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Nature Neuroscience Oct 2019Memory retrieval involves the interaction between external sensory or internally generated cues and stored memory traces (or engrams) in a process termed 'ecphory'.... (Review)
Review
Memory retrieval involves the interaction between external sensory or internally generated cues and stored memory traces (or engrams) in a process termed 'ecphory'. While ecphory has been examined in human cognitive neuroscience research, its neurobiological foundation is less understood. To the extent that ecphory involves 'reawakening' of engrams, leveraging recently developed technologies that can identify and manipulate engrams in rodents provides a fertile avenue for examining retrieval at the level of neuronal ensembles. Here we evaluate emerging neuroscientific research of this type, using cognitive theory as a guiding principle to organize and interpret initial findings. Our Review highlights the critical interaction between engrams and retrieval cues (environmental or artificial) for memory accessibility and retrieval success. These findings also highlight the intimate relationship between the mechanisms important in forming engrams and those important in their recovery, as captured in the cognitive notion of 'encoding specificity'. Finally, we identify several questions that currently remain unanswered.
Topics: Animals; Cognitive Science; Humans; Memory; Mental Recall; Neurobiology
PubMed: 31551594
DOI: 10.1038/s41593-019-0493-1 -
Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Jan 2019Chunking is the recoding of smaller units of information into larger, familiar units. Chunking is often assumed to help bypassing the limited capacity of working memory...
Chunking is the recoding of smaller units of information into larger, familiar units. Chunking is often assumed to help bypassing the limited capacity of working memory (WM). We investigate how chunks are used in WM tasks, addressing three questions: (a) Does chunking reduce the load on WM? Across four experiments chunking benefits were found not only for recall of the chunked but also of other not-chunked information concurrently held in WM, supporting the assumption that chunking reduces load. (b) Is the chunking benefit independent of chunk size? The chunking benefit was independent of chunk size only if the chunks were composed of unique elements, so that each chunk could be replaced by its first element (Experiment 1), but not when several chunks consisted of overlapping sets of elements, disabling this replacement strategy (Experiments 2 and 3). The chunk-size effect is not due to differences in rehearsal duration as it persisted when participants were required to perform articulatory suppression (Experiment 3). Hence, WM capacity is not limited to a fixed number of chunks regardless of their size. (c) Does the chunking benefit depend on the serial position of the chunk? Chunks in early list positions improved recall of other, not-chunked material, but chunks at the end of the list did not. We conclude that a chunk reduces the load on WM via retrieval of a compact chunk representation from long-term memory that replaces the representations of individual elements of the chunk. This frees up capacity for subsequently encoded material. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Adult; Female; Humans; Male; Memory, Long-Term; Memory, Short-Term; Mental Recall; Young Adult
PubMed: 29698045
DOI: 10.1037/xlm0000578 -
Annual Review of Psychology Jan 2022By linking the past with the future, our memories define our sense of identity. Because human memory engages the conscious realm, its examination has historically been...
By linking the past with the future, our memories define our sense of identity. Because human memory engages the conscious realm, its examination has historically been approached from language and introspection and proceeded largely along separate parallel paths in humans and other animals. Here, we first highlight the achievements and limitations of this mind-based approach and make the case for a new brain-based understanding of declarative memory with a focus on hippocampal physiology. Next, we discuss the interleaved nature and common physiological mechanisms of navigation in real and mental spacetime. We suggest that a distinguishing feature of memory types is whether they subserve actions for single or multiple uses. Finally, in contrast to the persisting view of the mind as a highly plastic blank slate ready for the world to make its imprint, we hypothesize that neuronal networks are endowed with a reservoir of neural trajectories, and the challenge faced by the brain is how to select and match preexisting neuronal trajectories with events in the world.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Hippocampus; Humans; Mental Recall
PubMed: 34535061
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-021721-110002 -
Nature Reviews. Neuroscience Feb 2022Memory recollections and voluntary actions are often perceived as spontaneously generated irrespective of external stimuli. Although products of our neurons, they are... (Review)
Review
Memory recollections and voluntary actions are often perceived as spontaneously generated irrespective of external stimuli. Although products of our neurons, they are only rarely accessible in humans at the neuronal level. Here I review insights gleaned from unique neurosurgical opportunities to record and stimulate single-neuron activity in people who can declare their thoughts, memories and wishes. I discuss evidence that the subjective experience of human recollection and that of voluntary action arise from the activity of two internal neuronal generators, the former from medial temporal lobe reactivation and the latter from frontoparietal preactivation. I characterize properties of these generators and their interaction, enabling flexible recruitment of memory-based choices for action as well as recruitment of action-based plans for the representation of conceptual knowledge in memories. Both internal generators operate on surprisingly explicit but different neuronal codes, which appear to arise with distinct single-neuron activity, often observed before participants' reports of conscious awareness. I discuss prediction of behaviour based on these codes, and the potential for their modulation. The prospects of editing human memories and volitions by enhancement, inception or deletion of specific, selected content raise therapeutic possibilities and ethical concerns.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Memory; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall; Neurons; Volition
PubMed: 34931068
DOI: 10.1038/s41583-021-00543-8 -
ELife May 2024Our ability to recall details from a remembered image depends on a single mechanism that is engaged from the very moment the image disappears from view.
