scholarly journals Stress impacts the fidelity but not strength of emotional memories

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maheen Shermohammed ◽  
Juliet Y. Davidow ◽  
Leah Somerville ◽  
Vishnu Murty
Keyword(s):  
Memory Performance ◽  
Emotional Memory ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Correct Identification ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Stress Influences

Psychological stress during memory encoding influences resulting memory representations. However, open questions remain regarding how stress interacts with emotional memory. This interaction has mainly been studied by characterizing the correct identification of previously observed material (memory “hits”), with few studies investigating how stress influences the incorrect endorsement of unobserved material as remembered (memory “false alarms”). While hits can provide information about the presence or strength of a memory representation, false alarms provide insight into the fidelity of those representations, indicating to what extent stored memories are confused with similar information presented at retrieval. This study examined the effects of stress on long-term memory for negative and neutral images, considering the separate contributions of hits and false alarms. Participants viewed images after repeated exposure to either a stress or a control manipulation. Stress impaired memory performance for negative pictures and enhanced memory performance for neutral pictures. These effects were driven by false alarms rather than hits: stressed participants false alarmed more often for negative and less often for neutral images. These data suggest that stress undermines the benefits of emotion on memory by changing individuals’ susceptibility towards false alarms, and highlight the need to consider both memory strength and fidelity to characterize differences in memory performance.

scholarly journals Is Long-Term Memory Used in a Visuo-Spatial Change-Detection Paradigm?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Goecke ◽  
Klaus Oberauer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Change Detection ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Repetition Effect ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Hebb Repetition Effect

In tests of working memory with verbal or spatial materials repeating the same memory sets across trials leads to improved memory performance. This well-established “Hebb repetition effect” could not be shown for visual materials. This absence of the Hebb effect can be explained in two ways: Either persons fail to acquire a long-term memory representation of the repeated memory sets, or they acquire such long-term memory representations, but fail to use them during the working memory task. In two experiments, (N1 = 18 and N2 = 30), we aimed to decide between these two possibilities by manipulating the long-term memory knowledge of some of the memory sets used in a change-detection task. Before the change-detection test, participants learned three arrays of colors to criterion. The subsequent change-detection test contained both previously learned and new color arrays. Change detection performance was better on previously learned compared to new arrays, showing that long-term memory is used in change detection.

scholarly journals Is long-term memory used in a visuo-spatial change-detection paradigm?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Goecke ◽  
Klaus Oberauer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Change Detection ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Repetition Effect ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Hebb Repetition Effect

AbstractIn tests of working memory with verbal or spatial materials, repeating the same memory sets across trials leads to improved memory performance. This well-established “Hebb repetition effect” could not be shown for visual materials in previous research. The absence of the Hebb effect can be explained in two ways: Either persons fail to acquire a long-term memory representation of the repeated memory sets, or they acquire such long-term memory representations, but fail to use them during the working memory task. In two experiments (N1 = 18 and N2 = 30), we aimed to decide between these two possibilities by manipulating the long-term memory knowledge of some of the memory sets used in a change-detection task. Before the change-detection test, participants learned three arrays of colors to criterion. The subsequent change-detection test contained both previously learned and new color arrays. Change detection performance was better on previously learned compared with new arrays, showing that long-term memory is used in change detection.

scholarly journals Organization and priming of long-term memory representations with two-phase plasticity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jannik Luboeinski ◽  
Christian Tetzlaff
Keyword(s):  
Order Effect ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Spontaneous Activation ◽  
Synaptic Tagging And Capture ◽  
The Individual

AbstractSynaptic tagging and capture (STC) is a molecular mechanism that accounts for the consolidation of synaptic changes induced by plasticity. To link this mechanism to long-term memory and thereby to the level of behavior, its dynamics on the level of recurrent networks have to be understood. To this end, we employ a biologically detailed neural network model of spiking neurons featuring STC, which models the learning and consolidation of long-term memory representations. Using this model, we investigate the effects of different organizational paradigms of multiple memory representations, and demonstrate a proof of principle for priming on long timescales. We examine these effects considering the spontaneous activation of memory representations as the network is driven by background noise. Our first finding is that the order in which the memory representations are learned significantly biases the likelihood of spontaneous activation towards more recently learned memory representations. Secondly, we find that hub-like structures counter this learning order effect for representations with less overlaps. We show that long-term depression is the mechanism underlying these findings, and that intermediate consolidation in between learning the individual representations strongly alters the described effects. Finally, we employ STC to demonstrate the priming of a long-term memory representation on a timescale of minutes to hours. As shown by these findings, our model provides a mechanistic synaptic and neuronal basis for known behavioral effects.

