Non-abstractive global-matching models: A framework for investigating the distinctiveness effect on explicit and implicit memory

Models of episodic memory propose that recognition memory operates via a process of global matching. Mewhort and Johns (2000) directly tested this retrieval mechanism by manipulating the feature composition of studied items and test probes using combinations of various colors and shapes. They found that rejection of unstudied probes was greatly facilitated when the probe contained features not on the study list even when the other features were of the probe were strongly represented on the list, an advantage dubbed the extralist feature effect. In this work, we explore the boundary conditions of the extralist feature effect by constructing experiments with continuous dimension stimuli using bothintegral (Experiment 1) and separable-dimension (Experiment 2) stimuli. An extralist feature effect was only found in Experiment 2. Experiment 1’s results were well described by the exemplar-based linear ballistic accumulator (EB-LBA) model, but the model was unable to explain the results in Experiment 2. We explored EB-LBA variants that allowed for decision making to be based on feature dimensions rather than the entire stimulus – these variants predicted extralist feature advantages but performed poorly otherwise. We additionally explored models that allowed for extra attention to be devoted to the dimension that contains the extralist feature. While these models performed best, it is unclear how attention could be directed in this fashion.

Download Full-text

Global matching models of recognition memory

10.31234/osf.io/mja6c ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Adam F Osth ◽

Simon Dennis

Keyword(s):

Recognition Memory ◽

Decision Process ◽

Computational Models ◽

List Strength ◽

Recent Developments ◽

Global Matching ◽

List Strength Effect ◽

Matching Models ◽

Global Similarity ◽

Strength Effect

How does retrieval take place in recognition memory? A number of computational models have been developed that posit that recognition operates by a process of global matching, wherein the cue is compared to each stored memory. These cue-to-memory similarities are then aggregated to produce an index of the global similarity between the cue and the contents of memory which can then be subjected to a decision process. In this chapter, we describe a.) the theoretical rationale and successes of such models, such as their accounts of similarity and list-length effects and generalization to multiple memory tasks, b.) challenges and hurdles they have experienced, including the null list-strength effect, the mirror effect, and the extralist feature effect, and c.) recent developments, such as extensions to predictions about response latency, sources of interference outside of the study list, and integration of more realistic representations.

Download Full-text

Multiple interactive memory representations underlie the induction of false memory

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1817925116 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 116 (9) ◽

pp. 3466-3475 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Bi Zhu ◽

Chuansheng Chen ◽

Xuhao Shao ◽

Wenzhi Liu ◽

Zhifang Ye ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Computational Models ◽

Visual Learning ◽

False Memories ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Visual Test ◽

Auditory Learning ◽

Imaging Results ◽

Global Matching ◽

Memory Representations ◽

Matching Models

Theoretical and computational models such as transfer-appropriate processing (TAP) and global matching models have emphasized the encoding–retrieval interaction of memory representations in generating false memories, but relevant neural mechanisms are still poorly understood. By manipulating the sensory modalities (visual and auditory) at different processing stages (learning and test) in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott task, we found that the auditory-learning visual-test (AV) group produced more false memories (59%) than the other three groups (42∼44%) [i.e., visual learning visual test (VV), auditory learning auditory test (AA), and visual learning auditory test (VA)]. Functional imaging results showed that the AV group’s proneness to false memories was associated with (i) reduced representational match between the tested item and all studied items in the visual cortex, (ii) weakened prefrontal monitoring process due to the reliance on frontal memory signal for both targets and lures, and (iii) enhanced neural similarity for semantically related words in the temporal pole as a result of auditory learning. These results are consistent with the predictions based on the TAP and global matching models and highlight the complex interactions of representations during encoding and retrieval in distributed brain regions that contribute to false memories.

Download Full-text