Cover image

The cover image illustrates the relationship between gut microbiota composition and episodic memory performance in healthy humans. In this issue, Oyarzun et al. (LearnMem a054160.125) show that a rich and diverse gut microbial community (left) was associated with better item recognition memory, while reduced microbial diversity (right) was associated with poorer performance. The red bacteria dominant within the right panel represent Prevotella copri, a species negatively associated with item recognition performance. Oyarzun et al. show that gut microbiota alpha diversity was positively associated with item recognition and that carriage of Prevotella copri was associated with worse item recognition. Together, these findings suggest that the gut microbiota carries a detectable signature of human episodic memory performance. (Image generated with Gemini AI.)