scholarly journals Visual Long-term Memory Can Replace Active Maintenance in Visual Working Memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark W. Schurgin ◽  
Corbin A. Cunningham ◽  
Howard E. Egeth ◽  
Timothy F. Brady
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Perceptual Information ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Perceptual Interference ◽  
New Information ◽  
Memory Representations

AbstractHumans have remarkable visual long-term memory abilities, capable of storing thousands of objects with significant detail. However, it remains unknown how such memory is utilized during the short-term maintenance of information. Specifically, if people have a previously encoded memory for an item, how does this affect subsequent working memory for that same item? Here, we demonstrate people can quickly and accurately make use of visual long-term memories and therefore maintain less perceptual information actively in working memory. We assessed how much perceptual information is actively maintained in working memory by measuring neural activity during the delay period of a working memory task using electroencephalography. We find that despite maintaining less perceptual information in working memory when long-term memory representations are available, there is no decrement in memory performance. This suggests under certain circumstances people can dynamically disengage working memory maintenance and instead use long-term memories when available. However, this does not mean participants always utilize long-term memory. In a follow-up experiment, we introduced additional perceptual interference into working memory and found participants actively maintained items in working memory even when they had existing long-term memories available. These results clarify the kinds of conditions under which long-term and working memory operate. Specifically, working memory is engaged when new information is encountered or perceptual interference is high. Visual long-term memory may otherwise be rapidly accessed and utilized in lieu of active perceptual maintenance. These data demonstrate the interactions between working memory and long-term memory are more dynamic and fluid than previously thought.

scholarly journals I remember it now, so I'll remember it later: Working Memory Representations Guide Inaccurate Predictions of Future Memory Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Krasnoff ◽  
Alessandra S. Souza
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Sequence Length ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Strength ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representations

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.

scholarly journals EXPRESS: Consequences of Cognitive Offloading: Boosting Performance But Diminishing Memory

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110080
Author(s):  
Sandra Grinschgl ◽  
Frank Papenmeier ◽  
Hauke S. Meyerhoff
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Cognitive Offloading ◽  
The Relationship

Modern technical tools such as tablets allow for the temporal externalization of working memory processes (i.e. cognitive offloading). Although such externalizations support immediate performance on different tasks, little is known about potential long-term consequences of offloading behavior. In the current set of experiments, we studied the relationship between cognitive offloading and subsequent memory for the offloaded information as well as the interplay of this relationship with the goal to acquire new memory representations. Our participants solved the Pattern Copy Task, in which we manipulated the costs of cognitive offloading and the awareness of a subsequent memory test. In Experiment 1 (N = 172), we showed that increasing the costs for offloading induces reduced offloading behavior. This reduction in offloading came along with lower immediate task performance but more accurate memory in an unexpected test. In Experiment 2 (N = 172), we confirmed these findings and observed that offloading behavior remained detrimental for subsequent memory performance when participants were aware of the upcoming memory test. Interestingly, Experiment 3 (N = 172) showed that cognitive offloading is not detrimental for long-term memory formation under all circumstances. Those participants who were forced to offload maximally but were aware of the memory test could almost completely counteract the negative impact of offloading on memory. Our experiments highlight the importance of the explicit goal to acquire new memory representations when relying on technical tools as offloading did have detrimental effects on memory without such a goal.

Short- and long-term memory tasks predict working memory performance, and vice versa.

