Contextual Prediction Errors Reorganize Episodic Memories in Time

AbstractEpisodic memories are contextual experiences ordered in time. This is underpinned by associative binding between events within the same contexts. The role of prediction errors in strengthening declarative memory is well established but has not been investigated in the time dimension of complex episodic memories. Here we used 3-day movie viewing paradigm to test the hypothesis that contextual prediction errors leads to temporal organization of sequential memory processing. Our main findings uncover that prediction errors lead to changes in temporal organization of events, secondly, new unexpected sequences show as high accuracy as control sequences viewed repeatedly, and these effects are specifically due to prediction errors, and not novel associations. A drift-diffusion modelling further revealed a lower decision threshold for the newer, unexpected sequences compared to older sequences reflected by their faster recall leads to reorganization of episodes in time. Moreover, we found individual decision threshold could significantly predict their relative speed of sequence memory recall. Taking together our results suggest a temporally distinct role for prediction errors in ordering sequences of events in episodic memory.

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Contextual Prediction Errors Reorganize Naturalistic Episodic Memories in Time

10.21203/rs.3.rs-146158/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Fahd Yazin ◽

Moumita Das ◽

Arpan Banerjee ◽

Dipanjan Roy

Keyword(s):

Declarative Memory ◽

Prediction Errors ◽

Decision Threshold ◽

Time Dimension ◽

Drift Diffusion ◽

Temporal Domain ◽

Sequence Memory ◽

Episodic Memories ◽

Adaptive Role

Abstract Episodic memories are contextual experiences ordered in time. This is underpinned by associative binding between events within the same contexts. The role of prediction errors in declarative memory is well established but has not been investigated in the time dimension of complex episodic memories. Here we combine these two properties of episodic memory, extend them into the temporal domain and demonstrate that prediction errors in different naturalistic contexts lead to changes in the temporal ordering of event structures in them. The wrongly predicted older sequences were weakened despite reactivating them after. Interestingly, the newly encoded sequences with prediction errors, seen once, showed as high accuracy as control sequences which were viewed repeatedly without change. Drift-diffusion modelling revealed a lower decision threshold for the newer sequences compared to older sequences, reflected by their faster recall. Moreover participants’ adjustments to their decision threshold could significantly predict their relative speed of sequence memory recall. This suggests a temporally distinct and adaptive role for prediction errors in learning and reorganizing episodic sequences.

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Contextual prediction errors reorganize naturalistic episodic memories in time

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-90990-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Fahd Yazin ◽

Moumita Das ◽

Arpan Banerjee ◽

Dipanjan Roy

Keyword(s):

Declarative Memory ◽

Prediction Errors ◽

Decision Threshold ◽

Time Dimension ◽

Temporal Domain ◽

Sequence Memory ◽

Episodic Memories ◽

Temporal Sequences ◽

Adaptive Role

AbstractEpisodic memories are contextual experiences ordered in time. This is underpinned by associative binding between events within the same contexts. The role of prediction errors in declarative memory is well established but has not been investigated in the time dimension of complex episodic memories. Here we combine these two properties of episodic memory, extend them into the temporal domain and demonstrate that prediction errors in different naturalistic contexts lead to changes in the temporal ordering of event structures in them. The wrongly predicted older sequences were weakened despite their reactivation. Interestingly the newly encoded sequences with prediction errors, seen once, showed accuracy as high as control sequences which were viewed repeatedly without change. Drift–diffusion modelling revealed a lower decision threshold for the newer sequences than older sequences, reflected by their faster recall. Moreover, participants’ adjustments to their decision threshold significantly correlated with their relative speed of sequence memory recall. These results suggest a temporally distinct and adaptive role for prediction errors in learning and reorganizing episodic temporal sequences.

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First Word Learning

The Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198786825.013.31 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 713-735

Author(s):

Marilyn May Vihman

Keyword(s):

Word Learning ◽

Declarative Memory ◽

Word Meaning ◽

Qualitative Change ◽

Brain Structures ◽

Perceptual Processing ◽

Word Forms ◽

Episodic Memories ◽

Vocabulary Spurt

Learning words means gaining the ability not only to understand, but also to produce identifiable word forms and use them to make reference. Focusing on the first two years of life, this chapter considers the role of isolated words as well as segmentation in word-form learning, and also the role of vocal practice for production. It reviews alternative perspectives on the origins of concepts or categories of meaning and weighs the evidence for a “vocabulary spurt” or “nominal insight.” Self-action is found to be a powerful tool for perceptual processing of word forms, understanding referential intention, and retaining episodic memories. Changes related to the maturation of brain structures documented for declarative memory in other domains provide suggestive parallels to the processes of decontextualization of word meaning and reference, while word learning itself is seen to lead to a qualitative change in the learning process.

