scholarly journals Contingency of semantic generalization on episodic specificity: Variations across development

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Ngo ◽  
Susan L. Benear ◽  
Haroon Popal ◽  
Ingrid R. Olson ◽  
Nora Newcombe
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Knowledge Acquisition ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Very Young Children ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Specific Identity

Popular computational models of memory have posited that the formation of new semantic knowledge relies on generalization from memories of specific but related episodes, at least when it occurs rapidly. This view predicts a contingency between new generalizations and episodic memory. However, very young children readily accumulate semantic knowledge at a time when their episodic memory capacities are fragile. This phenomenon challenges the notion that semantic knowledge acquisition and rapid generalization are necessarily gated by episodic memory. Here, we tested whether generalization depends on memory for individual episodes in children from 3 to 8 years of age and contrasted their performance with adults. We found that the interdependence of generalization and episodic memory changed across development. Young adults’ generalization success was contingent on their memories for an item linked to its episodic context. In contrast, generalization by young children was contingent on memories of the specific identity of items and the availability of the conceptual common ground linking related episodes. This age-related contrast favors models of memory that can account for the relations between rapid generalization and episodic memory in immature systems.

scholarly journals Knowledge guides attention to goal-relevant information in older adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maverick E. Smith ◽  
Lester C. Loschky ◽  
Heather R. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Free Recall ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Attention And Memory ◽  
Everyday Activities ◽  
Age Related

AbstractHow does viewers’ knowledge guide their attention while they watch everyday events, how does it affect their memory, and does it change with age? Older adults have diminished episodic memory for everyday events, but intact semantic knowledge. Indeed, research suggests that older adults may rely on their semantic memory to offset impairments in episodic memory, and when relevant knowledge is lacking, older adults’ memory can suffer. Yet, the mechanism by which prior knowledge guides attentional selection when watching dynamic activity is unclear. To address this, we studied the influence of knowledge on attention and memory for everyday events in young and older adults by tracking their eyes while they watched videos. The videos depicted activities that older adults perform more frequently than young adults (balancing a checkbook, planting flowers) or activities that young adults perform more frequently than older adults (installing a printer, setting up a video game). Participants completed free recall, recognition, and order memory tests after each video. We found age-related memory deficits when older adults had little knowledge of the activities, but memory did not differ between age groups when older adults had relevant knowledge and experience with the activities. Critically, results showed that knowledge influenced where viewers fixated when watching the videos. Older adults fixated less goal-relevant information compared to young adults when watching young adult activities, but they fixated goal-relevant information similarly to young adults, when watching more older adult activities. Finally, results showed that fixating goal-relevant information predicted free recall of the everyday activities for both age groups. Thus, older adults may use relevant knowledge to more effectively infer the goals of actors, which guides their attention to goal-relevant actions, thus improving their episodic memory for everyday activities.

Semantic knowledge attenuates age-related differences in event segmentation and episodic memory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara L. Pitts ◽  
Maverick E. Smith ◽  
Kimberly M. Newberry ◽  
Heather R. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Event Segmentation ◽  
Age Related

When estimating reachability in space, young children and the elderly are similar

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-13
Author(s):  
Carl Gabbard ◽  
Priscila Caçola
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Motor Imagery ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Extrapersonal Space ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Reach Space ◽  
Total Accuracy

This study examined the age-related ability to mentally represent action in the context of reach estimation via use of motor imagery in children, young adults, and a group of older adults. Participants were instructed to estimate whether randomly presented targets in peripersonal (within actual reach) and extrapersonal (beyond reach) space were within or out of reach of their dominant limb while seated. In regard to total accuracy, results indicated that children and older adults were similar, but scores were significantly lower than those of young adults. Whereas all groups displayed greater error in extrapersonal space, once again children and older adults were similar, but significantly different than young adults. That is, children and older adults displayed greater overestimation responses. Although other factors are discussed, the literature provides a hint that differences are due in part to distinctions in brain structure and functioning.

