scholarly journals Episodic memory enhancement versus impairment is determined by contextual similarity across events

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter Cox ◽  
Simone Dobbelaar ◽  
Martijn Meeter ◽  
Merel Kindt ◽  
Vanessa van Ast
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Environmental Context ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
Memory Interference ◽  
Memory Change ◽  
Memory Integration ◽  
Context Similarity ◽  
Mechanisms Of Memory ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

For over a century, stability of environmental context across related episodes has been considered a source of memory interference. However, contemporary memory integration theory generates a diametrically opposite prediction. Here, we aimed to resolve this discrepancy by manipulating local context similarity across temporally disparate but related episodes, and testing the direction and underlying mechanisms of memory change. A series of experiments show that contextual stability produces memory integration and marked reciprocal strengthening, whereas variable context results in one memory to dominate at a related memory’s expense. Intriguingly, however, retrieval patterns reversed when the original encoding contexts were reintroduced during memory recall. These observations (i) identify environmental context during new learning and subsequent recall as opposing determinants in the volatility of memory, (ii) present a challenge to several classic and modern theories on episodic memory change, and (iii) reconcile paradoxical predictions of memory interference and integration.

scholarly journals Episodic memory enhancement versus impairment is determined by contextual similarity across events

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (48) ◽  
pp. e2101509118
Author(s):  
Wouter R. Cox ◽  
Simone Dobbelaar ◽  
Martijn Meeter ◽  
Merel Kindt ◽  
Vanessa A. van Ast
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
Memory Interference ◽  
Memory Change ◽  
Memory Integration ◽  
Context Similarity ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Mechanisms Of Memory ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

For over a century, stability of spatial context across related episodes has been considered a source of memory interference, impairing memory retrieval. However, contemporary memory integration theory generates a diametrically opposite prediction. Here, we aimed to resolve this discrepancy by manipulating local context similarity across temporally disparate but related episodes and testing the direction and underlying mechanisms of memory change. A series of experiments show that contextual stability produces memory integration and marked reciprocal strengthening. Variable context, conversely, seemed to result in competition such that new memories become enhanced at the expense of original memories. Interestingly, these patterns were virtually inverted in an additional experiment where context was reinstated during recall. These observations 1) identify contextual similarity across original and new memories as an important determinant in the volatility of memory, 2) present a challenge to classic and modern theories on episodic memory change, and 3) indicate that the sensitivity of context-induced memory changes to retrieval conditions may reconcile paradoxical predictions of interference and integration theory.

Memorial Consequences of Environmental Context Change in Children and Adults

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 455-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alp Aslan ◽  
Anuscheh Samenieh ◽  
Tobias Staudigl ◽  
Karl-Heinz T. Bäuml
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
First Graders ◽  
Fourth Graders ◽  
Environmental Context ◽  
Context Change ◽  
Context Dependent

Changing environmental context during encoding can influence episodic memory. This study examined the memorial consequences of environmental context change in children. Kindergartners, first and fourth graders, and young adults studied two lists of items, either in the same room (no context change) or in two different rooms (context change), and subsequently were tested on the two lists in the room in which the second list was encoded. As expected, in adults, the context change impaired recall of the first list and improved recall of the second. Whereas fourth graders showed the same pattern of results as adults, in both kindergartners and first graders no memorial effects of the context change arose. The results indicate that the two effects of environmental context change develop contemporaneously over middle childhood and reach maturity at the end of the elementary school days. The findings are discussed in light of both retrieval-based and encoding-based accounts of context-dependent memory.