Our ability to recall details from a remembered image depends on a single mechanism that is engaged from the very moment the image disappears from view.
Topics: Humans; Mental Recall
PubMed: 38700912
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.98274 -
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 -
Neuron Jun 2017The dilemma that neurotheorists face is that (1) detailed biophysical models that can be constrained by direct measurements, while being of great importance, offer no... (Review)
Review
The dilemma that neurotheorists face is that (1) detailed biophysical models that can be constrained by direct measurements, while being of great importance, offer no immediate insights into cognitive processes in the brain, and (2) high-level abstract cognitive models, on the other hand, while relevant for understanding behavior, are largely detached from neuronal processes and typically have many free, experimentally unconstrained parameters that have to be tuned to a particular data set and, hence, cannot be readily generalized to other experimental paradigms. In this contribution, we propose a set of "first principles" for neurally inspired cognitive modeling of memory retrieval that has no biologically unconstrained parameters and can be analyzed mathematically both at neuronal and cognitive levels. We apply this framework to the classical cognitive paradigm of free recall. We show that the resulting model accounts well for puzzling behavioral data on human participants and makes predictions that could potentially be tested with neurophysiological recording techniques.
Topics: Brain; Cognition; Humans; Memory; Mental Recall; Models, Neurological; Models, Psychological
PubMed: 28595046
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.03.048 -
Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience Dec 2013Autobiographical memory (AM) defines the memory systems that encode, consolidate, and retrieve personal events and facts, AM is strongly related to self-perception and... (Review)
Review
Autobiographical memory (AM) defines the memory systems that encode, consolidate, and retrieve personal events and facts, AM is strongly related to self-perception and self representation. We review here the neural correlates of AM retrieval. AM retrieval encompasses a large neural network including the prefrontal, temporal, and parietal cortex, and limbic structures. All these regions subserve the cognitive processes (episodic remembering, cognitive control, self-processing, and scene construction) at play during memory retrieval. We emphasize the specific role of medial prefrontal cortex and precuneus in self-processing during autobiographical memory retrieval. Overall, these data call for further studies in psychiatric patients, to investigate the neural underpinnings of autobiographical memory and self-representation in mental disorders.
Topics: Brain; Brain Mapping; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall; Neuroimaging
PubMed: 24459415
DOI: 10.31887/DCNS.2013.15.4/pfossati -
Psychological Review Nov 2023Affective experiences are commonly represented by either transient emotional reactions to discrete events or longer term, sustained mood states that are characterized by...
Affective experiences are commonly represented by either transient emotional reactions to discrete events or longer term, sustained mood states that are characterized by a more diffuse and global nature. While both have considerable influence in shaping memory, their interaction can produce mood-congruent memory (MCM), a psychological phenomenon where emotional memory is biased toward content affectively congruent with a past or current mood. The study of MCM has direct implications for understanding how memory biases form in daily life, as well as debilitating negative memory schemas that contribute to mood disorders such as depression. To elucidate the factors that influence the presence and strength of MCM, here we systematically review the literature for studies that assessed MCM by inducing mood in healthy participants. We observe that MCM is often reported as enhanced accuracy for previously encoded mood-congruent content or preferential recall for mood-congruent autobiographical events, but may also manifest as false memory for mood-congruent lures. We discuss the relevant conditions that shape these effects, as well as instances of mood-incongruent recall that facilitate mood repair. Further, we provide guiding methodological and theoretical considerations, emphasizing the limited neuroimaging research in this area and the need for a renewed focus on memory consolidation. Accordingly, we propose a theoretical framework for studying the neural basis of MCM based on the neurobiological underpinnings of mood and emotion. In doing so, we review evidence for associative network models of spreading activation, while also considering alternative models informed by the cognitive neuroscience literature of emotional memory bias. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Affect; Emotions; Mental Recall; Memory; Cognition
PubMed: 36201828
DOI: 10.1037/rev0000394 -
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