Exhaustion of the Executive Control Capacity Eliminates Retrieval Induced Forgetting

Retrieval Induced Forgetting (RIF) demonstrates that retrieval of information can lead to forgetting of related information. The standard RIF paradigm involves studying a certain number of category-exemplar pairs; thereafter, half of the exemplars from half of the categories are retrieved. Finally, all studied pairs are recalled. RIF is revealed when unretrieved exemplars from the retrieved categories are more poorly recalled than exemplars from the unretrieved categories. One explanation for RIF asserts that inhibition prevents interference from the exemplars of the same category during the interpolated retrieval practice phase, which leads to forgetting of these items at final recall. An ongoing debate concerns whether this inhibition requires executive control or whether it is automatic. If inhibition in RIF involves executive control, then a task that will exhaust this limited capacity should reduce or eliminate the RIF effect. The effects of concurrent tasks during the retrieval practice phase have been shown to reduce or eliminate RIF, however, to our knowledge, the effects of prior tasks on RIF has not been investigated. In the present study, in one condition, we conducted an exhaustive inhibition task before the retrieval practice phase and compared this condition to the one in which the prior task was non-exhaustive. Results showed that the RIF effect was eliminated when the prior task was exhaustive. The results supported the executive control view for the inhibition mechanism behind RIF and further showed that exhaustion of the executive control capacity can impair inhibition in subsequent tasks.

Clinical Performance of Implant Crown Retained Removable Partial Dentures for Mandibular Edentulism—A Retrospective Study

The studies on implant-crown-retained removable partial dentures (IC-RPDs) for edentulism are scarce. The purpose of this study was to evaluate survival rates and marginal bone loss (MBL) of IC-RPDs compared to implant overdentures (IODs) in mandibular edentulism. Variables that influenced survival and marginal bone loss (MBL) of implants in both treatment modalities were analyzed and the functional/esthetic satisfaction of patients as well as prosthetic complications were also observed. Eighteen IC-RPDs with a total of 60 implant-supported survey crowns and 24 IODs with a total 94 implants retained with magnet attachments were observed. After a median observation period of 46.6 months (up to 149 months), we observed 98.3% implant survival rates for IC-RPDs and 92.5% for IODs. Kaplan–Meier survival curves based on the treatment modality showed that, at 96 months, cumulative survival rates were 98.3% in IC-RPD and 83.1% in IOD. For implant survival rates, no statistical differences were observed according to age, sex, opposing dentition, or implant positions (p = 0.515, 0.666, 0.201, 0.749, respectively). The implant MBL measurements for IC-RPD and IOD groups at the final recall check were 0.93 ± 1.22 mm and 2.12 ± 2.09 mm, respectively. Additionally, there were no significant differences between groups (p = 0.554). The implants with peri-implantitis at year 1 showed significantly higher MBL at final check-up (p < 0.001). The MBL of implants showed significant differences based on age (p = 0.008) and opposing dentition (p = 0.003). No significant differences of implant MBL were observed for the position of placed implants (p = 0.621) or sex (p = 0.666). Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) on functional and esthetic satisfaction were significantly improved after IC-RPD or IOD treatment (p < 0.001). The most frequent prosthetic complication of IC-RPD was clasp loosening, while for IOD group, it was attachment dislodgement. Within the limitations of this retrospective study, we concluded that IC-RPDs could be considered as a viable treatment option for edentulous patients who need few fixed abutments for satisfaction.

Reversing the testing effect by feedback is a matter of performance criterion at practice

Retrieval practice is generally considered to be one of the most effective long-term learning strategies and is presumed to be more favorable than repeated study. However, a few recent studies have demonstrated that repetitive feedback at final recall can reverse the long-term advantage of testing over restudy. The result that feedback at long-term tests can dramatically decrease the relative effectiveness of retrieval-based learning could be important for both theoretical and practical reasons. Considering that these earlier studies administered low retrieval success at retrieval practice, we investigated whether the effect of feedback on the testing effect is modulated by the level of retrieval success during practice. In three experiments the level of success at retrieval practice was manipulated by multiple pre-practice learning trials, and multiple tests with feedback were applied after a 1-week retention interval at final recall. Our results have demonstrated that a feedback-induced reversed testing effect was present only at low retrieval success during practice (Experiment 1), whereas with moderate (Experiment 2) and high retrieval success (Experiment 3) during practice a significant testing effect emerged and no reversed testing effect was found even after repeated cycles of feedback. These results point to the conclusion that the level of retrieval success was the key factor in reversing the testing effect in earlier studies. Application of high retrieval success during practice can produce long-lasting accessible memories even in learning settings applying multiple tests with feedback.

