Diffuse predictions stabilize and reshape neural code during memory encoding

Experimental task: participants judged whether a probe grating was rotated clockwise or counterclockwise relative to a memorized orientation, which was either predictable or unpredictable. Each memory item was preceded by a central color cue (red, green, or blue). In half of the trials, two of these colors (predictive) cued two non-overlapping 90° segments of orientations that the grating was sampled from. Thus, participants knew the range of possible orientations of these items, but not their exact orientation. In the other half of the trials, a third (non-predictive) color was presented that signaled the item could have any possible orientation.The preprocessing and analysis scripts can be found on OSF: https://osf.io/8evwh/