Modifying memory for a museum tour in older adults: Reactivation-related updating that enhances and distorts memory is reduced in ageing

Retrieving autobiographical memories in autobiographical contexts: are age-related differences in narrated episodic specificity present outside of the laboratory?

The Autobiographical Interview, a method for evaluating detailed memory of real-world events, reliably detects differences in episodic specificity at retrieval between young and older adults in the laboratory. Whether this age-associated reduction in episodic specificity for autobiographical event retrieval is present outside of the laboratory remains poorly understood. We used a videoconference format to administer the Autobiographical Interview to cognitively unimpaired older adults (N = 49, M = 69.5, SD = 5.94) and young adults (N = 54, M = 22.5, SD = 4.19) who were in their homes at the time of retrieval. Relative to young adults, older adults showed reduced episodic specificity in their home environment, as reflected by fewer episodic or "internal" details (t (101) = 3.23, p = 0.009) and more "external" details (i.e., semantic, language-based details) (t (101) = 3.60, p = 0.003). These findings, along with detail subtype profiles in the narratives, bolster the ecological validity of the Autobiographical Interview and add promise to the use of virtual cognitive testing to improve the accessibility, participant diversity, scalability, and ecological validity of memory research.

Human and AI collaboration in the higher education environment: opportunities and concerns

In service of the goal of examining how cognitive science can facilitate human-computer interactions in complex systems, we explore how cognitive psychology research might help educators better utilize artificial intelligence and AI supported tools as facilitatory to learning, rather than see these emerging technologies as a threat. We also aim to provide historical perspective, both on how automation and technology has generated unnecessary apprehension over time, and how generative AI technologies such as ChatGPT are a product of the discipline of cognitive science. We introduce a model for how higher education instruction can adapt to the age of AI by fully capitalizing on the role that metacognition knowledge and skills play in determining learning effectiveness. Finally, we urge educators to consider how AI can be seen as a critical collaborator to be utilized in our efforts to educate around the critical workforce skills of effective communication and collaboration.

Remembering a Virtual Museum Tour: Viewing Time, Memory Reactivation, and Memory Distortion

A variety of evidence demonstrates that memory is a reconstructive process prone to errors and distortions. However, the complex relationship between memory encoding, strength of memory reactivation, and the likelihood of reporting true or false memories has yet to be ascertained. We address this issue in a setting that mimics a real-life experience: We asked participants to take a virtual museum tour in which they freely explored artworks included in the exhibit, while we measured the participants’ spontaneous viewing time of each explored artwork. In a following memory reactivation phase, participants were presented again with explored artworks (reactivated targets), followed by novel artworks not belonging to the same exhibit (activated lures). For each of these objects, participants provided a reliving rating that indexed the strength of memory reactivation. In the final memory recognition phase, participants underwent an old/new memory task, involving reactivated vs. baseline (i.e., non-reactivated) targets, and activated and baseline lures. The results showed that those targets that were spontaneously viewed for a longer amount of time were more frequently correctly recognized. This pattern was particularly true for reactivated targets associated with greater memory strength (a higher reliving rating). Paradoxically, however, lures that were presented after targets associated with higher reliving ratings in the reactivation phase were more often erroneously recognized as artworks encountered during the tour. This latter finding indicates that memory intrusions, irrespective of the viewing time, are more likely to take place and be incorporated into true memories when the strength of target memory is higher.

Improvement of episodic memory retention by a memory reactivation intervention across the lifespan: from younger adults to amnesic patients

Spontaneous reactivation of recently acquired memories is a fundamental mechanism of memory stabilization. Re-exposure to specific learned cues during sleep or awake states, namely targeted memory reactivation, has been shown to improve memory retention at long delays. Manipulation of memory reactivation could have potential clinical value in populations with memory deficits or cognitive decline. However, no previous study investigated a target memory reactivation approach on those populations. Here we tested the hypothesis that a reactivation-based intervention would improve episodic memory performance in healthy adults and amnestic patients. On Day 1, young adults, old adults and amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment patients (n = 150) learned face-name pairs and 24 h later either received a reactivation intervention or a reactivation control (Day 2). On Day 3, associative and item memory were assessed. A robust Bayesian Generalized Mixed Model was implemented to estimate intervention effects on groups. Groups that underwent the reactivation-based intervention showed improved associative memory retention. Notably, amnestic patients benefited more from the intervention as they also had better item memory retention than controls. These findings support memory reactivation as stabilization and strengthening mechanism irrespectively of age and cognitive status, and provides proof-of-concept evidence that reactivation-based interventions could be implemented in the treatment and rehabilitation of populations with memory deficits.

