scholarly journals The adaptive nature of false memories is revealed by gist-based distortion of true memories

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy F. Brady ◽  
Daniel L. Schacter ◽  
George Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Analysis ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Average Error ◽  
Memory Distortion ◽  
Individual Item ◽  
High Confidence ◽  
Color Memory ◽  
Adaptive Nature

Human memory systems are subject to many imperfections, including memory distortions and the creation of false memories. Here, we demonstrate a case where memory distortion is adaptive, increasing the overall accuracy of memories. Participants viewed multiple real-world objects from a given category (10 airplanes, 10 backpacks…), and later recalled the color of each object. Participants were generally accurate, but even when they remembered having seen an item and remembered its color, they nevertheless reported the color as closer to the average color of its category than it really was. Although participants’ memories were systematically distorted, they were distorted in a way that is consistent with minimizing their average error according to a simple Bayesian analysis. In addition, and consistent with the Bayesian analysis, the bias toward the category center was larger when participant’s had greater uncertainty about the color of an item, but was present in all circumstances -- even when participants remembered an item, remembered its color, and reported high confidence in their color memory. Thus, memory distortion may not always be maladaptive: in some cases, distortion can result from a memory system that optimally combines information in the service of the broader goals of the person. Furthermore, this framework for thinking about memory distortion suggests that false memory can be thought of on a continuum with true memory: the greater uncertainty participants have about an individual item memory, the more they weight their gist memory; with no item information, they weight only their gist memory.

Human Memory Systems: A Framework for Understanding Dementia

ASHA Leader ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 8-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nidhi Mahendra ◽  
Allegra Apple
Keyword(s):  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Systems

scholarly journals False Memories in Native and Foreign Languages

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Dolgoarshinnaia ◽  
Beatriz Martin-Luengo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Source Monitoring ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Errors ◽  
Monitoring Task ◽  
Memory Functioning ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Processing Information ◽  
Memory Monitoring

Human memory is prone to memory errors and distortion. Evidence from studies on cognitive functions in bilinguals indicates that they might be prone to different types of memory errors compared to monolinguals; however, the effect of language in false memories is still understudied. Source monitoring processes required for proper memory functioning, presumably, rely on inhibitory control, which is also heavily utilized by bilinguals. Moreover, it is suggested that thinking in a second language leads to more systematic and deliberate reasoning. All these results lead to expect that bilinguals are more analytical when processing information in their second language overcoming some memory errors depending on the language of information. To test this hypothesis, we run a classical misinformation experiment with an explicit source monitoring task with a sample of Russian–English bilinguals. The language of the misinformation presentation did not affect the degree of the misinformation effect between the Russian and English languages. Source monitoring demonstrated an overall higher accuracy for attributions to the English source over the Russian source. Furthermore, analysis on incorrect source attributions showed that when participants misattributed the sources of false information (English or Russian narrative), they favored the Russian source over the not presented condition. Taken together, these results imply that high proficiency in the second language does not affect misinformation and that information processing and memory monitoring in bilinguals can differ depending on the language of the information, which seems to lead to some memory errors and not others.

A Scene-Based Episodic Memory System for a Simulated Autonomous Creature

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa C. Castro ◽  
Ricardo R. Gudwin
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Navigation System ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Memory Module ◽  
The Past ◽  
3D Environment ◽  
Main Ideas

In this paper the authors present the development of a scene-based episodic memory module for the cognitive architecture controlling an autonomous virtual creature, in a simulated 3D environment. The scene-based episodic memory has the role of improving the creature’s navigation system, by evoking the objects to be considered in planning, according to episodic remembrance of earlier scenes testified by the creature where these objects were present in the past. They introduce the main background on human memory systems and episodic memory study, and provide the main ideas behind the experiment.

Dysfunction of the human memory systems

2003 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. S11-S16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy Dujardin ◽  
Bernard Laurent
Keyword(s):  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Systems

scholarly journals Social Aspects of Discussions Affect Capitulation and Susceptibility to False Memories

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Lauren Yseult French
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Source Monitoring ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Memory Errors ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Information ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Series Of Experiments

