Two Informational Theories of Memory: a case from Memory-Conjunction Errors

The causal and simulation theories are often presented as very distinct views about declarative memory, their major difference lying on the causal condition. The causal theory states that remembering involves an accurate representation causally connected to an earlier experience (the causal condition). In the simulation theory, remembering involves an accurate representation generated by a reliable memory process (no causal condition). I investigate how to construe detailed versions of these theories that correctly classify memory errors (DRM, “lost in the mall”, and memory-conjunction errors) as misremembering or confabulation. Neither causalists nor simulationists have paid attention to memory-conjunction errors, which is unfortunate because both theories have problems with these cases. The source of the difficulty is the background assumption that an act of remembering has one (and only one) target. I fix these theories for those cases. The resulting versions are closely related when implemented using tools of information theory, differing only on how memory transmits information about the past. The implementation provides us with insights about the distinction between confabulatory and non-confabulatory memory, where memory-conjunction errors have a privileged position.

Does the Arrangement of Audit Evidence According to Causal Connections Make Auditors More Susceptible to Memory Conjunction Errors?

ABSTRACT Although prior research has shown that arranging working paper evidence according to causality can improve auditor judgment, the present study proposes that causal arrangements may elicit certain ill-effects on auditor memory and thus undermine auditor judgment. Specifically, causal arrangements of evidence may heighten auditors' vulnerability to memory conjunction errors (MCEs), wherein auditors misattribute one client's evidence to another client. In an experiment, auditors provided going concern judgments for two companies, whose evidence was causally, traditionally, or randomly arranged. Their recognition accuracy of whether previously evaluated or new (conjunction) evidence items were included in original company evidence sets provided an indication of proneness to MCEs. The results indicate that auditors are more prone to MCEs when evidence is presented in a causal as opposed to either a traditional or random arrangement. Data Availability: Confidentiality agreements with participants, written with the assistance of the university's human subjects committee, prevent the sharing of data with others.

Age-related Neural Changes during Memory Conjunction Errors

Human behavioral studies demonstrate that healthy aging is often accompanied by increases in memory distortions or errors. Here we used event-related fMRI to examine the neural basis of age-related memory distortions. We used the memory conjunction error paradigm, a laboratory procedure known to elicit high levels of memory errors. For older adults, right parahippocampal gyrus showed significantly greater activity during false than during accurate retrieval. We observed no regions in which activity was greater during false than during accurate retrieval for young adults. Young adults, however, showed significantly greater activity than old adults during accurate retrieval in right hippocampus. By contrast, older adults demonstrated greater activity than young adults during accurate retrieval in right inferior and middle prefrontal cortex. These data are consistent with the notion that age-related memory conjunction errors arise from dysfunction of hippocampal system mechanisms, rather than impairments in frontally mediated monitoring processes.