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Acta Psychologica May 2024The reflexive imagery task (RIT) has been used to investigate stimulus-elicited involuntary mental processes. The task has been successful in eliciting involuntary...
The reflexive imagery task (RIT) has been used to investigate stimulus-elicited involuntary mental processes. The task has been successful in eliciting involuntary perceptual experiences, urges, and even higher-order cognitions, but it has never been used to elicit autobiographical memories, even though in everyday life these memories are often activated involuntarily by external stimuli. These memories are different in interesting ways from the kinds of mental representations that have been activated involuntarily in the RIT. The memories have properties which might make them insusceptible to such a form of external influence. Perhaps substantive effects will not arise because the mental representations associated with autobiographical memories are complex, poly-sensory, and rich in terms of content. To investigate this matter, we developed a variant of the RIT in which participants were presented with external stimuli (line drawings of everyday objects) and instructed not to recall any autobiographical memories. We investigated whether the nature of the involuntary memories was influenced by the nature of the stimulus. In two experiments, the involuntary memories were associated to the stimulus on a majority of the trials (∼80%). We discuss theoretical implications of this finding and of identifying the conditions in which such involuntary effects will not arise. The boundary conditions of the RIT effect illuminate the limits of unconscious processing and also the role of conscious processing in nervous function.
Topics: Humans; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall; Cognition; Imagery, Psychotherapy; Consciousness
PubMed: 38492356
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104212 -
Cognition & Emotion Feb 2024Long-term memory manages its contents to facilitate adaptive behaviour, amplifying representations of information relevant to current goals and expediting forgetting of...
Long-term memory manages its contents to facilitate adaptive behaviour, amplifying representations of information relevant to current goals and expediting forgetting of information that competes with relevant memory traces. Both mnemonic selection and inhibition maintain congruence between the contents of long-term memory and an organism's priorities. However, the capacity of these processes to modulate affective mnemonic representations remains ambiguous. Three empirical experiments investigated the consequences of mnemonic selection and inhibition on affectively charged and neutral mnemonic representations using an adapted retrieval practice paradigm. Participants encoded neutral cue words and affectively negative or neutral associates and then selectively retrieved a subset of these associates multiple times. The consequences of selection and inhibitory processes engaged during selective retrieval were evaluated on a final memory test in which recall for all studied associates was probed. Analyses of memory recall indicated that both affectively neutral and negative mnemonic representations experienced similar levels of enhancement and impairment following selective retrieval, demonstrating the susceptibility of affectively salient memories to these mnemonic processes. These findings indicate that although affective memories may be more strongly encoded in memory, they remain amenable to inhibition and flexibly adaptable to the evolving needs of the organism.
Topics: Humans; Memory; Mental Recall; Emotions; Memory, Long-Term; Inhibition, Psychological
PubMed: 37926986
DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2023.2279156 -
Current Biology : CB Dec 2023Information derived from experiences is incorporated into the brain as changes to ensembles of cells, termed engram cells, which allow memory storage and recall. The...
Information derived from experiences is incorporated into the brain as changes to ensembles of cells, termed engram cells, which allow memory storage and recall. The mechanism by which those changes hold specific information is unclear. Here, we test the hypothesis that the specific synaptic wiring between engram cells is the substrate of information storage. First, we monitor how learning modifies the connectivity pattern between engram cells at a monosynaptic connection involving the hippocampal ventral CA1 (vCA1) region and the amygdala. Then, we assess the functional significance of these connectivity changes by artificially activating or inhibiting its presynaptic and postsynaptic components, respectively. Finally, we identify a synaptic plasticity mechanism mediated by postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95), which impacts the connectivity pattern among engram cells and contributes to the long-term stability of the memory. These findings impact our theory of learning and memory by helping us explain the translation of specific information into engram cells and how these connections shape brain function.
Topics: CA1 Region, Hippocampal; Mental Recall; Learning; Neuronal Plasticity; Amygdala
PubMed: 37992719
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.074 -
Professional Case ManagementRecently, research is exploring the value of forgetting. As opposed to pathological forgetting, such as in Alzheimer's disease, normal forgetting may help reduce...