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Timely sleep facilitates declarative memory consolidation in infants

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1414000112 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 112 (5) ◽

pp. 1625-1629 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

Sabine Seehagen ◽

Carolin Konrad ◽

Jane S. Herbert ◽

Silvia Schneider

Keyword(s):

Matched Control ◽

Declarative Memory ◽

Memory Performance ◽

First Year ◽

Control Groups ◽

Human Infants ◽

Memory Processing ◽

Early Memory ◽

First Year Of Life

Human infants devote the majority of their time to sleeping. However, very little is known about the role of sleep in early memory processing. Here we test 6- and 12-mo-old infants’ declarative memory for novel actions after a 4-h [Experiment (Exp.) 1] and 24-h delay (Exp. 2). Infants in a nap condition took an extended nap (≥30 min) within 4 h after learning, whereas infants in a no-nap condition did not. A comparison with age-matched control groups revealed that after both delays, only infants who had napped after learning remembered the target actions at the test. Additionally, after the 24-h delay, memory performance of infants in the nap condition was significantly higher than that of infants in the no-nap condition. This is the first experimental evidence to our knowledge for an enhancing role of sleep in the consolidation of declarative memories in the first year of life.

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Signed Reward Prediction Errors in the Ventral Striatum Drive Episodic Memory

10.1101/2020.01.03.893578 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Cristian Buc Calderon ◽

Esther De Loof ◽

Kate Ergo ◽

Anna Snoeck ◽

Carsten Nico Boehler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Episodic Memory ◽

Ventral Striatum ◽

Declarative Memory ◽

Choice Task ◽

Prediction Errors ◽

Reward Prediction ◽

Key Factor ◽

Memory Acquisition ◽

Behavioral Evidence

AbstractA growing body of behavioral evidence implicates reward prediction errors (RPEs) as a key factor in the acquisition of episodic memory. Yet, important neural predictions related to the role of RPE in declarative memory acquisition remain to be tested. Using a novel variable-choice task, we experimentally manipulated RPEs and found support for key predictions on the neural level with fMRI. Specifically, we demonstrate that trial-specific RPE responses in the ventral striatum (during learning) predict the strength of subsequent episodic memory (during recollection). Furthermore, functional connectivity between task-relevant processing areas (e.g., face-selective areas) and hippocampus, ventral tegmental area, and ventral striatum increased as a function of RPE value (during learning), suggesting a central role of these areas in episodic memory formation. Our results consolidate reinforcement learning theory and striatal RPEs as key operations subtending the formation of episodic memory.

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Dreaming and Episodic Memory: A Functional Dissociation?

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/089892903321107774 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 170

Author(s):

Magdalena J. Fosse ◽

Roar Fosse ◽

J. Allan Hobson ◽

Robert J. Stickgold

Keyword(s):

Episodic Memory ◽

Memory Consolidation ◽

Life Experiences ◽

Memory Systems ◽

Memory Processing ◽

Episodic Memories

The activity that takes place in memory systems during sleep is likely to be related to the role of sleep in memory consolidation and learning, as well as to the generation of dream hallucinations. This study addressed the often-stated hypothesis that replay of whole episodic memories contributes to the multimodal hallucinations of sleep. Over a period of 14 days, 29 subjects kept a log of daytime activities, events, and concerns, wrote down any recalled dreams, and scored the dreams for incorporation of any waking experiences. While 65% of a total of 299 sleep mentation reports were judged to reflect aspects of recent waking life experiences, the episodic replay of waking events was found in no more than 1–2% of the dream reports. This finding has implications for understanding the unique memory processing that takes place during the night and is consistent with evidence that sleep has no role in episodic memory consolidation.

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Reward Prediction Errors Drive Declarative Learning Irrespective of Agency

10.31234/osf.io/63g9w ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kate Ergo ◽

Luna De Vilder ◽

Esther De Loof ◽

Tom Verguts

Keyword(s):

Learning Theory ◽

Learning Effect ◽

Steady Increase ◽

Prediction Errors ◽

Experimental Paradigm ◽

Reward Prediction ◽

Declarative Learning

Recent years have witnessed a steady increase in the number of studies investigating the role of reward prediction errors (RPEs) in declarative learning. Specifically, in several experimental paradigms RPEs drive declarative learning; with larger and more positive RPEs enhancing declarative learning. However, it is unknown whether this RPE must derive from the participant’s own response, or whether instead any RPE is sufficient to obtain the learning effect. To test this, we generated RPEs in the same experimental paradigm where we combined an agency and a non-agency condition. We observed no interaction between RPE and agency, suggesting that any RPE (irrespective of its source) can drive declarative learning. This result holds implications for declarative learning theory.

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