scholarly journals A cognitive neuroscience perspective on insight as a memory process: Searching for the solution.

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxi Becker ◽  
Roberto Cabeza ◽  
Jasmin M. Kizilirmak
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Problem Representation ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Process ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Representational Change

What are the cognitive and brain processes that lead to an insight? This is one of two chapters on "A cognitive neuroscience perspective on insight as a memory process" to be published in the "Routledge International Handbook of Creative Cognition" by L. J. Ball & F. Valleé-Tourangeau (Eds.). In this chapter, we will describe the insight solution process from a neurocognitive perspective. Inspired by cognitive theories, we translate some of insight's main cognitive subprocesses (problem representation, search, representational change, solution) into related neurocognitive ones and summarize them in a descriptive framework. Those described processes focus primarily on verbal insight and are explained using the remote associates task. In this task, the solver is provided with several problem elements (e.g. drop, coat, summer) and needs to find the (remotely related) target that matches those cues (e.g., rain). In a nutshell, insight is the consequence of a problem-solving process where the target is encoded in long-term memory but cannot be retrieved at first because the relationship between the problem elements and the target is unknown, precluding a simple memory search. Upon problem display, the problem elements and a whole network of associated concepts are automatically activated in long-term memory in distinct areas of the brain representing those concepts (=problem representation). Insight is assumed to occur when automatic processes suddenly activate the target after control processes associated with inferior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex activation manage to overcome prior knowledge and/or perceptual constraints by revising the current activation pattern (=representational change). The next chapter (https://psyarxiv.com/bevjm) will focus on the role of insight problem solving for long-term memory formation.

A cognitive neuroscience perspective on insight as a memory process: encoding the solution

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmin M. Kizilirmak ◽  
Maxi Becker
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Process ◽  
Insight Problem ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Insight Problem Solving

This is one of two chapters on "A cognitive neuroscience perspective on insight as a memory process" to be published in the "Routledge International Handbook of Creative Cognition" by L. J. Ball & F. Valleé-Tourangeau (Eds.). While the previous chapter discussed the role of long-term memory for solving problems by insight [https://psyarxiv.com/zv4dk], the current chapter focuses on the role of insight problem solving for long-term memory formation. Insight in problem solving has long been assumed to facilitate memory formation for the problem and its solution. Here, we discuss cognitive, affective, and neurocognitive candidate mechanisms that may underlie learning in insight problem solving. We conclude that insight appears to combine several beneficial effects that each on their own have been found to facilitate long-term memory formation: the generation effect, subjective importance of the discovery of the solution, intrinsic reward, schema congruence, and level-of-processing. A distributed set of brain regions is identified that is associated with these processes. On the one hand, the more affective response related to pleasure, surprise, and novelty detection is linked to amygdala, ventral striatum, and dopaminergic midbrain activity, supporting an important role of reward learning. On the other hand, insight as completing a schema is associated with prior knowledge dependent and medial prefrontal cortex mediated memory formation. Thus, learning by insight may reflect a fast route to cortical memory representations. However, many open questions remain, which we explicitly point out during this review.

Remembering Over the Short and Long Term

2020 ◽  
pp. 282-310
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Reuter-Lorenz ◽  
Alexandru D. Iordan
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Strategic Processing ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Time Courses

This chapter reviews evidence from behavioural and cognitive neuroscience research that supports a unitary view of memory whereby working memory and long-term memory phenomena arise from representations and processes that are largely shared when remembering over the short or long term. Using ‘false working memories’ as a case study, it highlights several paradoxes that cannot be explained by a multisystem view of memory in which working memory and long-term memory are structurally distinct. Instead, it is posited that behavioural memory effects over the short and long term relating to semantic processing, modality/domain-specificity, dual-task interference, strategic processing, and so on arise from the differences in activational states and availability of different representational features (e.g. sensory/perceptual, associative, action-based) that vary in their time courses and activity, attentional priority, and susceptibility to interference. Cognitive neuroscience evidence primarily from brain imaging methodologies that support this view is reviewed.

scholarly journals Working Memory Retrieval: Contributions of the Left Prefrontal Cortex, the Left Posterior Parietal Cortex, and the Hippocampus

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 581-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilke Öztekin ◽  
Brian McElree ◽  
Bernhard P. Staresina ◽  
Lila Davachi
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Focal Attention ◽  
Left Posterior ◽  
Posterior Parietal

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to identify regions involved in working memory (WM) retrieval. Neural activation was examined in two WM tasks: an item recognition task, which can be mediated by a direct-access retrieval process, and a judgment of recency task that requires a serial search. Dissociations were found in the activation patterns in the hippocampus and in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) when the probe contained the most recently studied serial position (where a test probe can be matched to the contents of focal attention) compared to when it contained all other positions (where retrieval is required). The data implicate the hippocampus and the LIFG in retrieval from WM, complementing their established role in long-term memory. Results further suggest that the left posterior parietal cortex (LPPC) supports serial retrieval processes that are often required to recover temporal order information. Together, these data suggest that the LPPC, the LIFG, and the hippocampus collectively support WM retrieval. Critically, the reported findings support accounts that posit a distinction between representations maintained in and outside of focal attention, but are at odds with traditional dual-store models that assume distinct mechanisms for short- and long-term memory representations.

scholarly journals The relationship between accuracy of numerical magnitude comparisons and children’s arithmetic ability: A study in Iranian primary school children

