scholarly journals Assessment of Behavioural Markers of Autonoetic Consciousness during Episodic Autobiographical Memory Retrieval: A Preliminary Analysis

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 3-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Irish ◽  
B. A. Lawlor ◽  
S. M. O'Mara ◽  
R. F. Coen
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Preliminary Analysis ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Memory Assessment ◽  
Test Instrument ◽  
Autonoetic Consciousness ◽  
Original Event

There is ongoing theoretical debate regarding episodic memory and how it can be accurately measured, in particular if the focus should be content-based recall of episodic details or something more experiential involving the subjective capacity to mentally travel back in time and “re-live” aspects of the original event. The autonoetic subscale of the Episodic Autobiographical Memory Interview (EAMI) is presented here as a new test instrument that attempts to redress theoretical and methodological shortcomings in autobiographical memory assessment. The EAMI merges a phenomenological detail-based approach with an assessment of autonoetic consciousness, departing considerably from traditional Remember/Know paradigms used within this field. We present findings from an initial pilot study investigating the potential markers of autonoetic consciousness that may accompany episodic retrieval. Key behavioural indices of autonoetic consciousness, notably those of viewer perspective, visual imagery, and emotional re-experiencing, emerged as being inextricably bound with the level of phenomenological detail recalled and the overall re-living judgment. The autonoetic subscale of the EAMI permits conceptually refined assessment of episodic personal memories and the accompanying subjective experience of mental re-living, characteristic of episodic memory.

Going Their Separate Ways: Dissociation of Hippocampal and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Activation during Episodic Retrieval and Post-retrieval Processing

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Israel ◽  
Tyler M. Seibert ◽  
Michelle L. Black ◽  
James B. Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Relative Increase ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Default Network ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Retrieval Task ◽  
Paired Associates ◽  
Hippocampal Activity ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

Hippocampal activity is modulated during episodic memory retrieval. Most consistently, a relative increase in activity during confident retrieval is observed. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is also activated during retrieval, but may be more generally activated during cognitive-control processes. The “default network,” regions activated during rest or internally focused tasks, includes the hippocampus, but not DLPFC. Therefore, DLPFC and the hippocampus should diverge during difficult tasks suppressing the default network. It is unclear, however, whether a difficult episodic memory retrieval task would suppress the default network due to difficulty or activate it due to internally directed attention. We hypothesized that a task requiring episodic retrieval followed by rumination on the retrieved item would increase DLPFC activity, but paradoxically reduce hippocampal activity due to concomitant suppression of the default network. In the present study, blocked and event-related fMRI were used to examine hippocampal activity during episodic memory recollection and postretrieval processing of paired associates. Subjects were asked to make living/nonliving judgments about items visually presented (classify) or items retrieved from memory (recall–classify). Active and passive baselines were used to differentiate task-related activity from default-network activity. During the “recall–classify” task, anterior hippocampal activity was selectively reduced relative to “classify” and baseline tasks, and this activity was inversely correlated with DLPFC. Reaction time was positively correlated with DLPFC activation and default-network/hippocampal suppression. The findings demonstrate that frontal and hippocampal activity are dissociated during difficult episodic retrieval tasks and reveal important considerations for interpreting hippocampal activity associated with successful episodic retrieval.

Lateralization of Prefrontal Activity during Episodic Memory Retrieval: Evidence for the Production-Monitoring Hypothesis

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Cabeza ◽  
Jill K. Locantore ◽  
Nicole D. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Item Recognition ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Context Recognition ◽  
Production Monitoring ◽  
The Right

We propose a new hypothesis concerning the lateralization of prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during verbal episodic memory retrieval. The hypothesis states that the left PFC is differentially more involved in semantically guided information production than is the right PFC, and that the right PFC is differentially more involved in monitoring and verification than is the left PFC. This “production-monitoring hypothesis” differs from the existing “systematic-heuristic hypothesis,” which proposes that the left PFC is primarily involved in systematic retrieval operations, and the right PFC in heuristic retrieval operations. To compare the two hypotheses, we measured PFC activity using positron emission tomography (PET) during the performance of four episodic retrieval tasks: stem cued recall, associative cued recall, context recognition (source memory), and item recognition. Recall tasks emphasized production processes, whereas recognition tasks emphasized monitoring processes. Stem cued recall and context-recognition tasks underscored systematic operations, whereas associative cued recall and item-recognition tasks underscored heuristic operations. Consistent with the production-monitoring hypothesis, the left PFC was more activated for recall than for recognition tasks and the right PFC was more activated for recognition than for recall tasks. Inconsistent with the systematic-heuristic hypothesis, the left PFC was more activated for heuristic than for systematic tasks and the right PFC showed the converse result. Additionally, the study yielded activation differences outside the PFC. In agreement with a previous recall/recognition PET study, anterior cingulate, cerebellar, and striatal regions were more activated for recall than for recognition tasks, and the converse occurred for posterior parietal regions. A right medial temporal lobe region was more activated for stem cued recall and context recognition than for associative cued recall and item recognition, possibly reflecting perceptual integration. In sum, the results provide evidence for the production-monitoring hypothesis and clarify the role of different brain regions typically activated in PET and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of episodic retrieval.

