scholarly journals Great apes selectively retrieve relevant memories to guide action

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Bobrowicz ◽  
Mikael Johansson ◽  
Mathias Osvath
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Innovation Planning

Abstract Memory allows us to draw on past experiences to inform behaviour in the present. However, memories rarely match the situation at hand exactly, and new situations regularly trigger multiple related memories where only some are relevant to act upon. The flexibility of human memory systems is largely attributed to the ability to disregard irrelevant, but salient, memories in favour of relevant ones. This is considered an expression of an executive function responsible for suppressing irrelevant memories, associated with the prefrontal cortex. It is unclear to what extent animals have access to this ability. Here, we demonstrate, in a series of tool-use tasks designed to evoke conflicting memories, that chimpanzees and an orangutan suffer from this conflict but overcome it in favour of a more relevant memory. Such mnemonic flexibility is among the most advanced expressions of executive function shown in animals to date and might explain several behaviours related to tool-use, innovation, planning and more.

scholarly journals Episodic memory and common sense: how far apart?

2001 ◽  
Vol 356 (1413) ◽  
pp. 1505-1515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Endel Tulving
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Perceptual Information ◽  
Subjective Time ◽  
Retrieval Processes ◽  
Past Experiences

Research has revealed facts about human memory in general and episodic memory in particular that deviate from both common sense and previously accepted ideas. This paper discusses some of these deviations in light of the proceedings of The Royal Society's Discussion Meeting on episodic memory. Retrieval processes play a more critical role in memory than commonly assumed; people can remember events that never happened; and conscious thoughts about one's personal past can take two distinct forms—‘autonoetic’ remembering and ‘noetic’ knowing. The serial—dependent—independent (SPI) model of the relations among episodic, semantic and perceptual memory systems accounts for a number of puzzling phenomena, such as some amnesic patients' preserved recognition memory and their ability to learn new semantic facts, and holds that episodic remembering of perceptual information can occur only by virtue of its mediation through semantic memory. Although common sense endows many animals with the ability to remember their past experiences, as yet there is no evidence that humanlike episodic memory—defined in terms of subjective time, self, and autonoetic awareness—is present in any other species.

Human Memory Systems: A Framework for Understanding Dementia

ASHA Leader ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 8-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nidhi Mahendra ◽  
Allegra Apple
Keyword(s):  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Systems

scholarly journals Hippocampal regenerative medicine: neurogenic implications for addiction and mental disorders

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Peyton ◽  
Alfredo Oliveros ◽  
Doo-Sup Choi ◽  
Mi-Hyeon Jang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
General Population ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Psychiatric Illness ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Disease ◽  
Motivated Behavior

AbstractPsychiatric illness is a prevalent and highly debilitating disorder, and more than 50% of the general population in both middle- and high-income countries experience at least one psychiatric disorder at some point in their lives. As we continue to learn how pervasive psychiatric episodes are in society, we must acknowledge that psychiatric disorders are not solely relegated to a small group of predisposed individuals but rather occur in significant portions of all societal groups. Several distinct brain regions have been implicated in neuropsychiatric disease. These brain regions include corticolimbic structures, which regulate executive function and decision making (e.g., the prefrontal cortex), as well as striatal subregions known to control motivated behavior under normal and stressful conditions. Importantly, the corticolimbic neural circuitry includes the hippocampus, a critical brain structure that sends projections to both the cortex and striatum to coordinate learning, memory, and mood. In this review, we will discuss past and recent discoveries of how neurobiological processes in the hippocampus and corticolimbic structures work in concert to control executive function, memory, and mood in the context of mental disorders.

scholarly journals Enhanced brain activity associated with memory access in highly superior autobiographical memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (30) ◽  
pp. 7795-7800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerio Santangelo ◽  
Clarissa Cavallina ◽  
Paola Colucci ◽  
Alessia Santori ◽  
Simone Macrì ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Functional Coupling ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Memory Impairments ◽  
Efficient Access ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Past Experiences

Brain systems underlying human memory function have been classically investigated studying patients with selective memory impairments. The discovery of rare individuals who have highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) provides, instead, an opportunity to investigate the brain systems underlying enhanced memory. Here, we carried out an fMRI investigation of a group of subjects identified as having HSAM. During fMRI scanning, eight subjects with HSAM and 21 control subjects were asked to retrieve autobiographical memories (AMs) as well as non-AMs (e.g., examples of animals). Subjects were instructed to signal the “access” to an AM by a key press and to continue “reliving” it immediately after. Compared with controls, individuals with HSAM provided a richer AM recollection and were faster in accessing AMs. The access to AMs was associated with enhanced prefrontal/hippocampal functional connectivity. AM access also induced increased activity in the left temporoparietal junction and enhanced functional coupling with sensory cortices in subjects with HSAM compared with controls. In contrast, subjects with HSAM did not differ from controls in functional activity during the reliving phase. These findings, based on fMRI assessment, provide evidence of interaction of brain systems engaged in memory retrieval and suggest that enhanced activity of these systems is selectively involved in enabling more efficient access to past experiences in HSAM.