Measuring the Size of Working Memory in Very Young Children: The Imitation Sorting Task

1994 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Ercan Alp
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Linear Fashion ◽  
Very Young Children ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Related Increase

Development of working memory in the transitional period from infancy to preschool years was investigated from a neo-Piagetian perspective. A new task, the Imitation Sorting Task, was specifically designed for this purpose. The task involves a game of imitation. An increasing number of disparate objects are sorted into two containers and the child is asked to reproduce each demonstrated sorting. The number of objects in the largest set that the child can successfully sort in imitation determines the child's score on the task. The task was administered three times to children from 12 to 36 months of age. Scores increased in a linear fashion with age in all three administrations. Upon retesting within a few weeks after the original administration, children's score and rank remained very similar. Their score increased at the follow-up after 6 months, but their rank still remained similar to their original rank. The age-related increase in the scores appears to be about one unit every six months in this age range.

Age-Related Trends in Psychotropic Medication Use Among Very Young Children in Foster Care

2014 ◽  
Vol 65 (12) ◽  
pp. 1452-1457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan dosReis ◽  
Ming-Hui Tai ◽  
David Goffman ◽  
Sean E. Lynch ◽  
Gloria Reeves ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Psychotropic Medication ◽  
Medication Use ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Very Young Children ◽  
Age Related

scholarly journals The ERP correlates of self-knowledge in ageing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annick F. N. Tanguay ◽  
Ann-Kathrin Johnen ◽  
Ioanna Markostamou ◽  
Rachel Lambert ◽  
Megan Rudrum ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
General Semantic

AbstractSelf-knowledge is a type of personal semantic knowledge that concerns one’s self-image and personal identity. It has most often been operationalized as the summary of one’s personality traits (“I am a stubborn person”). Interestingly, recent studies have revealed that the neural correlates of self-knowledge can be dissociated from those of general semantic and episodic memory in young adults. However, studies of “dedifferentiation” or loss of distinctiveness of neural representations in ageing suggest that the neural correlates of self-knowledge might be less distinct from those of semantic and episodic memory in older adults. We investigated this question in an event-related potential (ERP) study with 28 young and 26 older adults while they categorised personality traits for their self-relevance (self-knowledge conditions), and their relevance to certain groups of people (general semantic condition). Participants then performed a recognition test for previously seen traits (episodic condition). The amplitude of the late positive component (LPC), associated with episodic recollection processes, differentiated the self-knowledge, general semantic, and episodic conditions in young adults, but not in older adults. However, in older adults, participants with higher composite episodic memory scores had more differentiated LPC amplitudes across experimental conditions. Moreover, consistent with the fact that age-related neural dedifferentiation may be material and region specific, in both age groups some differences between memory types were observed for the N400 component, associated with semantic processing. Taken together, these findings suggest that declarative memory subtypes are less distinct in ageing, but that the amount of differentiation varies with episodic memory function.

scholarly journals Temporal Chunking Makes Life’s Events More Memorable

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen C. McGatlin ◽  
Kimberly M. Newberry ◽  
Heather R. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Event Segmentation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Memory Event ◽  
Training Event ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

AbstractDeclines in episodic memory accompany both healthy aging and age-related diseases, such as dementia. Given that memory complaints are common in the aging population, a wealth of research has evaluated the underlying mechanisms of these declines and explored strategy interventions that could offset them. In the current paper, we describe a newer approach to improving memory: event segmentation training. Event segmentation is an encoding strategy in which individuals parse continuous activity into meaningful chunks. The ability to segment activity is associated with later memory for the events, but unfortunately, this segmentation ability declines with age. Importantly, interventions designed to improve event segmentation have resulted in memory improvements for both young and older adults. We will review these past experiments as well as some new event segmentation training work that uses older adults’ semantic knowledge to improve their segmentation and episodic memory. We believe that future research on event segmentation is a promising avenue for improving older adults’ ability to remember everyday activities.