M77. USE OF TESTING TO IMPROVE LONG-TERM MEMORY RECALL IN PEOPLE WITH PSYCHOSIS

Background Rather than solely assessing participant knowledge, memory tests can also facilitate long-term storage and retrieval, thereby improving episodic memory for newly studied information compared to having participants spend equal amounts of time re-studying that same information. This so called “testing effect” has been widely promoted in educational settings as a way to improve delayed recall of new information but, to our knowledge, has not been investigated as a way to improve memory in people with psychotic disorders. The goal of this study is to determine if the testing effect can be used to improve well-documented deficits in delayed recall in people with early psychosis spectrum disorders. Methods In this within-subjects design, 20 people within 5 years of onset of a psychosis spectrum disorder (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder) and 13 demographically matched healthy controls were studied at two time points. During the first visit, a three-part 45-minute PowerPoint presentation on “what is?”, “what causes?” and “how do we treat?” psychosis was presented in small group settings. After each of the 3 parts of the presentation participants were required to re-study half of the information that had just been presented and were tested on the other half of the presented information. This re-study/test procedure was repeated again a second time to promote learning and participants were instructed to return again in one week for final testing. During the second visit participants were given a final recall test on all the information included in the original presentation. Percent recall scores were examined for main effects of group, practice procedure (re-study/test) and group by procedure interactions using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). To account for any group differences in overall recall, a Testing Effect score was also calculated by dividing the difference in recall for information that had been tested versus restudied, by the average recall across the two conditions. Results All participants understood the task and completed both sessions. Reflecting the overall testing effect, ANOVA revealed a main effect of task [F(1,31)=8.2, p&lt;.01)] with all participants showing better percent recall after one week for information that had been tested (Mean+SD=47.2 + 14.0) versus re-studied (Mean+SD=34.1 + 14.8) during their first visit. There was also a main effect of group [F(1,31)= 8.1, p&lt;.01], and a task by group interaction [F(1,31)=4.3, p&lt;.05]. To further investigate this interaction, the Testing Effect score was examined, which did not reveal any group difference [t(32)=.35, p=.73] in the percent recall improvement following testing versus re-study between patients (Mean+SD=36.6 + 45.2) and controls (Mean+SD=41.5 + 32.0). Discussion When group differences in overall memory performance are accounted for, initial results suggest that people with psychotic disorders show the same benefit from being tested on recently studied information as do healthy participants. Simply testing patients on new information versus having them spend the same amount of time re-studying that information led to the same improvement in free recall following a one-week delay as what was seen in healthy volunteers. These results support further investigation of how the testing effect might be incorporated into cognitive remediation efforts as well as future neuroimaging studies to identify neural correlates of this positive outcome.

Adaptation and Evaluation of Myfood24-Germany: A Web-Based Self-Administered 24-h Dietary Recall for the German Adult Population

Our aim was to develop and evaluate a German adaptation of myfood24, a fully automated, web-based 24-h dietary recall (24HDR). To complete a self-administered 24HDR with myfood24, users have to search and enter consumed foods within the underlying database by a free text search. The adaptation process thus mainly consisted of the development of an appropriate food database. myfood24-Germany was evaluated in 92 adults aged 17–78 years (study 1). Participants completed four non-consecutive 24HDRs and answered an evaluation questionnaire after the final recall. The System Usability Scale Score (SUS Score, 0–100) was calculated. Users’ search behavior was examined with screen recordings in 15 adults aged 20–60 years (study 2). Participants had to enter three sample meals presented as food packaging or pictures. The final database included 11,501 food items (7203 generic and 4298 branded items) with up to 131 nutrients. In study 1, the median completion time for a 24HDR was 15 min. The median SUS score of 78 indicated good usability. The majority of participants considered the overall user-friendliness as good (46%) or very good (21%), and 75% were willing to use myfood24-Germany regularly. Both studies showed that finding and choosing an appropriate item within the database was a major challenge. A German version of myfood24 was successfully developed. The user evaluation indicated a short completion time, good usability and acceptability of the tool, and confirmed its feasibility for repeated short-term application.

Patient Data De-Identification

With the rapid increment in the clinical text, de-identification of patient Protected Health Information (PHI) has drawn significant attention in recent past. This aims for automatic identification and removal of the patient Protected Health Information from medical records. This paper proposes a supervised machine learning technique for solving the problem of patient data de- identification. In the current paper, we provide an insight into the de-identification task, its major challenges, techniques to address challenges, detailed analysis of the results and direction of future improvement. We extract several features by studying the properties of the datasets and the domain. We build our model based on the 2014 i2b2 (Informatics for Integrating Biology to the Bedside) de-identification challenge. Experiments show that the proposed system is highly accurate in de-identification of the medical records. The system achieves the final recall, precision and F-score of 95.69%, 99.31%, and 97.46%, respectively.