Learning new words: Memory reactivation as a mechanism for strengthening and updating a novel word's meaning

In the present study we explored the postlearning changes in a novel word's definition using a cue-induced memory reactivation. Native speakers of Spanish (N = 373) learned low-frequency words with their corresponding definitions. The following day, reactivated groups were exposed to a reminder and provided a subjective assessment of reactivation for each word, while control groups did not receive a reactivation. Study A demonstrated that memory reactivation enhances both explicit recall and semantic integration of new meanings. Study B investigated the effect of memory reactivation in the modification of the new meanings, through three different experiments. Results show an improvement of the updated definitions according to each word's reactivation strength. In addition, congruence with previous knowledge was suggested to be a boundary condition, while consolidation time had a positive modulatory effect. Our findings call attention to reactivation as a factor allowing for malleability as well as persistence of long-term memories for words.

Externalizing autobiographical memories in the digital age

People externalize their autobiographical memories by creating representations that exist outside of their minds. Externalizations often serve personal and social functions, consistent with theorized functions of autobiographical memory. With new digital technologies, people are documenting more memories than ever and are sharing them with larger audiences. However, these technologies do not change the core cognitive processes involved in autobiographical memory, but instead present novel situations that affect how these processes are deployed. Smartphones allow events to be recorded as they unfold, thus directing attention and sometimes impairing memory. Social media increase the frequency of reviewing and sharing records which reactivate memories, potentially strengthening or updating them. Overall, externalization in the digital age changes what people attend to and remember about their own experiences.

Improving autobiographical memory in Alzheimer's disease by transcranial alternating current stimulation

We review the latest evidence from animal models, studies in humans using electrophysiology, experimental memory paradigms, and non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS), in the form of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), suggesting that the altered activity in networks that contribute to the autobiographical memory (ABM) deficits may be modifiable. ABM involves a specific brain network of interacting regions that store and retrieve life experiences. Deficits in ABM are early symptoms in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and serve as relevant predictors of disease progression. The possibility to modify the neural substrates of ABM opens exciting avenues for the development of therapeutic approaches. Beyond a summary of the causal role of brain oscillations in ABM, we propose a new approach of modulating brain oscillations using personalized tACS with the possibility of reducing ABM deficits. We suggest that human experimental studies using cognitive tasks, EEG, and tACS can have future translational clinical implications.

Prospective Memory and Positivity Bias in the COVID-19 Health Crisis: The Effects of Aging

This study aimed to determine whether the observed tendency to remember more positive than negative past events (positivity phenomena) also appears when recalling hypothetical events about the future. In this study, young, middle-aged, and older adults were presented with 28 statements about the future associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, half positive and half negative. In addition, half of these statements were endowed with personal implications while the other half had a more social connotations. Participants rated their agreement/disagreement with each statement and, after a distraction task, they recalled as many statements as possible. There was no difference in the agreement ratings between the three age groups, but the participants agreed with positive statements more than with negative ones and they identified more with statements of social content than of personal content. The younger and older individuals recalled more statements than the middle-aged people. More importantly, older participants recalled more positive than negative statements (positivity effect), and showed a greater tendency to turn negative statements into more positive or neutral ones (positivity bias). These findings showed that the positivity effect occurs in even such complex and situations as the present pandemic, especially in older adults. The results are discussed by reference to the notion of commission errors and false memories resulting from the activation of cognitive biases.

Law and (rec)order: Updating memory for criminal events with body-worn cameras

Body-worn video is increasingly relied upon in the criminal justice system, however it is unclear how viewing chest-mounted video may affect a police officer's statement about an event. In the present study, we asked whether reviewing footage from an experienced event could shape an individual's statement, and if so, whether reporting before reviewing may preserve an officer's original experience. Student participants (n = 97) were equipped with chest-mounted cameras as they viewed a simulated theft in virtual reality. One week later, half of the participants recalled the event in an initial statement while the other half did not. Participants then viewed either their body-worn video or a control video. Finally, participants provided their statement (no initial statement condition) or were given the opportunity to amend their original account (initial statement condition). Results revealed that viewing body-worn video enhanced the completeness and accuracy of individuals' free recall statements. However, whilst reviewing footage enabled individuals to exclude errors they had written in their initial statements, they also excluded true details that were uncorroborated by the camera footage (i.e., details which individuals experienced, but that their camera did not record). Such camera conformity is discussed in light of the debate on when an officer should access their body-worn video during an investigation and the influence of post-event information on memory.

Looking on the Bright Side: Aging and the Impact of Emotional Future Simulation on Subsequent Memory

OBJECTIVES

When younger adults simulated positive future events, subsequent memory is positively biased. In the current studies, we explore age-related changes in the impact of emotional future simulation on subsequent memory.

