Constructing novel states from experience underpins imagination and abstraction. The hippocampal formation is thought to contribute by capturing the relational structure of experiences, but it remains unclear how its abstract relational codes are eventually translated into cortical content representations. I highlight that hippocampal–cortical indexing may scaffold the generation of new states.

Tenderra et al. show that human intelligence is linked to interindividual differences in relational integration in hippocampal cognitive maps. Map-like representations of information learned piecemeal...

What is the secret of human intelligence? A key discovery in psychology is that performance correlations across diverse cognitive tasks are explained by a few broad abilities and one overarching gener...