Word Learning in 6-Month-Olds: Fast Encoding–Weak Retention

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 3228-3240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela Friedrich ◽  
Angela D. Friederici
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Fast Encoding ◽  
Frequent Exposure ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Lexical Mapping

There has been general consensus that initial word learning during early infancy is a slow and time-consuming process that requires very frequent exposure, whereas later in development, infants are able to quickly learn a novel word for a novel meaning. From the perspective of memory maturation, this shift in behavioral development might represent a shift from slow procedural to fast declarative memory formation. Alternatively, it might be caused by the maturation of specific brain structures within the declarative memory system that may support lexical mapping from the very first. Here, we used the neurophysiological method of ERPs to watch the brain activity of 6-month-old infants, when repeatedly presented with object–word pairs in a cross-modal learning paradigm. We report first evidence that infants as young as 6 months are able to associate objects and words after only very few exposures. A memory test 1 day later showed that infants did not fully forget this newly acquired knowledge, although the ERP effects indicated it to be less stable than immediately after encoding. The combined results suggest that already at 6 months the encoding process of word learning is based on fast declarative memory formation, but limitations in the consolidation of declarative memory diminish the long lasting effect in lexical-semantic memory at that age.

scholarly journals Consciousness, decision making, and volition: freedom beyond chance and necessity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Liljenström
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Neural Information ◽  
Neural Information Processing ◽  
Stochastic Population Model ◽  
The Brain

AbstractWhat is the role of consciousness in volition and decision-making? Are our actions fully determined by brain activity preceding our decisions to act, or can consciousness instead affect the brain activity leading to action? This has been much debated in philosophy, but also in science since the famous experiments by Libet in the 1980s, where the current most common interpretation is that conscious free will is an illusion. It seems that the brain knows, up to several seconds in advance what “you” decide to do. These studies have, however, been criticized, and alternative interpretations of the experiments can be given, some of which are discussed in this paper. In an attempt to elucidate the processes involved in decision-making (DM), as an essential part of volition, we have developed a computational model of relevant brain structures and their neurodynamics. While DM is a complex process, we have particularly focused on the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) for its emotional, and the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) for its cognitive aspects. In this paper, we present a stochastic population model representing the neural information processing of DM. Simulation results seem to confirm the notion that if decisions have to be made fast, emotional processes and aspects dominate, while rational processes are more time consuming and may result in a delayed decision. Finally, some limitations of current science and computational modeling will be discussed, hinting at a future development of science, where consciousness and free will may add to chance and necessity as explanation for what happens in the world.

Intact Priming for Novel Perceptual Representations in Amnesia

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 699-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan B. Hamann ◽  
Larry R. Squire
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Perceptual Identification ◽  
Single Exposure ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Perceptual Representations ◽  
The Creation ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Brain

Recent studies have challenged the notion that priming for ostensibly novel stimuli such as pseudowords (REAB) reflects the creation of new representations. Priming for such stimuli could instead reflect the activation of familiar memory representations that are orthographically similar (READ) and/or the activation of subparts of stimuli (RE, EX, AR), which are familar because they occur commonly in English. We addressed this issue in three experiments that assessed perceptual identification priming and recognition memory for novel and familiar letter strings in amnesic patients and control subjects. Priming for words, pseudowords, and orthographically illegal nonwords was fully intact in the amnesic patients following a single exposure, whereas recognition memory was impaired for the same items. Thus, priming can occur for stimuli that are unlikely to have preexisting representations. Words and pseudowords exhibited twice as much priming as illegal nonwords, suggesting that activation may contribute to priming for words and wordlike stimuli. Additional results showed that priming for illegal nonwords resulted from the formation of new perceptual associations among the component letters of each nonword rather than the activation of individual letter representations. In summary, the results demonstrate that priming following a single exposure can depend on the creation of new perceptual representations and that such priming is independent of the brain structures essential for declarative memory.

scholarly journals CHANGES OF THE LOCAL FUNCTIONAL BRAIN ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH SPEECH DISORDERS IN CHILDREN WITH EPILEPSY AND DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY (PET STUDY)

2019 ◽  
pp. 39-43
Author(s):  
Yu. G. Khomenko ◽  
G. V. Kataeva ◽  
V. I. Kolomiec
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Metabolism ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Speech Disorders ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Metabolism Rate ◽  
Local Functional ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Functional Brain Activity ◽  
The Brain

PET study of cerebral glucose metabolism was performed in 73 children with epilepsy and mental retardation. Expressive speech disorders were associated with decrease of cerebral metabolism rate of glucose (CMRglu) in the upper frontal gyrus, caudate nucleus and thalamus of the left and right hemispheres. In the group with combined expressive and impressive speech disorders the significant CMRglu reduction in the middle temporal and supramarginal gyrus of the left hemisphere was observed. The obtained results confirm that the brain structures associated with the executive functions and complex association processes have a great significance in the speech development.

