scholarly journals The Variability Puzzle in Human Memory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.J. Kahana ◽  
E.V. Aggarwal ◽  
T.D. Phan
Keyword(s):  
Recall Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Free Recall Task ◽  
Endogenous Factors ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Prior List ◽  
High Level

AbstractMemory performance exhibits a high level of variability from moment to moment. Much of this variability may reflect inadequately controlled experimental variables, such as word memorability, past practice and subject fatigue. Alternatively, stochastic variability in performance may largely reflect the efficiency of endogenous neural processes that govern memory function. To help adjudicate between these competing views, we conducted a multisession study in which subjects completed 552 trials of a delayed free-recall task. Applying a statistical model to predict variability in each subject’s recall performance uncovered modest effects of word memorability, proactive interference, and other variables. In contrast to the limited explanatory power of these experimental variables, performance on the prior list strongly predicted current list recall. These findings suggest that endogenous factors underlying successful encoding and retrieval drive variability in performance.

scholarly journals Human sensory Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) predicts visual memory performance and is modulated by the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.J. Spriggs ◽  
C.S. Thompson ◽  
D Moreau ◽  
N.A. McNair ◽  
C.C. Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Long Term Potentiation ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Term Potentiation ◽  
The Relationship

BackgroundLong-Term Potentiation (LTP) is recognised as a core neuronal process underlying long-term memory. However, a direct relationship between LTP and human memory performance is yet to be demonstrated. The first aim of the current study was thus to assess the relationship between LTP and human long-term memory performance. With this also comes an opportunity to explore factors thought to mediate the relationship between LTP and long-term memory, and to gain additional insight into variations in memory function and memory decline. The second aim of the current study was to explore the relationship between LTP and memory in groups differing with respect to BDNF Val66Met; a single nucleotide polymorphism implicated in memory function.Methods28 participants (15 female) were split into three genotype groups (Val/Val, Val/Met, Met/Met) and were presented with both an EEG paradigm for inducing LTP-like enhancements of the visually-evoked response, and a test of visual memory.ResultsThe magnitude of LTP 40 minutes after induction was predictive of long-term memory performance. Additionally, the BDNF Met allele was associated with both reduced LTP and reduced memory performance.ConclusionsThe current study not only presents the first evidence for a relationship between sensory LTP and human memory performance, but also demonstrates how targeting this relationship can provide insight into factors implicated in variation in human memory performance. It is anticipated that this will be of utility to future clinical studies of disrupted memory function.

scholarly journals The role of the thalamus and hippocampus in episodic memory performance in patients with multiple sclerosis

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 574-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A Koenig ◽  
Stephen M Rao ◽  
Mark J Lowe ◽  
Jian Lin ◽  
Ken E Sakaie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Loss ◽  
Lesion Load ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Volumetric Measures

Background: Episodic memory loss is one of the most common cognitive symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), but the pathophysiology of this symptom remains unclear. Both the hippocampus and thalamus have been implicated in episodic memory and show regional atrophy in patients with MS. Objective: In this work, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a verbal episodic memory task, lesion load, and volumetric measures of the hippocampus and thalamus to assess the relative contributions to verbal and visual–spatial episodic memory. Methods: Functional activation, lesion load, and volumetric measures from 32 patients with MS and 16 healthy controls were used in a predictive analysis of episodic memory function. Results: After adjusting for disease duration, immediate recall performance on a visual–spatial episodic memory task was significantly predicted by hippocampal volume ( p < 0.003). Delayed recall on the same task was significantly predicted by volume of the left thalamus ( p < 0.003). For both memory measures, functional activation of the thalamus during encoding was more predictive than that of volume measures ( p < 0.002). Conclusion: Our results suggest that functional activation may be useful as a predictive measure of episodic memory loss in patients with MS.

scholarly journals Recall of Reverberant Speech in Quiet and Four-Talker Babble Noise

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 891
Author(s):  
Miseung Koo ◽  
Jihui Jeon ◽  
Hwayoung Moon ◽  
Myung-Whan Suh ◽  
Jun-Ho Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Pupil Dilation ◽  
Recall Task ◽  
Free Recall Task ◽  
Pupillary Responses ◽  
Target Words

