Event-related Potential Signatures of Relational Memory

Various lines of evidence suggest that memory for the relations among arbitrarily paired items acquired prior to testing can influence early processing of a probe stimulus. The event-related potential experiment reported here was designed to explore how early in time memory for a previously established face-scene relationship begins to influence processing of faces, under sequential presentation conditions in which a preview of the scene can promote expectancies about the to-be-presented face. Prior to the current work, the earliest component documented to be sensitive to memory for the relations among arbitrarily paired items was the late positive complex (LPC), but here relational memory effects were evident as early as 270–350 msec after face onset. The latency of these relational memory effects suggests that they may be the precursor to similar effects observed in eye movement behavior. As expected, LPC amplitude was also affected by memory for face-scene relationships, and N400 amplitude reflected some combination of memory for items and memory for the relations among items.

Download Full-text

Rapid Onset Relational Memory Effects Are Evident in Eye Movement Behavior, but Not in Hippocampal Amnesia

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2007.19.10.1690 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 19 (10) ◽

pp. 1690-1705 ◽

Cited By ~ 130

Author(s):

Deborah E. Hannula ◽

Jennifer D. Ryan ◽

Daniel Tranel ◽

Neal J. Cohen

Keyword(s):

Eye Movement ◽

Time Course ◽

Behavioral Responses ◽

Rapid Onset ◽

Memory Effects ◽

Movement Behavior ◽

Hippocampal Damage ◽

Test Display ◽

Relational Memory ◽

The Face

Little is known about the mechanisms by which memory for relations is accomplished, or about the time course of the critical processes. Here, eye movement measures were used to examine the time course of subjects' access to and use of relational memory. In four experiments, participants studied faces superimposed on scenic backgrounds and were tested with three-face displays superimposed on the scenes viewed earlier. Participants exhibited disproportionate viewing of the face originally studied with the scene, compared to other equally familiar faces in the test display. When a preview of a previously viewed scene was provided, permitting expectancies about the to-be-presented face to emerge, disproportionate viewing was manifested within 500–750 msec after test display onset, more than a full second in advance of explicit behavioral responses, and occurred even when overt responses were not required. In the absence of preview, the viewing effects were delayed by approximately 1 sec. Relational memory effects were absent in the eye movement behavior of amnesic patients with hippocampal damage, suggesting that these effects depend critically on the hippocampal system. The results provide an index of memory for face-scene relations, indicate the time by which retrieval and identification of these relations occur, and suggest that retrieval and use of relational memory depends critically on the hippocampus and occurs obligatorily, regardless of response requirements.

Download Full-text