Recently, research is exploring the value of forgetting. As opposed to pathological forgetting, such as in Alzheimer's disease, normal forgetting may help reduce unneeded pieces of information so we can retain the most relevant information for long-term storage. In fact, the brain has molecular "nano-machines" within the neurons for both remembering and forgetting.
Topics: Mental Recall
PubMed: 35363655
DOI: 10.1097/NCM.0000000000000566 -
The European Journal of Neuroscience Aug 2019Drug addiction is an aberrant memory that shares the same memory processes as other memories. Brief exposure to drug-associated cues could result in reconsolidation, a... (Review)
Review
Drug addiction is an aberrant memory that shares the same memory processes as other memories. Brief exposure to drug-associated cues could result in reconsolidation, a hypothetical process during which original memory could be updated. In contrast, longer exposure times to drug-associated cues could trigger extinction, a process that decreases the conditioned responding. In this review, we discuss the pharmacological and non-pharmacological manipulations on the reconsolidation and extinction that could be used to interfere with drug reward memories. Pharmacological agents such as β-adrenergic receptor antagonist propranolol can interfere with reconsolidation to disrupt drug reward memory. Pharmacological agents such as the NMDA receptor glycine site agonists d-cycloserine and d-serine can facilitate extinction and then attenuate the expression of drug reward memory. Besides pharmacological interventions, drug-free behavioral approaches by utilizing the reconsolidation and extinction, such as 'post-retrieval extinction' and 'UCS-retrieval extinction', are also effective to erase or inhibit the recall of drug reward memory. Taken together, pharmacological modulation and non-pharmacological modulation of reconsolidation and extinction are promising approaches to regulate drug reward memory and prevent relapse.
Topics: Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; Animals; Conditioning, Classical; Extinction, Psychological; Humans; Memory; Mental Recall; Reward; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 30113098
DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14072 -
Memory (Hove, England) Jul 2023The argument for a female advantage in word list learning is often based on partial observations that focus on a single component of the task. Using a large sample...
The argument for a female advantage in word list learning is often based on partial observations that focus on a single component of the task. Using a large sample ( = 4403) of individuals 13-97 years of age from the general population, we investigated whether this advantage is consistently reflected in learning, recall, and recognition and how other cognitive abilities differentially support word list learning. A robust female advantage was found in all subcomponents of the task. Semantic clustering mediated the effects of short-term and working memory on long-delayed recall and recognition, and serial clustering on short-delayed recall. These indirect effects were moderated by sex, with men benefiting more from reliance on each clustering strategy than women. Auditory attention span mediated the effect of pattern separation on true positives in word recognition, and this effect was stronger in men than in women. Men had better short-term and working memory scores, but lower auditory attention span and were more vulnerable to interference both in delayed recall and recognition. Thus, our data suggest that auditory attention span and interference control (inhibition), rather than short-term or working memory scores, semantic and/or serial clustering on their own, underlie better performance on word list learning in women.
Topics: Male; Humans; Female; Verbal Learning; Learning; Memory, Short-Term; Mental Recall; Cognition
PubMed: 37114402
DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2023.2203431 -
Learning & Memory (Cold Spring Harbor,... Aug 2023Retrieving existing memories before new learning can lead to retroactive facilitation. Three experiments examined whether interpolated retrieval is associated with...
Retrieving existing memories before new learning can lead to retroactive facilitation. Three experiments examined whether interpolated retrieval is associated with retroactive facilitation and memory interdependence that reflects integrative encoding. Participants studied two lists of cue-response word pairs that repeated across lists (A-B, A-B), appeared in list 1 (A-B, -), or included the same cues with changed responses in each list (A-B, A-C). For A-B, A-C pairs, the tasks interpolated between lists required recall of list 1 (B) responses (with or without feedback) or restudy of complete list 1 (A-B) pairs. In list 2, participants only studied pairs (experiment 1) or studied pairs, attempted to detect changed (C) responses, and attempted to recall list 1 responses for detected changes (experiments 2 and 3). On a final cued recall test, participants attempted to recall list 1 responses, indicated whether responses changed between lists, and if so, attempted to recall list 2 responses. Interpolated retrieval was associated with subsequent retroactive facilitation and greater memory interdependence for B and C responses. These correlational findings are compatible with the view that retrieval retroactively facilitates memories, promotes coactivation of existing memories and new learning, and enables integrative encoding that veridically binds information across episodes.
