Long-Term Memory for Haptically Explored Objects: Fidelity, Durability, Incidental Encoding, and Cross-Modal Transfer

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 2031-2038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Hutmacher ◽  
Christof Kuhbandner

The question of how many of our perceptual experiences are stored in long-term memory has received considerable attention. The present study examined long-term memory for haptic experiences. Blindfolded participants haptically explored 168 everyday objects (e.g., a pen) for 10 s each. In a blindfolded memory test, they indicated which of two objects from the same basic-level category (e.g., two different pens) had been touched before. As shown in Experiment 1 ( N = 26), memory was nearly perfect when tested immediately after exploration (94%) and still high when tested after 1 week (85%). As shown in Experiment 2 ( N = 43), when participants explored the objects without the intention to memorize them, memory in a 1-week delayed surprise test was still high (79%), even when assessed with a cross-modal visual memory test (73%). These results indicate that detailed, durable, long-term memory representations are stored as a natural product of haptic perception.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Krasnoff ◽  
Alessandra S. Souza

Making accurate predictions of future memory performance (Judgements of Learning; JOLs) is a prerequisite for efficient learning. Since decades, those JOLs are assumed to be made inferentially, based on cues. This cue-utilization approach substituted the idea that JOLs are directly linked to memory quality. We criticize the reasons for the rejection of this memory-strength hypothesis because they ignore the existence of two different memory systems: working memory which holds representations immediately accessible, and long-term memory which is a more permanent store. Considering both memory systems, the current work revisited the memory-strength hypothesis: In Experiment 1, participants memorized sequences of two or four colored objects, then they provided JOLs for a long-term memory test, and performed a working memory test on the objects’ colors. After learning 200 objects, the long-term memory test on all studied objects followed. Sequence-length affected working memory, but not long-term memory performance. JOLs, however, were higher for sequences of two than four and correlated higher with working memory than long-term memory performance. Experiment 2 replicated the sequence-length effect on JOLs in the absence of a working memory test. Results of a sequence-eight condition revealed an increase in JOLs’ accuracy when the number of studied objects exceeded working memory span. Contrary to predominant theories, our findings suggest that JOLs are based on the quality of memory representations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 1176-1182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dejan Draschkow ◽  
Saliha Reinecke ◽  
Corbin A Cunningham ◽  
Melissa L-H Võ

Visual long-term memory capacity appears massive and detailed when probed explicitly. In the real world, however, memories are usually built from chance encounters. Therefore, we investigated the capacity and detail of incidental memory in a novel encoding task, instructing participants to detect visually distorted objects among intact objects. In a subsequent surprise recognition memory test, lures of a novel category, another exemplar, the same object in a different state, or exactly the same object were presented. Lure recognition performance was above chance, suggesting that incidental encoding resulted in reliable memory formation. Critically, performance for state lures was worse than for exemplars, which was driven by a greater similarity of state as opposed to exemplar foils to the original objects. Our results indicate that incidentally generated visual long-term memory representations of isolated objects are more limited in detail than recently suggested.


2020 ◽  
pp. 311-332
Author(s):  
Nicole Hakim ◽  
Edward Awh ◽  
Edward K. Vogel

Visual working memory allows us to maintain information in mind for use in ongoing cognition. Research on visual working memory often characterizes it within the context of its interaction with long-term memory (LTM). These embedded-processes models describe memory representations as existing in three potential states: inactivated LTM, including all representations stored in LTM; activated LTM, latent representations that can quickly be brought into an active state due to contextual priming or recency; and the focus of attention, an active but sharply limited state in which only a small number of items can be represented simultaneously. This chapter extends the embedded-processes framework of working memory. It proposes that working memory should be defined operationally based on neural activity. By defining working memory in this way, the important theoretical distinction between working memory and LTM is maintained, while still acknowledging that they operate together. It is additionally proposed that active working memory should be further subdivided into at least two subcomponent processes that index item-based storage and currently prioritized spatial locations. This fractionation of working memory is based on recent research that has found that the maintenance of information distinctly relies on item-based representations as well as prioritization of spatial locations. It is hoped that this updated framework of the definition of working memory within the embedded-processes model provides further traction for understanding how we maintain information in mind.