Neural correlates of episodic memory change in increasing age: a longitudinal event-related potential study

Neuroreport ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-273
Author(s):  
Lina F. Guerrero ◽  
Badiâa Bouazzaoui ◽  
Michel Isingrini ◽  
Emilie Alibran ◽  
Lucie Angel
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Memory Change ◽  
Potential Study

scholarly journals Hypothesized mechanisms through which acute exercise influences episodic memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 285-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
PD Loprinzi ◽  
P Ponce ◽  
E Frith
Keyword(s):  
Growth Factor ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Cerebral Circulation ◽  
Acute Exercise ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Cognitive Outcomes ◽  
Chronic Exercise ◽  
Growth Factor Production ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Exercise Induced

Emerging research demonstrates that exercise is favorably associated with several cognitive outcomes, including episodic memory function. The majority of the mechanistic work describing the underlying mechanisms of this effect has focused on chronic exercise engagement. Such mechanisms include, e.g., chronic exercise-induced neurogenesis, gliogenesis, angiogenesis, cerebral circulation, and growth factor production. Less research has examined the mechanisms through which acute (vs. chronic) exercise subserves episodic memory function. The purpose of this review is to discuss these potential underlying mechanisms, which include, e.g., acute exercise-induced (via several pathways, such as vagus nerve and muscle spindle stimulation) alterations in neurotransmitters, synaptic tagging/capturing, associativity, and psychological attention.

Rural and Urban Childhood Environment Effects on Episodic Memory

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S630-S630
Author(s):  
X. Zhang ◽  
H. Yan ◽  
S. Shah ◽  
G. Yang ◽  
X. Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Individual Risk ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Aversive Stimuli ◽  
Rural Environments ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Childhood Environment ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

IntroductionChildhoods in urban or rural environments may differentially affect risk for neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, we leveraged on dramatic urbanization and rural-urban migration since the 1980s in China to explore the hypothesis that rural or urban childhoods may differentially influence memory processing and neural responses to neutral and aversive stimuli.ObjectivesExplore the underlying mechanisms of childhood environment effect on brain function and neuropsychiatric risk.MethodsWe examined 420 adult subjects with similar current socioeconomic status and living in Beijing, China, but with differing rural (n = 227) or urban (n = 193) childhoods. In an episodic memory paradigm scanned in a 3 T GE MRI, subjects viewed blocks of neutral or aversive pictures in the encoding and retrieval sessions.ResultsEpisodic memory accuracy for neutral stimuli was less than for aversive stimuli (P < 0.001). However, subjects with rural childhoods apparently performed less accurately for memory of aversive but not neutral stimuli (P < 0.01). In subjects with rural childhoods, there was relatively increased engagement of bilateral striatum at encoding, increased engagement of bilateral hippocampus at retrieval of neutral and aversive stimuli, and increased engagement of amygdala at aversive retrieval (P < 0.05 FDR corrected, cluster size > 50).ConclusionsRural or urban childhoods appear associated with physiological and behavioural differences, particularly in the neural processing of aversive episodic memory at medial temporal and striatal brain regions. It remains to be explored the extent to which these effects relate to individual risk for neuropsychiatric or stress-related disorders.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals When two Horses Become Minji na Ndengũ (Peas and Green Grams): A Cognitive Integration Analysis of Blended Idioms of Political Campaign in Kenyan Newspapers

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
George Ouma Ogal ◽  
Moses Gatambuki Gathigia ◽  
Joseph Nyehita Maitaria
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
Cognitive Integration ◽  
Pragmatic Inference ◽  
Idiomatic Expression ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Emergent Structure ◽  
Conceptual Integration Theory

Political campaigns are emotive activities that rely on language to attract the attention of the public. In fact, electioneering periods in Kenya are heavily laced with idiomatic expressions such that one would be required to use the interrelatedness between language and cognition to understand the utterances of a speaker. It is against this backdrop that the present study analyzes the cognitive processes of the idiom minji na ndengũ (peas and green grams) vis-à-vis the canonized form. The idiom minji na ndengũ (peas and green grams) drew a lot of attention during the Kenyan official electioneering period (May and October, 2017) and was extensively used in both the print and social media platforms. The study is anchored in three objectives: to categorize the idiom minji na ndengũ (peas and green grams) in terms of compositionality; to establish the vital relation between the blended idiom and the canonical form; and to interpret the blend using the Conceptual Integration Theory. The study employed the descriptive research design. The study purposively sampled the blended idiom minji na ndengũ (peas and green grams) which is a blended form of the idiom two horse race. Using content analysis, the study classifies and presents a diagrammatic conceptual interpretation of new knowledge based on metaphorical mappings to illustrate the emergent structure. A general finding of this study is that political campaigns create new meanings using deliberately blended idioms of war to improve figurative competencies. Further, one needs to immerse themselves in pragmatic inference in order to reveal the meaning of a blended idiomatic expression. The findings of this study imply that whenever the provisions of grammar prove deficient in unpacking certain messages, cognitive linguists, idiom theorists and researchers should apply the postulates of Cognitive Linguistics. The study concludes that blended idioms of political campaigns achieve creativity and novelty. Further, the comprehension of blended expressions requires the understanding of pragmatic inferences of the local context. The study recommends that for a better understanding of blended idiomatic expressions, one should consider the local contexts expressed in language.