Using behavioral evaluation of free recall performance, we investigated whether reverberation and/or noise affected memory performance in normal-hearing adults. Thirty-four participants performed a free-recall task in which they were instructed to repeat the initial word after each sentence and to remember the target words after each list of seven sentences, in a 2 (reverberation) × 2 (noise) factorial design. Pupil dilation responses (baseline and peak pupil dilation) were also recorded sentence-by-sentence while the participants were trying to remember the target words. In noise, speech was presented at an easily audible level using an individualized signal-to-noise ratio (95% speech intelligibility). As expected, recall performance was significantly lower in the noisy environment than in the quiet condition. Regardless of noise interference or reverberation, sentence- baseline values gradually increased with an increase in the number of words to be remembered for a subsequent free-recall task. Long reverberation time had no significant effect on memory retrieval of verbal stimuli or pupillary responses during encoding.

scholarly journals The Influence of Music on Prefrontal Cortex during Episodic Encoding and Retrieval of Verbal Information: A Multichannel fNIRS Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Ferreri ◽  
Emmanuel Bigand ◽  
Patrick Bard ◽  
Aurélia Bugaiska
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Complex Stimulus ◽  
Verbal Information ◽  
Free Recall Task ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Episodic Encoding ◽  
Silence Condition ◽  
Encoding And Retrieval

Music can be thought of as a complex stimulus able to enrich the encoding of an event thus boosting its subsequent retrieval. However, several findings suggest that music can also interfere with memory performance. A better understanding of the behavioral and neural processes involved can substantially improve knowledge and shed new light on the most efficient music-based interventions. Based on fNIRS studies on music, episodic encoding, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), this work aims to extend previous findings by monitoring the entire lateral PFC during both encoding and retrieval of verbal material. Nineteen participants were asked to encode lists of words presented with either background music or silence and subsequently tested during a free recall task. Meanwhile, their PFC was monitored using a 48-channel fNIRS system. Behavioral results showed greater chunking of words under the music condition, suggesting the employment of associative strategies for items encoded with music. fNIRS results showed that music provided a less demanding way of modulating both episodic encoding and retrieval, with a general prefrontal decreased activity under the music versus silence condition. This suggests that music-related memory processes rely on specific neural mechanisms and that music can positively influence both episodic encoding and retrieval of verbal information.

Individual differences in encoding strategies and free recall dynamics

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 2495-2508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nash Unsworth ◽  
Ashley L Miller ◽  
Matthew K Robison
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Free Recall ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Normal Variation ◽  
Free Recall Task ◽  
Prior List ◽  
Performance Examining ◽  
Encoding Strategies ◽  
Encoding Strategy

Individual differences in encoding strategies and their relation to free recall dynamics were examined. Participants performed a delayed free recall task and following each list reported which strategies they may have used on the prior list. Individual differences in effective encoding strategy use were positively correlated with overall recall performance. Examining recall dynamics suggested that variation in effective encoding strategy use was associated with greater recall, particularly on non-primacy items and slightly more organised recall in terms of recall transitions. However, no differences were found for recall of items at the first serial position, in recall initiation, or in how quickly participants recalled items. Collectively, the results are consistent with the notion that effective encoding strategies increase the strength of items, resulting in a higher likelihood of recovering the items during recall. Individual differences in control processes in the form of effective encoding strategies are critically important for understanding normal variation in memory abilities.

Adaptive memory: Greater memory advantages in bilinguals’ first language

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110228
Author(s):  
Stephanie A Kazanas ◽  
Allison M Wilck ◽  
Jeanette Altarriba
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Word Recall ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Elaborative Processing ◽  
Language History

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: In this study, we examined memory performance in a bilingual population, in an effort to compare depth of processing and complexity across first and second languages. Design/methodology/approach: Complexity was investigated with a pleasantness rating task and an elaborative encoding, scenario-based rating task (i.e. rating words for their survival-relevance). Previous research found word recall largely benefited from an ancestral context that primed participants to think deeply about the survival-relevance of a list of concrete, neutral words. Engaging this more elaborative processing may lead to better memory if the human memory system is particularly tuned toward remembering survival-relevant materials. Data and analysis: Participants included 127 Spanish-English bilinguals, randomly-assigned to complete survival-relevance or pleasantness ratings in either Spanish or English. Aggregated language history data self-reported by participants (e.g. language-learning environments, age of acquisition, and so on), suggested an L1 of Spanish and L2 of English. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) compared word recall across these tasks and languages. Findings/conclusions: We hypothesized better recall performance collected from bilingual participants in the survival condition using their first, more often emotional, language. Our results support this hypothesis, with bilinguals replicating the memory advantage for words rated for their survival-relevance in Spanish (their L1), but not in English (their L2). Originality: While this paradigm has largely been studied with monolingual English-speakers, or in some cases, other languages, no study has explored its replicability in a Spanish-English bilingual population’s two languages. Significance/implications: These findings speak to the on-going effort to understand word processing and memory differences—particularly with regards to processing complexity—across bilinguals’ first and second languages.