Folia Medica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita S. Mihaylova ◽  
Ilia D. Kostadinov ◽  
Nina D. Doncheva ◽  
Hristina I. Zlatanova ◽  
Delian P. Delev

Abstract Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurode-generative disease, usually detected by its motor symptoms. The non-motor symptoms, including cognitive deficits, have been of great interest to researchers in the last few decades. Aim: To assess the effect of pramipexole on learning and memory in naïve and haloperidol-challenged rats. Materials and methods: Male Wistar rats divided into 9 groups (n=8): naïve - saline, pramipexole 0.5; 1 and 3 mg/kg bw; Haloperidol groups - saline, haloperidol, haloperidol + pramipexole 0.5; 1 and 3 mg/kg bw. Two-way active avoidance test (TWAA) and activity cage were performed. The studied parameters were: number of conditioned and unconditioned responses, vertical and horizontal movements. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 19. Results: The naïve experimental groups significantly increased the number of conditioned responses during the tests for short- and long-term memory, compared with the saline groups (p<0.05). During the short-memory test only the animals with the lowest dose of PMX significantly increased the number of unconditioned responses whereas during the long-term memory test all experimental groups increased the number of escapes in comparison with the saline groups (p<0.05). Challenge dose of haloperidol attenuates learning and memory in pramipexol treated rats. Only the highest dose of pramipexol showed significant increase in conditioned and unconditioned responses compared with the haloperidol group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Pramipexole improves learning and memory in naïve rats by enhancing dopaminergic neurotransmission. This is probably not the only mechanism involved. This is confirmed by the decrease in learning and memory ability in rats with haloperidol-challenge.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILLIP HAMRICK ◽  
MICHAEL T. ULLMAN

Cunnings (Cunnings) offers an interpretation of L2-L1 sentence processing differences in terms of memory principles. We applaud such cross-domain approaches, which seem likely to significantly elucidate the neurocognition of language. Cunnings attributes sentence processing differences between (adult) high proficiency L2 and L1 speakers to an increased susceptibility to similarity-based retrieval interference, rather than to qualitative L2-L1 processing differences (cf. Clahsen & Felser, 2006). On his account, both L1 and L2 sentence processing depend upon a ‘bipartite’ working memory, which involves maintaining items active by focusing attention on long-term memory representations (Cowan, 2001).


2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Darling ◽  
Richard J. Allen ◽  
Jelena Havelka ◽  
Aileen Campbell ◽  
Emma Rattray

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 682-685
Author(s):  
Kao-Wei Chua ◽  
Daniel N. Bub ◽  
Michael E. J. Masson ◽  
Isabel Gauthier

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 267-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Skodzik ◽  
Heinz Holling ◽  
Anya Pedersen

Objective: Memory problems are a frequently reported symptom in adult ADHD, and it is well-documented that adults with ADHD perform poorly on long-term memory tests. However, the cause of this effect is still controversial. The present meta-analysis examined underlying mechanisms that may lead to long-term memory impairments in adult ADHD. Method: We performed separate meta-analyses of measures of memory acquisition and long-term memory using both verbal and visual memory tests. In addition, the influence of potential moderator variables was examined. Results: Adults with ADHD performed significantly worse than controls on verbal but not on visual long-term memory and memory acquisition subtests. The long-term memory deficit was strongly statistically related to the memory acquisition deficit. In contrast, no retrieval problems were observable. Conclusion: Our results suggest that memory deficits in adult ADHD reflect a learning deficit induced at the stage of encoding. Implications for clinical and research settings are presented.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalise Miner ◽  
Mark Schurgin ◽  
Timothy F. Brady

Long-term memory is often considered easily corruptible, imprecise and inaccurate, especially in comparison to working memory. However, most research used to support these findings relies on weak long-term memories: those where people have had only one brief exposure to an item. Here we investigated the fidelity of visual long-term memory in more naturalistic setting, with repeated exposures, and ask how it compares to visual working memory fidelity. Using psychophysical methods designed to precisely measure the fidelity of visual memory, we demonstrate that long-term memory for the color of frequently seen objects is as accurate as working memory for the color of a single item seen 1 second ago. In particular, we show that repetition greatly improves long-term memory, including the ability to discriminate an item from a very similar item ('fidelity'), in both a lab setting (Exps. 1-3) and a naturalistic setting (brand logos, Exp. 4). Overall our results demonstrate the impressive nature of visual long-term memory fidelity, which we find is even higher fidelity than previously indicated in situations involving repetitions. Furthermore, our results suggest that there is no distinction between the fidelity of visual working memory and visual long-term memory, but instead both memory systems are capable of storing similar incredibly high fidelity memories under the right circumstances. Our results also provide further evidence that there is no fundamental distinction between the ‘precision’ of memory and the ‘likelihood of retrieving a memory’, instead suggesting a single continuous measure of memory strength best accounts for working and long-term memory.


2003 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 756-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer D. Ryan ◽  
Neal J. Cohen

Ruchkin et al. ascribe a pivotal role to long-term memory representations and binding within working memory. Here we focus on the interaction of working memory and long-term memory in supporting on-line representations of experience available to guide on-going processing, and we distinguish the role of frontal-lobe systems from what the hippocampus contributes to relational long-term memory binding.


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