A-46 Impairments in Memory for “Who”, “When”, and “Where” are Detectable in Middle-Aged Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 905-905
Author(s):  
A Mustafa ◽  
I Beltran-Najera ◽  
P Gilbert ◽  
L Graves ◽  
H Holden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Correct Sequence ◽  
Middle Aged Adults

Abstract Objective We conducted a cross-sectional study to examine age-¬related differences in performance on a new test assessing memory for “who, when, and where” and associations among these elements. The test was designed to assess aspects of episodic memory by simulating an everyday experience of meeting a series of different people in different places across time. Method Healthy young (ages 18¬-25), middle-aged (ages 40-55), and older adults (ages 60+) were asked to remember a sequence of pictures of different faces paired with different places. After viewing the sequence, the participants were asked to pair each face with the correct place and put the face-place pairs in the correct sequence. Participants also completed a battery of standardized neuropsychological tests. Results Young adults remembered significantly more face-place pairs in the correct sequence than middle-aged (p < .05) and older adults (p < .05). There were no significant differences between middle-aged and older adults in the number of face-place pairs in correct sequence. Furthermore, young adults remembered significantly more face-place pairs irrespective of sequence than older adults (p < .05). There were no significant differences between young and middle-aged adults or between middle-aged and older adults in the number of correct face-place pairs irrespective of sequence. Conclusions Using a new test that incorporates aspects of episodic memory, we found evidence for age-related differences in test performance beginning in middle age. We found that performance on the test correlated with performance on standardized measures of verbal memory and executive functioning but not visual confrontation naming.

scholarly journals Stimulation of the Social Brain Improves Perspective Selection in Older Adults: A HD-tDCS Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Martin ◽  
G. Perceval ◽  
M. Roheger ◽  
I. Davies ◽  
M. Meinzer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Repeated Measures Design ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Encoding Effects

AbstractThere is evidence for dissociable, causal roles for two key social brain regions in young adults. Specifically, the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) is associated with embodied perspective taking, whereas the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) is associated with the integration of social information. However, it is unknown whether these causal brain-behaviour associations are evident in older adults. Fifty-two healthy older adults were stratified to receive either rTPJ or dmPFC anodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation in a sham-controlled, double-blinded, repeated-measures design. Self-other processing was assessed across implicit and explicit level one (line-of-sight) and level two (embodied rotation) visual perspective taking (VPT) tasks, and self-other encoding effects on episodic memory. Both rTPJ and dmPFC stimulation reduced the influence of the alternate perspective during level one VPT, indexed by a reduced congruency effect (difference between congruent and incongruent perspectives). There were no stimulation effects on level two perspective taking nor self-other encoding effects on episodic memory. Stimulation to the rTPJ and dmPFC improved perspective selection during level one perspective taking. However, dissociable effects on self-other processing, previously observed in young adults, were not identified in older adults. The results provide causal evidence for age-related changes in social brain function that requires further scrutinization.

Age moderation of the association between negative subsequent memory effects and episodic memory performance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Pruitt ◽  
Lingfei Tang ◽  
Jessica Hayes ◽  
Noa Ofen ◽  
Jessica S. Damoiseaux
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Memory Effects ◽  
Age Related

Negative subsequent memory effects in functional MRI studies of memory formation, have been linked to individual differences in memory performance, yet the effect of age on this association is currently unclear. To provide insight into the brain systems related to memory across the lifespan, we examined functional neuroimaging data acquired during episodic memory formation and behavioral performance from a memory recognition task in a sample of 109 participants, including three developmental age groups (8-12, 13-17, 18-25 year-olds) and one additional group of older adults (55-85 year-olds). Young adults showed the highest memory performance and strongest negative subsequent memory effects, while older adults showed reduced negative subsequent memory effects relative to young adults. Across the sample, negative subsequent memory effects were associated with better memory performance, and there was a significant interaction between negative subsequent memory effects and memory performance by age groups. Posthoc analyses revealed that this effect was driven by a strong association between negative subsequent memory effects and memory performance in adolescents and young adults, but not in children and older adults. These findings suggest that negative subsequent memory effects may differentially support memory performance across a lifespan trajectory characterized by developmental maturation and age-related deterioration.

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