Impact of Comorbid Depression on Serial Position Effects in Alzheimer’s Disease

GeroPsych ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nienke A. Hofrichter ◽  
Sandra Dick ◽  
Thomas G. Riemer ◽  
Carsten Schleussner ◽  
Monique Goerke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Serial Position ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Word List ◽  
Position Effects ◽  
Serial Position Effects ◽  
List Memory

Hippocampal dysfunction and deficits in episodic memory have been reported for both Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Primacy performance has been associated with hippocampus-dependent episodic memory, while recency may reflect working memory performance. In this study, serial position profiles were examined in a total of 73 patients with MDD, AD, both AD and MDD, and healthy controls (HC) by means of CERAD-NP word list memory. Primacy performance was most impaired in AD with comorbid MDD, followed by AD, MDD, and HC. Recency performance, on the other hand, was comparable across groups. These findings indicate that primacy in AD is impaired in the presence of comorbid MDD, suggesting additive performance decrements in this specific episodic memory function.

The “How” of Animacy Effects in Episodic Memory

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 371-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Bonin ◽  
Margaux Gelin ◽  
Betty Laroche ◽  
Alain Méot ◽  
Aurélia Bugaiska
Keyword(s):  
Memory Load ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Recall Rate ◽  
Interactive Imagery ◽  
Ultimate Explanation ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Observation Results

Abstract. Animates are better remembered than inanimates. According to the adaptive view of human memory ( Nairne, 2010 ; Nairne & Pandeirada, 2010a , 2010b ), this observation results from the fact that animates are more important for survival than inanimates. This ultimate explanation of animacy effects has to be complemented by proximate explanations. Moreover, animacy currently represents an uncontrolled word characteristic in most cognitive research ( VanArsdall, Nairne, Pandeirada, & Cogdill, 2015 ). In four studies, we therefore investigated the “how” of animacy effects. Study 1 revealed that words denoting animates were recalled better than those referring to inanimates in an intentional memory task. Study 2 revealed that adding a concurrent memory load when processing words for the animacy dimension did not impede the animacy effect on recall rates. Study 3A was an exact replication of Study 2 and Study 3B used a higher concurrent memory load. In these two follow-up studies, animacy effects on recall performance were again not altered by a concurrent memory load. Finally, Study 4 showed that using interactive imagery to encode animate and inanimate words did not alter the recall rate of animate words but did increase the recall of inanimate words. Taken together, the findings suggest that imagery processes contribute to these effects.

Articulatory Rehearsal Is More Than Refreshing Memory Traces

2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryoji Nishiyama ◽  
Jun Ukita
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Verbal Information ◽  
Free Recall Task ◽  
Study Item ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Memory Traces ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Serial Position Curves

This study examined whether additional articulatory rehearsal induced temporary durability of phonological representations, using a 10-s delayed nonword free recall task. Three experiments demonstrated that cumulative rehearsal between the offset of the last study item and the start of the filled delay (Experiments 1 and 3) and a fixed rehearsal of the immediate item during the subsequent interstimulus interval (Experiments 2 and 3) improved free recall performance. These results suggest that an additional rehearsal helps to stabilize phonological representations for a short period. Furthermore, the analyses of serial position curves suggested that the frequency of the articulation affected the durability of the phonological representation. The significance of these findings as clues of the mechanism maintaining verbal information (i.e., verbal working memory) is discussed.

Introduction to the cognitive abilities account for the reminiscence bump in the temporal distribution of autobiographical memory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve M. J. Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Alternative Account ◽  
Reminiscence Bump ◽  
Significant Events ◽  
Cue Words

People tend to recall more specific personal events from adolescence and early adulthood than from other lifetime periods, a finding known as the reminiscence bump. Several explanations have suggested that events from the reminiscence bump are especially emotional, important, or positive, but studies using cue words have not found support for these claims. An alternative account postulates that cognitive abilities function optimally in adolescence and early adulthood, which may cause more memories to be stored in those lifetime periods. Although other studies have previously discussed the cognitive abilities account as a possible explanation for the reminiscence bump, it was only recently shown that cognitive abilities are indeed related to autobiographical memory performance. When this recent finding is combined with previous findings that cognitive abilities as well as autobiographical memory function optimally in adolescence and early adulthood, they suggest that the cognitive abilities account is a promising explanation for the reminiscence bump in the temporal distribution of word-cued memories. However, because the account does not aim to explain the reminiscence bump in the distribution of highly significant events, it should be regarded as complementary to the existing accounts.

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