<p>People talk. People talk to entertain each other, to divulge news, and to gain support. Additionally, people talk about shared experiences to figure out what "really" happened. But does talking about the past change what we remember? That is the overarching question of the research presented in this thesis. People remember the same events in different ways; consequently, when people discuss the past, they might come across new information. To examine how discussion affects people's memories, we must know what happened during a target event and must create conflicts in the discussion to see how those conflicts affect people's memories. To overcome these challenges, I used the MORI technique to present different viewers with different movies on the same screen at the same time (Mori, 2003; 2007). The MORI technique allows people to feel that they have shared an experience--they sit side-by-side and ostensibly watch the same--yet systematic differences are introduced into their memories, and the effect of those differences can be tracked through discussion. I report a series of experiments that examine the efficacy of the MORI technique and investigate how different social factors contribute to false memories. Each experiment used a variation of the same basic three-stage procedure. First, pairs of people each unwittingly watched slightly different versions of an event. Next, pairs answered questions about the event together; some questions guided them to discuss details for which they had seen contradictory information. Finally, subjects completed a memory test individually to determine what each person really remembered about the event. In short, when people watched a movie via the MORI technique, they could see and remember the details of the movie (Experiments 1A and 1B), and they did not notice or implicitly remember details from the alternate (blocked) movie version--the version their partner saw (Experiments 3A and 3B). Additionally, discussion corrupted people's memories (Experiments 2A, 2B, 4, 5 and 6). 'People were influenced by their partner's suggestions: they falsely remembered details from their partner's version of the event, even though those details contradicted what they personally saw. Consistent with the Source Monitoring Framework, the corrupting influence of the discussion depended on social factors in the interaction (Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993; Lindsay, 2008). For instance, people were more likely to remember false details that their romantic partner suggested than false details that a stranger suggested (Experiment 4). Additionally, leading people to believe that their counterpart's vision was better or worse than their own led them to be more or less influenced by their counterpart's false suggestions (Experiment 6). In sum, when people share an experience and discuss it they can come to remember seeing things that they were only told about after the event. In other words, corroboration does not equal accuracy. I discuss the possible-beneficial-mechanisms underlying these memory errors; draw parallels between my research and research on social influence, group remembering and transactive memory systems; discuss theoretical, methodological and practical implications, and suggest potential applications of my findings and avenues for future research.</p>

scholarly journals The intrinsic neonatal hippocampal network: rsfMRI findings

2020 ◽  
Vol 124 (5) ◽  
pp. 1458-1468
Author(s):  
Athena L. Howell ◽  
David E. Osher ◽  
Jin Li ◽  
Zeynep M. Saygin
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Human Data ◽  
Animal Data ◽  
Hippocampal Network ◽  
Insight Into

Although both animal data and human data suggest that the hippocampus is immature at birth, to date, there are no direct assessments of human hippocampal functional connectivity (FC) very early in life. Our study explores the FC of the hippocampus to the cortex at birth, allowing insight into the development of human memory systems. In particular, we find that adults and neonates exhibit vastly different hippocampal connectivity profiles—a finding that likely has large developmental implications.

scholarly journals Semantic and episodic processes differently predict false memories in the DRM task

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Gatti ◽  
Luca Rinaldi ◽  
Giuliana Mazzoni ◽  
Tomaso Vecchi
Keyword(s):  
False Memory ◽  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
New Words ◽  
False Recognitions ◽  
Specific Contribution

There is a fervent debate about the processes underpinning false memories formation. Seminal theories have suggested that semantic memory would be involved in false memories production, while episodic memory would counter their formation. Yet, direct evidence corroborating such view is still missing. Here, we tested this possibility by asking participants to perform the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) task, a typical false memory paradigm, in which they had to study lists of words and subsequently to recognize and distinguish them from new words (i.e., the false memory items). The same participants were also required to perform a semantic task and an episodic-source memory task. Our results showed that a higher number of false memories in the DRM task occurred for those participants with better semantic memory abilities, while a lower number of false memories occurred for participants with better episodic abilities. These findings support a key role of semantic processes in false memory formation and, more generally, help clarify the specific contribution of different memory systems to false recognitions.

scholarly journals Implicit Memory and Cognitive Aging

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma V. Ward ◽  
David R. Shanks
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Implicit Memory ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Explicit Memory ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Normal Aging ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Age Related

It is well documented that explicit (declarative, conscious) memory declines in normal aging. Studies have shown a progressive reduction in this form of memory with age, and healthy older adults (typically aged 65+ years) usually perform worse than younger adults (typically aged 18–30 years) on laboratory tests of explicit memory such as recall and recognition. In contrast, it is less clear whether implicit (procedural, unconscious) memory declines or remains stable in normal aging. Implicit memory is evident when previous experiences affect (e.g., facilitate) performance on tasks that do not require conscious recollection of those experiences. This can manifest in rehearsed motor skills, such as playing a musical instrument, but is typically indexed in the laboratory by the greater ease with which previously studied information is processed relative to non-studied information (e.g., repetition priming). While a vast amount of research has accumulated to suggest that implicit memory remains relatively stable over the adult lifespan, and is similar in samples of young and older adults, other studies have in contrast revealed that implicit memory is subject to age-related decline. Improving methods for determining whether implicit memory declines or remains stable with age is an important goal for future research, as the issue not only has significant implications for an aging society regarding interventions likely to ameliorate the effects of age-related explicit memory decline, but can also inform our theoretical understanding of human memory systems.

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