibTeX
@misc{tani2026fornix,
title = {{Fornix microstructure is associated with holistic recollection in early childhood}},
author = {Naoya Tani and Linda Hoffman and Samantha Cohen and Nora Newcombe and Ingrid R. Olson},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/vzudt_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/vzudt_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Fornix microstructure is associated with holistic recollection in early childhood
AU - Naoya Tani
AU - Linda Hoffman
AU - Samantha Cohen
AU - Nora Newcombe
AU - Ingrid R. Olson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/vzudt_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/vzudt_v1/
AB - Episodic memory in early childhood has been linked to individual differences in the fornix (e.g., Hoffman et al., 2022), the primary output tract of the hippocampus. In this study, we examined this relationship in greater detail and at higher spatial resolution using specific memory measures, including holistic recollection, defined here as the tendency for elements of an event to be remembered or forgotten together, and indexed by retrieval dependency. The sample consisted of 30 children (5.5-8.9 years of age) who completed a delayed multi-element binding task that also yielded measures of mnemonic discrimination and relational binding. Using diffusion MRI tractography, we reconstructed the fornix and sampled fractional anisotropy (FA), a diffusion-tensor measure of directional water diffusion, at 100 nodes per hemisphere. Higher FA, particularly in the right mid-tract crus/body segment, was associated with greater holistic recollection. No cluster-corrected associations were observed for mnemonic discrimination or relational binding. Unlike prior studies, we did not find an age-related change in the fornix. These findings suggest that diffusion-derived variation in the fornix is related to holistic recollection in early childhood.
ER -