METHODS

In Experiment 1, younger and older adults simulated emotional future events before learning the hypothetical outcome of each event via narratives. Memory was assessed for emotional details contained in those narratives. In Experiment 2, a shorter temporal delay between simulation and narrative encoding was used to reduce decay of simulation memory over time.

RESULTS

Future simulation did not bias subsequent memory for older adults in Experiment 1. However, older adults performed similar to younger adults in Experiment 2, with more liberal responses to positive information after positive simulation.

DISCUSSION

The impact of an optimistic outlook on subsequent memory is reduced with age, which may be at least partly attributable to declining memory for future simulations over time. This work broadens our understanding of the functional consequences of age-related declines in episodic future simulation and adds to previous work showing reduced benefits of simulation with age on tasks tapping adaptive functions.

Memory reconsolidation as a tool to endure encoding deficits in elderly

Normal aging involves changes in the ability to acquire, consolidate and recall new information. It has been recently proposed that the reconsolidation process is also affected in older adults. Reconsolidation is triggered after reminder presentation, allowing memories to be modified: they can be impaired, strengthened or changed in their content. In young adults it was previously shown that the presentation of repetitive reminders induces memory strengthening one day after reactivation and the presentation of at least one reminder increases memory persistence several days after reactivation. However, until now this process has remained elusive in older adults. We hypothesize that older adults need a stronger reminder to induce memory strengthening through the reconsolidation process than young adults. To test this, we perform a three-day experiment. On day 1, participants learned 15 sound-word associations, on day 2 they received no reminders (NR group), one reminder (R group) or two rounds of reactivations (Rx2 group). Finally, they were tested on day 7. We found that, contrary to our hypothesis, older adults show a memory improvement triggered by repeated labilization/reconsolidation processes to an equal extent than young adults. These results open new perspectives into the use of reconsolidation to improve daily acquired information and the development of therapeutic home used tools to produce memory enhancement in healthy older adults or those with cognitive decline.

Amyloid Beta Secreted during Consolidation Prevents Memory Malleability

Memory allows organisms to predict future events based on their prior sampling of the world. Rather than faithfully encoding each detail of related episodes, the brain is thought to incrementally construct probabilistic estimates of environmental statistics that are re-evaluated each time relevant events are encountered [1]. When faced with evidence that does not adequately fit mnemonic predictions, a process called reconsolidation can alter relevant memories to better recapitulate ongoing experience [2]. Conversely, when an ongoing event matches well-established predictions, reactivated memories tend to remain stable [3, 4]. In part, the brain may confer selective mnemonic stability by shifting cell-intrinsic mechanisms of plasticity induction [5], which could serve to constrain maladaptive updating of reliably predictive representations during anomalous events. Based on evidence of decreased cognitive flexibility and restricted synaptic plasticity in later life [6], we hypothesized that some prevalent age-associated neurobiological changes might in fact contribute to mnemonic stability [7]. Specifically, we predicted that amyloid beta (Aβ)-a peptide that often accumulates in the brains of individuals expressing senescent dementia [8-10]-is required for memory stabilization. Indeed, we observe elevated soluble Aβ_x-42 concentrations in the amygdala shortly after young adult rats form reconsolidation-resistant auditory fear memories. Suppressing secretases required for Aβ production immediately after learning prevents mnemonic stabilization, rendering these memories vulnerable to disruption by post-reactivation amnestic treatments. Thus, the seemingly pathogenic Aβ₄₂ peptide may serve an adaptive physiological function during memory consolidation by engaging mechanisms that protect reliably predictive representations against subsequent modification.

Neural correlates of retrieval-based enhancement of autobiographical memory in older adults

Lifelog photo review is considered to enhance the recall of personal events. While a sizable body of research has explored the neural basis of autobiographical memory (AM), there is limited neural evidence on the retrieval-based enhancement effect on event memory among older adults in the real-world environment. This study examined the neural processes of AM as was modulated by retrieval practice through lifelog photo review in older adults. In the experiment, blood-oxygen-level dependent response during subjects’ recall of recent events was recorded, where events were cued by photos that may or may not have been exposed to a priori retrieval practice (training). Subjects remembered more episodic details under the trained relative to non-trained condition. Importantly, the neural correlates of AM was exhibited by (1) dissociable cortical areas related to recollection and familiarity, and (2) a positive correlation between the amount of recollected episodic details and cortical activation within several lateral temporal and parietal regions. Further analysis of the brain activation pattern at a few regions of interest within the core remember network showed a training_condition × event_detail interaction effect, suggesting that the boosting effect of retrieval practice depended on the level of recollected event details.

