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Experimental Psychology Sep 2019Learners are more likely to remember what they study if they are motivated to do so. Such motivation can be externally driven by prospective rewards, but also...
Learners are more likely to remember what they study if they are motivated to do so. Such motivation can be externally driven by prospective rewards, but also intrinsically driven by curiosity. The present research focused on the role of curiosity during intentional learning. We examined the potential mnemonic benefit of curiosity, whether this benefit is undermined when learners are externally motivated to learn by rewards, and whether it can be attributed to increased study time for information they are more curious about. In two experiments, participants were presented with trivia questions, rated their level of curiosity about each question, and then studied the answers, either with or without a prospect of reward for correct recall on a subsequent test. Study time was either fixed (Experiment 1) or self-paced (Experiment 2). Performance on a memory test 1 week later suggested that curiosity enhanced long-term retention, and that rewards did not undermine the benefit of curiosity. When learning was self-paced, study time increased with curiosity but did not account for the effect of curiosity on memory. The results highlight the important role curiosity plays in learning and suggest that curiosity and rewards can be used together effectively to promote students' learning.
Topics: Adult; Exploratory Behavior; Female; Humans; Learning; Male; Memory; Mental Recall; Motivation; Prospective Studies; Reward; Young Adult
PubMed: 31603046
DOI: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000455 -
NeuroImage Feb 2022Brain activity in the moments leading up to spontaneous verbal recall provide a window into the cognitive processes underlying memory retrieval. But these same...
Brain activity in the moments leading up to spontaneous verbal recall provide a window into the cognitive processes underlying memory retrieval. But these same recordings also subsume neural signals unrelated to mnemonic retrieval, such as response-related motor activity. Here we examined spectral EEG biomarkers of memory retrieval under an extreme manipulation of mnemonic demands: subjects either recalled items after a few seconds or after several days. This manipulation helped to isolate EEG components specifically related to long-term memory retrieval. In the moments immediately preceding recall we observed increased theta (4-8 Hz) power (+T), decreased alpha (8-20 Hz) power (-A), and increased gamma (40-128 Hz) power (+G), with this spectral pattern (+T-A + G) distinguishing the long-delay and immediate recall conditions. As subjects vocalized the same set of studied words in both conditions, we interpret the spectral +T-A + G as a biomarker of episodic memory retrieval.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Biomarkers; Brain Waves; Electroencephalography; Female; Humans; Male; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall; Young Adult
PubMed: 34863960
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118748 -
Trends in Cognitive Sciences Dec 2019Episodic memory allows us to mentally travel through time. How does the brain convert a simple reminder cue into a full-blown memory of past events and experiences? In... (Review)
Review
Episodic memory allows us to mentally travel through time. How does the brain convert a simple reminder cue into a full-blown memory of past events and experiences? In this review, we integrate recent developments in the cognitive neuroscience of human memory retrieval, pinpointing the neural chronometry underlying successful recall. Electrophysiological recordings suggest that sensory cues proceed into the medial temporal lobe within the first 500 ms. At this point, a hippocampal process sets in, geared toward internal pattern completion and coordination of cortical memory reinstatement between 500 and 1500 ms. We further highlight the dynamic principles governing the recall process, which include a reversal of perceptual information flows, temporal compression, and theta clocking.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Humans; Mental Recall; Time Factors
PubMed: 31672429
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2019.09.011 -
Air Medical Journal 2021
Topics: Humans; Mental Recall
PubMed: 33637281
DOI: 10.1016/j.amj.2020.12.005 -
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Oct 2019Relative to younger adults, older adults tend to perform more poorly on tests of both free recall and item recognition memory. The age difference in performance is... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Relative to younger adults, older adults tend to perform more poorly on tests of both free recall and item recognition memory. The age difference in performance is typically larger for recall tasks relative to those involving recognition. However, there have been reports of comparable age-related differences in free recall and item recognition performance. Further, a differential performance cost does not necessarily mean that processes involved in recall are specifically affected by age. Here we present a meta-analysis of 36 articles reporting 89 direct comparisons of free recall and item recognition in younger and older groups of participants. Standardized effect sizes reveal that age differences are larger for recall tasks (Hedges' g = 0.89, 95% confidence intervals [0.75, 1.03]) than for recognition tasks (0.54, [0.37, 0.72]). Further, Brinley analyses of the data suggest that distinct functions are needed to relate younger and older performance for the two tasks. These functions differ in intercept pointing to a disproportionate age difference in recall relative to recognition. This is in line with theories of memory and aging which posit specific deficits in processes related to search and retrieval from memory.