scholarly journals The Physiology of Fear: Reconceptualizing the Role of the Central Amygdala in Fear Learning

Physiology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 389-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orion P. Keifer ◽  
Robert C. Hurt ◽  
Kerry J. Ressler ◽  
Paul J. Marvar
Keyword(s):  
Lateral Hypothalamus ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Central Amygdala ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Human And Mouse

The historically understood role of the central amygdala (CeA) in fear learning is to serve as a passive output station for processing and plasticity that occurs elsewhere in the brain. However, recent research has suggested that the CeA may play a more dynamic role in fear learning. In particular, there is growing evidence that the CeA is a site of plasticity and memory formation, and that its activity is subject to tight regulation. The following review examines the evidence for these three main roles of the CeA as they relate to fear learning. The classical role of the CeA as a routing station to fear effector brain structures like the periaqueductal gray, the lateral hypothalamus, and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus will be briefly reviewed, but specific emphasis is placed on recent literature suggesting that the CeA 1) has an important role in the plasticity underlying fear learning, 2) is involved in regulation of other amygdala subnuclei, and 3) is itself regulated by intra- and extra-amygdalar input. Finally, we discuss the parallels of human and mouse CeA involvement in fear disorders and fear conditioning, respectively.

Neural Mechanisms of Evaluation and Memory of Product

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazutaka Ueda
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Neural Model ◽  
Product Evaluation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Preference Rating ◽  
Gamma Frequency ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Healthy Participants

A consumer’s emotional response to a product is influenced by cognitive processes, such as memories associated with use of the product and expectations of its performance. Here, we propose a cognitive neural model of Expectology, called PEAM (Prediction - Experience - Appraisal - Memory), as a novel tool that considers consumers’ emotional responses in order to aid in product design. The PEAM model divides cognitive processes associated with product use into 4 phases: prediction, experience, appraisal, and memory. We examined the spatiotemporal changes in brain activity associated with product evaluation and memory during the prediction phase, by obtaining electroencephalograms (EEGs). EEGs of 10 healthy participants with normal or corrected-to-normal vision were recorded while they viewed images of products as well as when they provided a preference rating for each product. Our results revealed significantly increased neural activity in the gamma frequency in the temporal areas, the brain regions where declarative memory is stored, and in the prefrontal area for products that were rated as preferable. Our data suggest that memory is used for product evaluation in the prediction phase. These findings also suggest that activity in these specific brain areas are reliable predictors for product evaluation.

scholarly journals A Comprehensive Review on Brain-Computer Interface Controlled Movements

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Kulsheet Kaur Virdi ◽  
Satish Pawar
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Computer Interface ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Neuromuscular Disorders ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Computer Interface ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Machine Interface ◽  
The Brain

A brain-computer interface (BCI), also referred to as a mind-machine interface (MMI) or a brain-machine interface (BMI), provides a non-muscular channel of communication between the human brain and a computer system. With the advancements in low-cost electronics and computer interface equipment, as well as the need to serve people suffering from disabilities of neuromuscular disorders, a new field of research has emerged by understanding different functions of the brain. The electroencephalogram (EEG) is an electrical activity generated by brain structures and recorded from the scalp surface through electrodes. Researchers primarily rely on EEG to characterize the brain activity, because it can be recorded noninvasively by using portable equipment. The EEG or the brain activity can be used in real time to control external devices via a complete BCI system. For these applications there is need of such machine learning application which can be efficiently applied on these EEG signals. The aim of this research is review different research work in the field of brain computer interface related to body parts movements.

scholarly journals Semantic Memory

Psychology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael N. Jones ◽  
Johnathan Avery
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Episodic Memories ◽  
The Brain