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Neath ◽  
Jean Saint-Aubin ◽  
Tamra J. Bireta ◽  
Andrew J. Gabel ◽  
Chelsea G. Hudson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Short And Long Term

scholarly journals Expert radiologists have improved memory performance for images with focal abnormalities

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayden Schill ◽  
Jeremy Wolfe ◽  
Timothy F. Brady
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Attentional Processing ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Focal Abnormality

Memory capacity depends on prior knowledge, both in working memory and in long-term memory. For example, radiologists have improved long-term memory for medical images compared to novices. Furthermore, people tend to remember abnormal or surprising items best. This is often claimed to arise primarily because such items attract additional attention at encoding. How do expertise and abnormality interact when experts are actively searching for abnormalities; e.g. radiologists looking at mammograms? In the current work, we investigate whether expert radiologists (N=32) show improved memory performance for abnormal images compared to novice participants (N=60). We consider two types of “abnormality.” A mammogram can have a focal abnormality that can be localized or it could simply be the mammogram of a woman known to have cancer (e.g. the image of the breast contralateral to the focal abnormality). Must an image have a focal abnormality for additional attentional processing to be engaged? We found that experts have better memory for mammograms than novice participants and enhanced memory for abnormal images relative to normal images. Overall, radiologists showed no memory benefit for the contralateral-abnormal images and did not discriminate them from normal images, but had enhanced memory for images with focal abnormalities. Our results suggest that focal abnormalities play an important role in enhancing memory of expert observers.

scholarly journals Dissociating refreshing and elaboration and their impacts on memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea M. Bartsch ◽  
Vanessa M. Loaiza ◽  
Lutz Jäncke ◽  
Klaus Oberauer ◽  
Jarrod A. Lewis-Peacock
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Ethics Committees ◽  
Fmri Data ◽  
Ethical Review ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
List Type ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Age Related

AbstractMaintenance of information in working memory (WM) is assumed to rely on refreshing and elaboration, but clear mechanistic descriptions of these cognitive processes are lacking, and it is unclear whether they are simply two labels for the same process. This fMRI study investigated the extent to which refreshing, elaboration, and repeating of items in WM are distinct neural processes with dissociable behavioral outcomes in WM and long-term memory (LTM). Multivariate pattern analyses of fMRI data revealed differentiable neural signatures for these processes, which we also replicated in an independent sample of older adults. In some cases, the degree of neural separation within an individual predicted their memory performance. Elaboration improved LTM, but not WM, and this benefit increased as its neural signature became more distinct from repetition. Refreshing had no impact on LTM, but did improve WM, although the neural discrimination of this process was not predictive of the degree of improvement. These results demonstrate that refreshing and elaboration are separate processes that differently contribute to memory performance.HighlightsRepeated reading, refreshing, and elaboration are differentiable in brain activation patterns in both young and older adults.Elaboration selectively improved long-term memory for young adults, and the size of the benefit was related to the neural separability of elaboration from other processes.Older adults implemented a sub-optimal form of elaboration, and this may be a factor contributing to age-related deficits in long-term memory.Ethics statementThe study was approved by the ethical review board of the canton of Zurich (BASEC-No. 2017-00190) and all subjects gave informed written consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.Data and code availability statementAll behavioral data and analysis scripts can be assessed on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/p2h8b/). The fMRI data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, LMB. The fMRI data are not publicly available due to restrictions of the Swiss Ethics Committees on research involving humans regarding data containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

scholarly journals The Significance of Warm Colour in the Quran and Its Roles on Memory Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Norwardatun Mohamed Razali
Keyword(s):  
Memory Performance ◽  
Sensory Memory ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Yellow Colour ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
Inductive Approach

Colours are mentioned many times in the Holy Qur’an. Some are mentioned as colours in general, and some of them in specific; yellow, white, black, red, green and blue. Each colour has its special connotations in the Holy Qur’an and among these colours, yellow and red are considered as warm colours. This study aimed to find the significance of warm colours in the Holy Qur’an and its relationship to human psychology; focusing on memory performance. This research had used an inductive approach in terms of selecting Quranic verses; in which yellow and red colour were mentioned. These verses were then analysed by referring to the books of exegetical considerations in order to know the implications of these colours’ usage, as well as referring to psychology books and scientific articles. The research found that yellow and red colour in the Holy Qur’an mostly indicate attracting attention or pleasing viewers. Some examples included the yellow colour in resemblance to the colour of the cow, attention to decay and destruction such as yellow colour in the withering plants, and attention to resurrection like the red colour resembling scene of the Day of Resurrection. This indication in the Holy Qur’an is consistent with psychologists’ discovery; warm colours such as red and yellow are more effective and attractive in the process of transferring information from external to sensory memory, and thus to short-term and long-term memory.

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