Topics: Cognitive Aging; Humans; Memory; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall; Recognition, Psychology
PubMed: 31396816
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-019-01649-y -
Annual Review of Psychology Jan 2020The enhancing effects of emotion on memory have been well documented; emotional events are often more frequently and more vividly remembered than their neutral... (Review)
Review
The enhancing effects of emotion on memory have been well documented; emotional events are often more frequently and more vividly remembered than their neutral counterparts. Much of the prior research has emphasized the effects of emotion on encoding processes and the downstream effects of these changes at the time of retrieval. In the current review, we focus specifically on how emotional valence influences retrieval processes, examining how emotion influences the experience of remembering an event at the time of retrieval (retrieval as an end point) as well as how emotion alters the way in which remembering the event affects the underlying memory representation and subsequent retrievals (retrieval as a starting point). We suggest ways in which emotion may augment or interfere with the selective enhancement of particular memory details, using both online and offline processes, and discuss how these effects of emotion may contribute to memory distortions in affective disorders.
Topics: Emotions; Humans; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall
PubMed: 31283426
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-051123 -
Cognition Jan 2023Two experiments examined the effects of deliberately suppressing retrieval of motor sequences on their later recall, in the think/no-think paradigm (Anderson & Green,...
Two experiments examined the effects of deliberately suppressing retrieval of motor sequences on their later recall, in the think/no-think paradigm (Anderson & Green, 2001). After several motor sequences had been associated with individual cues through repeated practice cycles, a subset of these sequences was retrieved in response to their respective cues (think trials), whereas other sequences were suppressed. In such no-think trials, cues were shown but participants were instructed to withhold the associated motor response and to suppress its recollection. We found that suppressing retrieval impaired later memory performance for the suppressed sequences in comparison to items that were not cued at all after their initial training (baseline sequences). Suppression impaired later sequence recall and sequence speed although in different ways depending on the training level: with higher initial training of sequences (Experiment 1), suppression impaired reaction time, but not recall accuracy; with lower initial training (Experiment 2), suppression reduced recall accuracy. Reaction time analyses revealed a consistent slowing of movement execution for suppressed sequences. These findings show that inhibitory control processes engaged during retrieval suppression can influence memory representations of motor actions, by not only reducing their accessibility but also by affecting their execution, once retrieved.
Topics: Humans; Mental Recall; Cues; Reaction Time; Movement
PubMed: 36191357
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105292 -
Memory & Cognition May 2022Rememberers are often motivated to remember certain pieces of information more than they are motivated to remember other pieces. The literature suggests that this...
Rememberers are often motivated to remember certain pieces of information more than they are motivated to remember other pieces. The literature suggests that this motivation results in selective remembering of valuable information and that it yields selective processing of this valuable information during encoding. However, the question of whether or not motivation to remember also elicits selective processing during retrieval is relatively underexplored. To fill this gap, two experiments examined the effect of incentive-based motivation to remember target information on selective encoding and retrieval processes using a paradigm that allowed participants to self-regulate their learning and cued-recall testing under relatively naturalistic settings. The results revealed that motivation yielded selective remembering of the target information and selective processing during encoding (i.e., selective allocation of study time, selective restudy, and selective control over study order), consistent with prior findings. Importantly, the results also revealed that motivation yielded selective processing during retrieval, as rememberers allocated more time to test queries about target information that they were motivated to remember and tended to start the test with these queries. These findings suggest that motivation affects how rememberers answer a cued-recall memory test. More generally, the current research demonstrates that by manipulating motivation and investigating self-regulated learning and remembering, research can advance our understanding of the intricate relationship between motivation, memory, and metacognition.
Topics: Cues; Humans; Learning; Mental Recall; Metacognition; Motivation
PubMed: 34939167
DOI: 10.3758/s13421-021-01238-2 -
Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology May 2022Memory is composed of various phases including cellular consolidation, systems consolidation, reconsolidation, and extinction. In the last few years it has been shown... (Review)
Review
Memory is composed of various phases including cellular consolidation, systems consolidation, reconsolidation, and extinction. In the last few years it has been shown that simple association memories can be encoded by a subset of the neuronal population called engram cells. Activity of these cells is necessary and sufficient for the recall of association memory. However, it is unclear which molecular mechanisms allow cellular engrams to encode the diverse phases of memory. Further research is needed to examine the possibility that it is the synapses between engram cells (the synaptic engram) that constitute the memory. In this review we summarize recent findings on cellular engrams with a focus on different phases of memory, and discuss the distinct molecular mechanism required for cellular and synaptic engrams.
Topics: Mental Recall; Neurons; Synapses
PubMed: 34103208
DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2021.05.033 -
The Oncologist May 2021In memory of José Baselga