scholarly journals Where was the Toaster? Interplay of Episodic Memory Traces and Semantic Knowledge during Scenario Construction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carina Zoellner ◽  
Nicole Klein ◽  
Sen Cheng ◽  
Ricarda Schubotz ◽  
Nikolai Axmacher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Desktop Virtual Reality ◽  
Memory Traces ◽  
Memory Failure ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Construction Model

Experiences that are retrieved from memory are often not accurate, but prone to biases. The interplay of already existing semantic knowledge and recently generated episodic memory traces might explain some of the underlying mechanisms. The scenario construction model postulates that during encoding, only the gist of an episode is stored in the episodic memory trace and during retrieval, any needed information that is missing from that trace is constructed from semantic knowledge. The current study aimed to investigate semantic construction in a realistic, yet controlled setting. Using a desktop virtual reality (VR) participants navigated through a flat in which some household items appeared in unexpected rooms, creating conflicts between the experienced episode and semantic expectations. During recall after two separate retrieval delays (one day vs one week) we were able to identify influences from semantic knowledge. To manipulate salience, some objects were task-relevant, and some were irrelevant to the sequence of actions. We used spatial and temporal recall measures. Both congruency and task-relevance, but not time, predicted correct episodic memory retrieval. In the spatial memory retrieval, semantic construction was more likely than guessing in cases of episodic memory failure and occurred more frequently for task-irrelevant objects. In the temporal recall at the second retrieval delay we could show that object-pairs belonging to the same semantic room-category were temporally clustered together compared to object-pairs from different semantic room-categories. Taken together, our findings support the predictions of the scenario construction model, as we found influences of semantic knowledge on both spatial and temporal memory recall. The new VR-paradigm appears to be a promising tool for investigating semantic construction.

Does reactivation trigger episodic memory change? A meta-analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 99-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iiona D. Scully ◽  
Lucy E. Napper ◽  
Almut Hupbach
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Memory Change

Interrelations between Subjective Health and Episodic Memory Change in Swedish and Canadian Samples of Older Adults

2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Å Wahlin ◽  
Scott B. Maitland ◽  
Lars Bäckman ◽  
Roger A. Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Subjective Health ◽  
Longitudinal Change ◽  
Subjective Memory ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Memory Change ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Kungsholmen Project

Recent research has documented associations between subjective health ratings and objective indicators of disease and death. Less is known about relations between subjective health ratings and level of cognitive performance in older adults. In this study, we explored whether subjective health ratings are related to episodic memory performance, both concurrently and across a three-year longitudinal interval. Persons aged 75–84 years, and participating in the Swedish Kungsholmen Project ( n = 105) or the Canadian Victoria Longitudinal Study ( n = 71), were examined. Results showed that in both samples, while the cross-sectional relationship was non-significant, longitudinal change in perceptions of subjective health were related to change in episodic memory performance. Next, the two samples were combined in additional analyses. Here, results further revealed that the associations between longitudinal change in subjective health and memory performance generalized across samples independently of demographic, changing physical health status, and subjective memory decline differences. Thus, the present findings suggest that subjective health may be added to the growing number of individual-difference variables that are predictive of episodic memory change in very old age.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document