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-583
Author(s):  
Hamdollah Manzari Tavakoli
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Arithmetic Problem ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between children’s accuracy during numerical magnitude comparisons and arithmetic ability has been investigated by many researchers. Contradictory results have been reported from these studies due to the use of many different tasks and indices to determine the accuracy of numerical magnitude comparisons. In the light of this inconsistency among measurement techniques, the present study aimed to investigate this relationship among Iranian second grade children (n = 113) using a pre-established test (known as the Numeracy Screener) to measure numerical magnitude comparison accuracy. The results revealed that both the symbolic and non-symbolic items of the Numeracy Screener significantly correlated with arithmetic ability. However, after controlling for the effect of working memory, processing speed, and long-term memory, only performance on symbolic items accounted for the unique variances in children’s arithmetic ability. Furthermore, while working memory uniquely contributed to arithmetic ability in one-and two-digit arithmetic problem solving, processing speed uniquely explained only the variance in single-digit arithmetic skills and long-term memory did not contribute to any significant additional variance for one-digit or two-digit arithmetic problem solving.

scholarly journals The Effect of Cognitive Load on the Retrieval of Long-Term Memory: An fMRI Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minoo Sisakhti ◽  
Perminder S. Sachdev ◽  
Seyed Amir Hossein Batouli
Keyword(s):  
Memory Function ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Processes ◽  
Eyes Closed ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Increasing Load

One of the less well-understood aspects of memory function is the mechanism by which the brain responds to an increasing load of memory, either during encoding or retrieval. Identifying the brain structures which manage this increasing cognitive demand would enhance our knowledge of human memory. Despite numerous studies about the effect of cognitive loads on working memory processes, whether these can be applied to long-term memory processes is unclear. We asked 32 healthy young volunteers to memorize all possible details of 24 images over a 12-day period ending 2 days before the fMRI scan. The images were of 12 categories relevant to daily events, with each category including a high and a low load image. Behavioral assessments on a separate group of participants (#22) provided the average loads of the images. The participants had to retrieve these previously memorized images during the fMRI scan in 15 s, with their eyes closed. We observed seven brain structures showing the highest activation with increasing load of the retrieved images, viz. parahippocampus, cerebellum, superior lateral occipital, fusiform and lingual gyri, precuneus, and posterior cingulate gyrus. Some structures showed reduced activation when retrieving higher load images, such as the anterior cingulate, insula, and supramarginal and postcentral gyri. The findings of this study revealed that the mechanism by which a difficult-to-retrieve memory is handled is mainly by elevating the activation of the responsible brain areas and not by getting other brain regions involved, which is a help to better understand the LTM retrieval process in the human brain.

scholarly journals Goffin's Cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) Can Solve a Novel Problem After Conflicting Past Experiences

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Bobrowicz ◽  
Mark O'Hara ◽  
Chelsea Carminito ◽  
Alice M. I. Auersperg ◽  
Mathias Osvath
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Behavioral Flexibility ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Functions ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Innovative Tool ◽  
Technical Innovations ◽  
Past Experiences

Novel problems often partially overlap with familiar ones. Some features match the qualities of previous situations stored in long-term memory and therefore trigger their retrieval. Using relevant, while inhibiting irrelevant, memories to solve novel problems is a hallmark of behavioral flexibility in humans and has recently been demonstrated in great apes. This capacity has been proposed to promote technical innovativeness and thus warrants investigations of such a mechanism in other innovative species. Here, we show that proficient tool—users among Goffin's cockatoos—an innovative tool—using species—could use a relevant previous experience to solve a novel, partially overlapping problem, even despite a conflicting, potentially misleading, experience. This suggests that selecting relevant experiences over irrelevant experiences guides problem solving at least in some Goffin's cockatoos. Our result supports the hypothesis that flexible memory functions may promote technical innovations.

scholarly journals The Neural Substrates of Recognition Memory for Verbal Information: Spanning the Divide between Short- and Long-term Memory

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 978-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley R. Buchsbaum ◽  
Aarthi Padmanabhan ◽  
Karen Faith Berman
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Research ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Short And Long Term

One of the classic categorical divisions in the history of memory research is that between short-term and long-term memory. Indeed, because memory for the immediate past (a few seconds) and memory for the relatively more remote past (several seconds and beyond) are assumed to rely on distinct neural systems, more often than not, memory research has focused either on short- (or “working memory”) or on long-term memory. Using an auditory–verbal continuous recognition paradigm designed for fMRI, we examined how the neural signatures of recognition memory change across an interval of time (from 2.5 to 30 sec) that spans this hypothetical division between short- and long-term memory. The results revealed that activity during successful auditory–verbal item recognition in inferior parietal cortex and the posterior superior temporal lobe was maximal for early lags, whereas, conversely, activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus increased as a function of lag. Taken together, the results reveal that as the interval between item repetitions increases, there is a shift in the distribution of memory-related activity that moves from posterior temporo-parietal cortex (lags 1–4) to inferior frontal regions (lags 5–10), indicating that as time advances, the burden of recognition memory is increasingly placed on top–down retrieval mechanisms that are mediated by structures in inferior frontal cortex.

scholarly journals Varying demands for cognitive control reveals shared neural processes supporting semantic and episodic memory retrieval

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deniz Vatansever ◽  
Jonathan Smallwood ◽  
Elizabeth Jefferies
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe categorisation of long-term memory into semantic and episodic systems has been an influential catalyst for research on human memory organisation. However, the impact of variable cognitive control demands on this classical distinction remains to be elucidated. Across two independent experiments, here we directly compare neural processes for the controlled versus automatic retrieval of semantic and episodic memory. In a multi-session functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, we first identify a common cluster of cortical activity centred on the left inferior frontal gyrus and anterior insular cortex for the retrieval of both weakly-associated semantic and weakly-encoded episodic memory traces. In an independent large-scale individual difference study, we further reveal a common neural circuitry in which reduced functional interaction between the identified cluster and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a default mode network hub, is linked to better performance across both memory types. Our results provide evidence for shared neural processes supporting the controlled retrieval of information from functionally distinct long-term memory systems.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document