Topics: Humans; Mental Recall; Learning; Cues; Memory, Episodic
PubMed: 37582610
DOI: 10.1101/lm.053782.123 -
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory May 2020Becoming a successful speaker depends on acquiring and learning grammatical dependencies between neighboring and non-neighboring linguistic elements (non-adjacent...
Becoming a successful speaker depends on acquiring and learning grammatical dependencies between neighboring and non-neighboring linguistic elements (non-adjacent dependencies; NADs). Previous studies have demonstrated children's and adults' ability to distinguish NADs from NAD violations right after familiarization. However, demonstrating NAD recall after retention is crucial to demonstrate a lasting effect of NAD learning. We tested 7-year-olds' NAD learning in a natural, non-native language on one day and NAD recall on the next day by means of event-related potentials (ERPs). Our results revealed ERPs with a more positive amplitude to NAD violations than correct NADs after familiarization on day one, but ERPs with a more negative amplitude to NAD violations on day two. This change from more positive to more negative ERPs to NAD violations possibly indicates that children's representations of NADs changed during an overnight retention period, potentially associated with children's NAD learning. Indeed, our descriptive analyses showed that both ERP patterns (i.e., day one: positive, day two: negative) were related to stronger behavioral improvement (i.e., more correct answers on day two compared to day one) in a grammaticality judgment task from day one to day two. We suggest these findings to indicate that children successfully built associative representations of NADs on day one and then strengthened these associations during overnight retention, revealing NAD recall on day two. The present results suggest that 7-year-olds readily track NADs in a natural, non-native language and are able to recall NADs after a retention period involving sleep, providing evidence of a lasting effect of NAD learning.
Topics: Brain; Child; Electroencephalography; Evoked Potentials; Female; Humans; Language; Male; Mental Recall
PubMed: 32251723
DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2020.107225 -
Current Biology : CB Jun 2020The context in which sudden fearful events occur can be poorly encoded into memory. Yet, the consequences of the resulting context-impoverished memories remain unknown....
The context in which sudden fearful events occur can be poorly encoded into memory. Yet, the consequences of the resulting context-impoverished memories remain unknown. We demonstrate that restricting the time available for context encoding during contextual fear conditioning causes maladaptively overgeneralized and inextinguishable fear. However, post-conditioning context exposure enables further context encoding through hippocampal reconsolidation-dependent memory updating. Updating in the conditioning context alleviates overgeneralization and restores capacity for extinction. However, updating in a similar safe context erroneously shifts fear from the dangerous to the safe context. We argue that these phenomena can be explained by uncertainty about where events occurred. Moreover, we show that a hippocampal-neocortical neurocomputational model based on this assumption successfully simulates and explains our observations. These findings reveal that context-impoverished memories are maladaptive and can be improved or distorted after recall, with implications for basic memory theory, memory distortion, and treatment of disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder.
Topics: Animals; Extinction, Psychological; Male; Mental Recall; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL
PubMed: 32442458
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.040 -
Memory (Hove, England) Apr 2023Open autobiographical memories are events without closure. The current study explored the influence of potential closure in the future. We compared the phenomenology and...
Open autobiographical memories are events without closure. The current study explored the influence of potential closure in the future. We compared the phenomenology and involuntary recall for events that were either closed, open with a possibility of closure, or open without such a possibility. Participants ( = 87) recalled these events in random order and answered phenomenology questions. We expected open events without closure possibility to be highest in negativity, emotional intensity, regret and involuntary recall frequency, followed by potentially open events and closed events. We found that emotional intensity at recall, negativity and involuntary recall frequency were higher for open than closed events. Open events without closure possibility were the highest in regret and evoked more negative affect upon involuntary recall than open events with closure possibility. We discussed our findings in relation to research on autobiographical memory and involuntary remembering, along with intrusion and possible clinical implications.
Topics: Humans; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall; Emotions
PubMed: 36815571
DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2023.2181485