scholarly journals Failure to reactivate salient episodic information during indirect and direct tests of memory retrieval

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mason H. Price ◽  
Jeffrey D. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Condition ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Flicker Frequency ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Episodic Information ◽  
Cortical Regions

ABSTRACTSeveral fMRI and EEG studies have demonstrated that successful episodic retrieval is accompanied by the reactivation of cortical regions that were active during encoding. These findings are consistent with influential models of episodic memory that posit that conscious retrieval (recollection) relies on hippocampally-mediated cortical reinstatement. Evidence of reactivation corresponding to episodic information that is beyond conscious awareness at the time of memory retrieval, however, is limited. A recent exception is from an EEG study by Wimber, Maaβ, Staudigl, Richardson-Klavehn, and Hanslmayr (2012) in which words were encoded in the context of highly salient visual flicker entrainment and then presented at retrieval in the absence of any flicker. In that study, coherent (phase-locked) neural activity was observed at the corresponding entrained frequencies during retrieval, consistent with the notion that encoding representations were reactivated. Given the important implications of unconscious reactivation to past findings and the modeling literature, the current study set out to provide a direct replication of the previous study. Additionally, an attempt was made to extend such findings to intentional retrieval by acquiring EEG while subjects were explicitly asked to make memory judgments about the flicker frequency from encoding. Throughout a comprehensive set of analyses, the current study consistently failed to demonstrate evidence for unconscious reactivation, and instead provided support that test items were indistinguishable according to their prior encoding context. The findings thus establish an important boundary condition for the involvement of cortical reinstatement in episodic memory.

scholarly journals The ventral lateral parietal cortex in episodic memory: From content to attribution

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roni Tibon
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
The Core ◽  
Memory Traces ◽  
Content Representation

Abstract The ventral lateral parietal cortex (VLPC) shows robust activation during episodic retrieval, and is involved in content representation, as well as in the evaluation of memory traces. This suggests that the VLPC has a crucial contribution to the quality of recollection and the subjective experience of remembering, and situates it at the intersection of the core and attribution systems.

scholarly journals Reinstatement of Event Details during Episodic Simulation in the Hippocampus

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 2321-2337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preston P Thakral ◽  
Kevin P Madore ◽  
Donna Rose Addis ◽  
Daniel L Schacter
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
The People ◽  
Episodic Information ◽  
Episodic Simulation ◽  
Pattern Similarity ◽  
Neuroimaging Study

Abstract According to the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis, episodic simulation (i.e., imagining specific novel future episodes) draws on some of the same neurocognitive processes that support episodic memory (i.e., recalling specific past episodes). Episodic retrieval supports the ability to simulate future experiences by providing access to episodic details (e.g., the people and locations that comprise memories) that can be recombined in new ways. In the current functional neuroimaging study, we test this hypothesis by examining whether the hippocampus, a region implicated in the reinstatement of episodic information during memory, supports reinstatement of episodic information during simulation. Employing a multivoxel pattern similarity analysis, we interrogated the similarity between hippocampal neural patterns during memory and simulation at the level of individual event details. Our findings indicate that the hippocampus supports the reinstatement of detail-specific information from episodic memory during simulation, with the level of reinstatement contributing to the subjective experience of simulated details.

scholarly journals Schematic memories develop quickly, but are not expressed unless necessary

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa Tompary ◽  
WenXi Zhou ◽  
Lila Davachi
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Fading Memory ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Episodic memory retrieval is increasingly influenced by schematic information as memories mature, but it is unclear whether this is due to the slow formation of schemas over time, or the slow forgetting of the episodes. To address this, we separately probed memory for newly learned schemas as well as their influence on episodic memory decisions. In this experiment, participants encoded images from two categories, with the location of images in each category drawn from a different spatial distribution. They could thus learn schemas of category locations by encoding specific episodes. We found that images that were more consistent with these distributions were more precisely retrieved, and this schematic influence increased over time. However, memory for the schema distribution, measured using generalization to novel images, also became less precise over time. This incongruity suggests that schemas form rapidly, but their influence on episodic retrieval is dictated by the need to bolster fading memory representations.

scholarly journals Distinct generation of subjective vividness and confidence during naturalistic memory retrieval in angular gyrus

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Futing Zou ◽  
Sze Chai Kwok
Keyword(s):  
Resting State ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Memory Accuracy ◽  
Control Stimulation

