Episodic memory allows us to revisit past experiences by reinstating the neural patterns that were active during the original encoding. This talk presents recent EEG‑MVPA and RSA work that captures the temporal dynamics of how event‑specific information is reinstated during both new learning and retrieval. Across several studies, we show that overlapping experiences are associated with reinstatement patterns that can either promote integration – linking related episodes into a coherent memory representation – or separation – preserving the distinct details of each event. By examining when these processes unfold, we demonstrate how prior knowledge and contextual cues influence the balance between integration and separation. Together, these findings suggest that the brain flexibly encodes experiences in both integrated and separated neural patterns, enabling us to adaptively support different mnemonic goals.
