Configural Object Novelty Alters Network Coordination Across the Medial Temporal Lobe
Abstract
Object identity depends on how constituent features are combined, such that the same features may form distinct objects when their configuration changes. The perirhinal (PRC) and anterolateral entorhinal (alERC) cortices are implicated in such conjunctive object processing; however, regional sensitivity alone cannot reveal how information is coordinated across regions, or whether this coordination extends beyond object-processing regions to spatial and relational regions. Using generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analysis of BOLD signals extracted from manually-segmented medial temporal lobe regions, we examined task-modulated functional connectivity while younger adults viewed repeated objects (familiar features in familiar configurations), recombined objects (familiar features in novel configurations), and novel objects (novel features in novel configurations). This design permitted isolation of connectivity changes associated with configural, featural, and global object novelty. Configural novelty (repeated vs. recombined objects) was associated with widespread reductions in connectivity spanning anterior-temporal, posterior-medial, and hippocampal regions, extending to medial prefrontal and posterior-medial cortex, alongside more limited increases in connectivity between posteromedial entorhinal cortex (pmERC) and superior parietal and frontal regions. In contrast, featural novelty (recombined vs. novel objects) and global novelty (repeated vs. novel objects) were not associated with significant connectivity differences. These findings demonstrate that configural object novelty alters coordination across a distributed hippocampal-cortical network, with connectivity effects extending beyond the anterior-temporal regions traditionally implicated in object processing, highlighting how object and relational processing systems work in concert to support conjunctive object processing. Connectivity thus provides a complementary window onto how conjunctive information is coordinated, beyond what regional sensitivity alone can reveal.
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BibTeX
@misc{homann2026configural,
title = {{Configural Object Novelty Alters Network Coordination Across the Medial Temporal Lobe}},
author = {Lauren Homann and Jennifer Ryan and Rosanna K. Olsen and Natalia Ladyka-Wojcik and Morgan Barense},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/m3gt9_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/m3gt9_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Configural Object Novelty Alters Network Coordination Across the Medial Temporal Lobe
AU - Lauren Homann
AU - Jennifer Ryan
AU - Rosanna K. Olsen
AU - Natalia Ladyka-Wojcik
AU - Morgan Barense
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/m3gt9_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/m3gt9_v1/
AB - Object identity depends on how constituent features are combined, such that the same features may form distinct objects when their configuration changes. The perirhinal (PRC) and anterolateral entorhinal (alERC) cortices are implicated in such conjunctive object processing; however, regional sensitivity alone cannot reveal how information is coordinated across regions, or whether this coordination extends beyond object-processing regions to spatial and relational regions. Using generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analysis of BOLD signals extracted from manually-segmented medial temporal lobe regions, we examined task-modulated functional connectivity while younger adults viewed repeated objects (familiar features in familiar configurations), recombined objects (familiar features in novel configurations), and novel objects (novel features in novel configurations). This design permitted isolation of connectivity changes associated with configural, featural, and global object novelty. Configural novelty (repeated vs. recombined objects) was associated with widespread reductions in connectivity spanning anterior-temporal, posterior-medial, and hippocampal regions, extending to medial prefrontal and posterior-medial cortex, alongside more limited increases in connectivity between posteromedial entorhinal cortex (pmERC) and superior parietal and frontal regions. In contrast, featural novelty (recombined vs. novel objects) and global novelty (repeated vs. novel objects) were not associated with significant connectivity differences. These findings demonstrate that configural object novelty alters coordination across a distributed hippocampal-cortical network, with connectivity effects extending beyond the anterior-temporal regions traditionally implicated in object processing, highlighting how object and relational processing systems work in concert to support conjunctive object processing. Connectivity thus provides a complementary window onto how conjunctive information is coordinated, beyond what regional sensitivity alone can reveal.
ER -