AbstractSubjective experience of remembering is a hallmark of episodic memory, which enables us to monitor experiences, identify mistakes, and adjust our decisions accordingly. A fundamental and enduring puzzle is the origin of confidence in memory; for example, does the confidence during episodic retrieval depend upon the subjective sensed vividness, or does confidence and vividness reflect dissociable introspective processes? The angular gyrus (AnG) exhibits a sensitivity to subjective experience of remembering, but its direct contribution to the monitoring of internal subjective mnemonic experience has hitherto been lacking. Here we combined a novel naturalistic video-watching paradigm with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test the idea that vividness and confidence are generated differently during retrieval. We found that pre-retrieval rTMS targeting the left AnG selectively alters the vividness efficiency compared to control stimulation while keeping metacognitive efficiency and objective memory accuracy unaffected. Using trial-wise data, we showed that vividness mediates the association between confidence and objective memory accuracy and such mediation was eradicated by AnG stimulation. Furthermore, resting-state functional connectivity of hippocampus and AnG was specifically associated with vividness efficiency, while the connectivity of hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex was associated with metacognitive efficiency across individuals. These findings identify a role for the AnG in gauging the vividness, but not the confidence, of memory, thereby providing evidence for a differentiation account of conscious assessment of memory by functionally and anatomically dissociating the monitoring of vividness from confidence.

scholarly journals Schematic memories develop quickly, but are not expressed unless necessary

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa Tompary ◽  
WenXi Zhou ◽  
Lila Davachi
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Fading Memory ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Slow Decay ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Over Time

Episodic memory retrieval is increasingly influenced by schematic information as memories mature, but it is unclear whether this is due to the slow formation of schemas over time, or the slow decay of the episodes. To address this, we separately probed memory for newly learned schemas as well as their influence on episodic memory decisions. In this experiment, participants encoded images from two categories, with the location of images in each category drawn from a different spatial distribution. They could thus learn schemas of category locations by encoding specific episodes. We found that images that were more consistent with these distributions were more precisely retrieved, and this schematic influence increased over time. However, memory for the schema distribution, measured using generalization to novel images, also became less precise over time. This incongruity suggests that schemas form rapidly, but their influence on episodic retrieval is dictated by the need to bolster fading memory representations.

scholarly journals Core Network Contributions to Remembering the Past, Imagining the Future, and Thinking Creatively

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1939-1951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger E. Beaty ◽  
Preston P. Thakral ◽  
Kevin P. Madore ◽  
Mathias Benedek ◽  
Daniel L. Schacter
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Divergent Thinking ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Parahippocampal Gyrus ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Core Network ◽  
Creative Cognition ◽  
The Core

The core network refers to a set of neural regions that have been consistently associated with episodic memory retrieval and episodic future simulation. This network is thought to support the constructive thought processes that allow the retrieval and flexible combination of stored information to reconstruct past and construct novel future experiences. Recent behavioral research points to an overlap between these constructive processes and those also engaged during divergent thinking—the ability to think creatively and generate novel ideas—but the extent to which they involve common neural correlates remains unclear. Using fMRI, we sought to address this question by assessing brain activity as participants recalled past experiences, simulated future experiences, or engaged in divergent thinking. Consistent with past work, we found that episodic retrieval and future simulation activated the core network compared with a semantic control condition. Critically, a triple conjunction of episodic retrieval, future simulation, and divergent thinking revealed common engagement of core network regions, including the bilateral hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, as well as other regions involved in memory retrieval (inferior frontal gyrus) and mental imagery (middle occipital gyrus). The results provide further insight into the roles of the hippocampus and the core network in episodic memory retrieval, future simulation, and divergent thinking and extend recent work highlighting the involvement of constructive episodic processes in creative cognition.

scholarly journals Memory for spatio-temporal contextual details during the retrieval of naturalistic episodes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samy-Adrien Foudil ◽  
Claire Pleche ◽  
Emiliano Macaluso
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Temporal Order ◽  
Subjective Memory ◽  
Scale Invariant ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Invariant Properties ◽  
Context Memory

AbstractEpisodic memory entails the storage of events together with their spatio-temporal context and retrieval comprises the subjective experience of a link between the person who remembers and the episode itself. We used an encoding procedure with mobile-phones to generate experimentally-controlled episodes in the real world: object-images were sent to the participants' phone, with encoding durations up to 3 weeks. In other groups of participants, the same objects were encoded during the exploration of a virtual town (45 min) or using a standard laboratory paradigm, with pairs of object/place-images presented in a sequence of unrelated trials (15 min). At retrieval, we tested subjective memory for the objects (remember/familiar) and memory for the context (place and time). We found that accurate and confident context-memory increased the likelihood of “remember” responses, in all encoding contexts. We also tested the participants' ability to judge the temporal-order of the encoded episodes. Using a model of temporal similarity, we demonstrate scale-invariant properties of order-retrieval, but also highlight the contribution of non-chronological factors. We conclude that the mechanisms governing episodic memory retrieval can operate across a wide range of spatio-temporal contexts and that the multi-dimensional nature of the episodic traces contributes to the subjective experience of retrieval.

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