Semantic memory refers to our general world knowledge that encompasses memory for concepts, facts, and the meanings of words and other symbolic units that constitute formal communication systems such as language or math. In the classic hierarchical view of memory, declarative memory was subdivided into two independent modules: episodic memory, which is our autobiographical store of individual events, and semantic memory, which is our general store of abstracted knowledge. However, more recent theoretical accounts have greatly reduced the independence of these two memory systems, and episodic memory is typically viewed as a gateway to semantic memory accessed through the process of abstraction. Modern accounts view semantic memory as deeply rooted in sensorimotor experience, abstracted across many episodic memories to highlight the stable characteristics and mute the idiosyncratic ones. A great deal of research in neuroscience has focused on both how the brain creates semantic memories and what brain regions share the responsibility for storage and retrieval of semantic knowledge. These include many classic experiments that studied the behavior of individuals with brain damage and various types of semantic disorders but also more modern studies that employ neuroimaging techniques to study how the brain creates and stores semantic memories. Classically, semantic memory had been treated as a miscellaneous area of study for anything in declarative memory that was not clearly within the realm of episodic memory, and formal models of meaning in memory did not advance at the pace of models of episodic memory. However, recent developments in neural networks and corpus-based tools for modeling text have greatly increased the sophistication of models of semantic memory. There now exist several good computational accounts to explain how humans transform first-order experience with the world into deep semantic representations and how these representations are retrieved and used in meaning-based behavioral tasks. The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with the more salient publications, reviews, and themes of major advances in the various subfields of semantic memory over the past forty-five years. For more in-depth coverage, we refer the reader to the manuscripts in the General Overviews section.

scholarly journals The Effect of Maternal Supplementation of Lutein and Docosahexaenoic Acid on Behavior and Brain Structures in Offspring in a Pig Model (P11-005-19)

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Fang ◽  
Julie Jeon ◽  
Holly Kinder ◽  
Michael Azain ◽  
Qun Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Docosahexaenoic Acid ◽  
Internal Capsule ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Perinatal Period ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Lactation Period ◽  
Total N ◽  
Maternal Supplementation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Objectives Lutein (LUT) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) accumulate in the brain and are positively associated with neurocognitive function. Maternal nutritional status in pregnancy and lactation impact the brain development of the offspring. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of maternal supplementation of LUT and DHA during the perinatal period on the cognitive outcomes and regional brain volumes of the offspring. Methods Pregnant sows (n = 11) were fed a control diet only (CON), CON containing LUT (LUT, 2 mg/kg BW/day), or CON containing DHA (DHA, 75 mg/kg BW/day) from late gestation to lactation period for 60 days. At weaning (21d), piglets (n = 4/litter, total n = 44) underwent open field test (OFT) and object recognition test (ORT) to assess exploratory behaviors and memory formation, respectively. In addition, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed (n = 12) to measure the volumes of 19 brain regions. Results In the OFT, piglets from LUT-fed sows showed 96% higher sniffing wall frequency compared to controls (P = .022), demonstrating that maternal LUT supplementation may enhance the exploratory behavior of its offspring at weaning. In the ORT, male LUT pigs (P = .034), and both male and female DHA pigs (P = .016, P = .035, respectively) spent significantly longer time exploring the novel object than familiar object, while controls spent similar time with both objects (P > .05), suggesting that maternal supplementation with either LUT or DHA during the perinatal period may improve hippocampal-dependent memory formation of the offspring. MRI volumetric assessments showed that piglet brains were composed of 63.4% cortex, 11.39% cerebellum, 2.76% thalamus, 1.84% hippocampus, and 4.63% olfactory bulb and other subcortical regions. Maternal LUT or DHA supplementation did not affect the volumes of these regions except for the internal capsule. The volume of the internal capsule was significantly larger in the DHA pigs compared to controls (P = .026). Conclusions Maternal supplementation of LUT or DHA may increase exploratory behaviors and memory function of the offspring at weaning without affecting the volume of major brain structures. Further analysis is ongoing to elucidate the mechanisms of the neurocognitive changes by assessing functional connectivity of brains via functional MRI. Funding Sources The study was supported by Georgia Experimental Agricultural Station, HATCH #GEO00795 and Faculty research grant from Office or Research at the UGA. DHA was kindly provided by DSM, Inc.

First Word Learning

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.

scholarly journals Brain activity during moral judgement of action

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-81
Author(s):  
K.R. Arutyunova ◽  
I.M. Sozinova ◽  
Yu.I. Alexandrov
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Moral Judgement ◽  
Individual Development ◽  
Functional Systems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Neurophysiological Mechanisms ◽  
The Brain

Interdisciplinary studies of cognitive and neurophysiological mechanisms of moral judgement often combine tools borrowed from philosophy, psychology and neuroscience. In this work, we review the studies of brain activity during moral judgement at different stages of individual development. Generally, it has been shown that moral judgement is accompanied by activations in brain areas related to emotion and social cognition; and these activations may vary across individuals of different age groups. We discuss these data from the positions of the system-evolutionary theory and compare our view with the domain-general approach to cognitive processes and brain activity underlying moral judgement. We suggest that moral judgement, as part of individual behaviour, is supported by activity of functional systems formed at different stages of individual development; therefore brain activity during moral judgement is accounted for by the specificity of distribution of neural elements of functional systems across the brain structures, which is determined by the history of an individual’s interactions with the environment.

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