Patient Data De-Identification

With the rapid increment in the clinical text, de-identification of patient Protected Health Information (PHI) has drawn significant attention in recent past. This aims for automatic identification and removal of the patient Protected Health Information from medical records. This paper proposes a supervised machine learning technique for solving the problem of patient data de- identification. In the current paper, we provide an insight into the de-identification task, its major challenges, techniques to address challenges, detailed analysis of the results and direction of future improvement. We extract several features by studying the properties of the datasets and the domain. We build our model based on the 2014 i2b2 (Informatics for Integrating Biology to the Bedside) de-identification challenge. Experiments show that the proposed system is highly accurate in de-identification of the medical records. The system achieves the final recall, precision and F-score of 95.69%, 99.31%, and 97.46%, respectively.

Protective effects of testing across misinformation formats in the household scene paradigm

Many studies have demonstrated retrieval-enhanced suggestibility (RES), in which taking an initial recall test after witnessing an event increases suggestibility to subsequent misinformation introduced via a narrative. Recently, however, initial testing has been found to have a protective effect against misinformation introduced via cued-recall questions. We examined whether misinformation format (narrative vs. cued-recall questions) yields a similar dissociation in a paradigm that, to date, has consistently yielded a protective effect of testing (PET). After studying photos of household scenes (e.g., kitchen), some participants took an initial recall test. After a 48-hr delay, items not presented in the scenes (e.g., knives/plates) were suggested either via narrative or questions. Regardless of the misinformation format, we found a PET on both initial-test-conditionalised free recall and source-monitoring tests. However, initial testing also yielded memory costs, such that suggested items reported on the initial test were likely to persist on a final recall test. Thus, initial testing can protect against suggestibility, but can also precipitate memory errors when intrusions emerge on an initial test.

Divided attention and the encoding effects of retrieval

Retrieving from memory both reveals as well as modifies memory. It is important to understand how these encoding effects of retrieval differ from other forms of encoding. One possible difference relates to attention: divided attention is well known to disrupt memory encoding but typically has much less impact on memory retrieval. However, less is known about the relative attentional demands of the encoding consequences of retrieval. The current experiments examined retrieval-based encoding using free recall, a retrieval task purported to require substantial attentional resources. In three experiments, participants studied common category exemplars (Phase 1), restudied or freely recalled the exemplars (Phase 2), and then took a final free-recall test (Phase 3). Phase 2 occurred under full attention (FA) or divided attention (DA). In all three experiments, the negative effect of DA on final recall was significant in the restudy but not retrieval condition. The pattern persisted with short (Experiment 1) or long study lists (Experiment 2), requiring lesser or greater retrieval effort, and with multiple Phase 2 tests, permitting the development of more elaborate retrieval strategies (Experiment 3). The encoding effects of retrieval appear resilient to distraction, even using a memory task that is more effortful and easily disrupted by DA (i.e., free recall). In addition, these results are inconsistent with elaboration and effort accounts of retrieval-based learning.

Opposite effect of motivated forgetting on sleep spindles during stage 2 and slow wave sleep

Memories selectively benefit from sleep. In addition to the importance of the consolidation of relevant memories, the capacity to forget unwanted memories is also crucial. We investigated the effect of suppressing unwanted memories on electroencephalography activity of subsequent sleep using a motivated forgetting (MF) paradigm as compared with a control non-forgetting task. Subjects were randomly assigned to nap or no-nap groups. We used a modified version of the think/no-think paradigm with dominant number of no-think words cued to be forgotten and included only subjects capable of suppressing unwanted memories by performing an initial subject inclusion experiment. In both groups and conditions, the performance of the subjects in recalling the word pairs learned in the beginning of the day was evaluated in a final recall test. We found that both nap and no-nap groups recalled significantly less no-think words in the MF condition compared to the control condition. Moreover, for the nap group, in the MF compared to the control condition, spindle power and density increased during stage 2 (S2) whereas they decreased during slow wave sleep (SWS). Interestingly, recall performance of no-think words was negatively correlated with spindle power during S2 whereas it was positively correlated with spindle power during SWS. These results indicate that sleep spindles are sensitive to the previous MF experiences and suggest a differential role of sleep spindles during S2 and SWS in memory processing during sleep.