Cradle Under the Canopy The Forest Origins of our Ape and Hominin Ancestors and the Tropical Forest Forays of the Genus Homo

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Tool Use ◽  
Pan Paniscus ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Great Ape ◽  
Tropical Environments ◽  
Genus Homo ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
Game Hunting ◽  
The Tropics

The evolutionary proximity of the non-human great apes to us is often stressed in studies of animals, such as Kanzi, a bonobo (Pan paniscus) bred in captivity, that demonstrate their capacity to undertake tool-use and even utilize and comprehend language (Toth et al., 1993; Savage-Rumbaugh and Lewin, 1996; Schick et al., 1999). Likewise, studies of chimpanzees (Pan spp.) have highlighted the similarity of their emotional and empathetic capacities to those of humans (Parr et al., 2005; Campbell and de Waal, 2014). However, as noted by Savage- Rumbaugh and Lewin (1996), in palaeoanthropology and archaeology more broadly, the emergence of the hominin clade and, later, our species, is referenced in terms of the ‘chasm’ between ourselves and other extant great apes. Indeed, despite our genetic and behavioural proximity, extant non-human great ape taxa are often popularly characterized as living fossils of how we used to be. They are used as analogues for the subsistence and behaviour of the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and non-human great apes (Clutton-Brock and Harvey, 1977; Goodall, 1986; Foley and Lewin, 2004) and it is almost as if the fact that they still occupy the tropical environments in which these hominoids likely evolved (though see Elton, 2008) allows them to be treated as static comparisons (Figure 3.1). Since Darwin wrote the Descent of Man in 1871, the forests of the tropics, and their modern non-human great ape inhabitants, have tended to be perceived as being left behind as the hominin clade gained increasingly ‘human’ traits of tool-use, medium to large game hunting, and upright locomotion on open ‘savanna’ landscapes (Dart, 1925; Potts, 1998; Klein, 1999). From this perspective it is perhaps unsurprising that tropical forests are seen as alien to the genus Homo and its closest hominin ancestors.

An fNIRS examination of executive function in bilingual young children

2020 ◽  
pp. 136700692095288
Author(s):  
Sha Xie ◽  
Dandan Wu ◽  
Jinfeng Yang ◽  
Jiutong Luo ◽  
Chunqi Chang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Immersion Program ◽  
Prefrontal Region ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship

Aims: The present study aims to examine: (1) the relationship between young children’s bilingualism and their performance in the Dimensional Card Change Sort (DCCS) task; and (2) whether prefrontal activation was associated with children’s bilingualism and executive function. Methodology: Children performed three sessions of the DCCS and their brain activity during the task was measured using functional nearinfrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Data and analysis: A sample of bilingual children ( N = 49) was recruited from a preschool with an English immersion program. We examined whether children’s performance in the DCCS was related to their bilingualism and whether the changes in oxygenated hemoglobin in the prefrontal regions were related to their bilingualism and performance in the DCCS. Findings/conclusions: Results showed that children’s English ability was significantly correlated with their behavioral performance in DCCS, and predicted children’s group membership (pass or perseverate). Furthermore, children in the pass group significantly activated the prefrontal cortex than those in the perseverate group, and activation in the prefrontal region was significantly correlated with children’s English ability. Originality: The current study first examined the effect of children’s bilingualism on their executive function and prefrontal activation.

A Scene-Based Episodic Memory System for a Simulated Autonomous Creature

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa C. Castro ◽  
Ricardo R. Gudwin
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Navigation System ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Memory Module ◽  
The Past ◽  
3D Environment ◽  
Main Ideas

In this paper the authors present the development of a scene-based episodic memory module for the cognitive architecture controlling an autonomous virtual creature, in a simulated 3D environment. The scene-based episodic memory has the role of improving the creature’s navigation system, by evoking the objects to be considered in planning, according to episodic remembrance of earlier scenes testified by the creature where these objects were present in the past. They introduce the main background on human memory systems and episodic memory study, and provide the main ideas behind the experiment.

Human Prefrontal Cortex

2021 ◽  
pp. 372-419
Author(s):  
Richard E. Passingham
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
The Self ◽  
Demand System ◽  
Association Cortex ◽  
Parietal Association Cortex ◽  
Global Workspace

This chapter and the next one consider how to account for the astonishing difference in intelligence between humans and our nearest living ancestors, the great apes. An integrated system that includes the dorsal prefrontal cortex and the parietal association cortex is activated when subjects attempt tests of non-verbal intelligence. It has been suggested that this system might act as a ‘multiple-demand system’ or ‘global workspace’ that can deal with any problem. However, closer examination suggests that the tasks used to support this claim have in common that they involve abstract sequences. These problems can be solved by visual imagery alone. But humans also have the advantage that they also have access to a propositional code. This means that they can solve problems that involve verbal reasoning, as well as being able to form detailed plans for the future. They can also form explicit judgements about themselves, including their perceptions, actions, and memories, and this means that they can represent themselves as individuals. The representation of the self depends in part on tissue in the medial prefrontal cortex (PF).

Presidential Disability: Past Experiences and Future Implications

1988 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bert E. Park
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Public Welfare ◽  
Fifth Amendment ◽  
The Public ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Legal Discovery ◽  
Do So

In 1967 Congress passed the Twenty-fifth Amendment to rectify an apparent inadequacy in the U. S. Constitution dealing with one of the gravest dangers to executive function–disability in the presidency. For 180 years, imprecise wording had bound the public welfare beneath a constitutional sword of Damocles which threatened to sever the legal discovery of inability in our Chief Executive from its occurrence. On at least four occasions during the last 100 years alone, executive function has been paralyzed by medically defined presidential inability, while two perplexing questions restricted a satisfactory resolution to the problem. First, in such a circumstance, does the office of the presidency devolve to the vice-president, or does the vicepresident merely serve as an acting president, assuming only its powers and duties? Second, who shall determine when the president is disabled and, its corollary, when that disability has ended? In the first instance, the amendment's sponsors ultimately determined that the vice-president assumes the powers and duties, but not the office itself, when the president becomes disabled. In the second, the sponsors proposed that the vice-president and the cabinet are jointly responsible for determining the duration of inability when, for medical or other reasons, the president is unable to do so.

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