Reconsolidation or interference? Aging effects and the reactivation of novel and familiar episodic memories

We examined aging effects in reconsolidation and interference in episodic memory by reactivating memories for well-learned items in young and healthy older adults while controlling memory strength and the degree semantic processes contributed to memory. In Experiment 1, young and old adults learned pairs of real words and images to a strict criterion. After 24-hours, half of the images were reactivated and new words were paired with the images and learned to criterion. Following a 1-week delay, recognition and source monitoring were measured for both sets of pairings. Experiment 2 was a replication of Experiment 1, but using previously unknown novel words and unusual images. As predicted, older adults needed more trials to learn both the A-B and A-C pairings. Older adults required more trials to learn the new associations for reactivated than the not reactivated pairs, although there was no main effect of reactivation and no Age x Reactivation interaction for measures of recognition one-week later. These results are inconsistent with previous findings concerning age differences in reactivation effects in episodic memory. Instead, they suggest that once memory strength and input from semantic memory are better controlled, young and old adults perform similarly on tests of long-term recognition memory.

First-person view of one's body in immersive virtual reality: Influence on episodic memory

Episodic memories (EMs) are recollections of contextually rich and personally relevant past events. EM has been linked to the sense of self, allowing one to mentally travel back in subjective time and re-experience past events. However, the sense of self has recently been linked to online multisensory processing and bodily self-consciousness (BSC). It is currently unknown whether EM depends on BSC mechanisms. Here, we used a new immersive virtual reality (VR) system that maintained the perceptual richness of life episodes and fully controlled the experimental stimuli during encoding and retrieval, including the participant’s body. Our data reveal a classical EM finding, which shows that memory for complex real-life like scenes decays over time. However, here we also report a novel finding that delayed retrieval performance can be enhanced when participants view their body as part of the virtual scene during encoding. This body effect was not observed when no virtual body or a moving control object was shown, thereby linking the sense of self, and BSC in particular, to EMs. The present VR methodology and the present behavioral findings will enable to study key aspects of EM in healthy participants and may be especially beneficial for the restoration of self-relevant memories in future experiments.

Flexible retrieval mechanisms supporting successful inference produce false memories in younger but not older adults

Episodic memory involves flexible retrieval processes that allow a person to link elements of distinct episodes in order to make novel inferences across events. In younger adults, we recently found that the same retrieval-related recombination mechanism that supports successful associative inference produces source misattributions as a consequence of erroneous binding of contextual elements from distinct episodes. In the current experiment, we found that older adults, in contrast to younger adults, did not show an increase in source misattributions following successful associative inference. We observed this pattern both when (a) younger and older adults were tested under identical experimental conditions and (b) younger and older adults were matched on associative inference accuracy and overall source memory errors. We suggest that the differing patterns of results are a consequence of age-related deficits in associative binding during successful inferential retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record

Common Recruitment of Angular Gyrus in Episodic Autobiographical Memory and Bodily Self-Consciousness

Parietal cortex and adjacent parts of the temporal cortex have recently been associated with bodily self-consciousness (BSC). Similarly, growing evidence suggests that the lateral parietal cortex is crucial for the subjective aspects of episodic autobiographical memory (EAM), which is based on the conscious experience of reliving past events. However, the neuroanatomical relationship between both fundamental aspects remains currently unexplored. Moreover, despite the wealth of neuroimaging data on EAM, only few neuroimaging studies have examined BSC and even fewer examined those aspects of BSC that are most closely related to EAM. Here, we investigated whether regions in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) that have been involved in spatial aspects of BSC (self-location and first-person perspective), as described by Ionta et al. (2011) are also active in studies investigating autobiographical memory. To examine this relation, we thus compared the regions indicated in the study by Ionta et al. (2011) based on data in healthy participants and neurological patients, with the results from a meta-analytical study we performed based on functional neuroimaging studies on EAM and semantic autobiographical memory (SAM). We report an anatomical overlap bilaterally in the angular gyrus (AG), but not in other parietal or temporal lobe structures between BSC and EAM. Moreover, there was no overlap between BSC and SAM. These preliminary data suggest that the bilateral AG may be a key structure for the conscious re-experiencing of past life episodes (EAM) and the conscious on-line experience of being located and experiencing the world in first-person (BSC).

How thinking about what could have been affects how we feel about what was

Episodic counterfactual thoughts (CFT) and autobiographical memories (AM) involve the reactivation and recombination of episodic memory components into mental simulations. Upon reactivation, memories become labile and prone to modification. Thus, reactivating AM in the context of mentally generating CFT may provide an opportunity for editing processes to modify the content of the original memory. To examine this idea, this paper reports the results of two studies that investigated the effect of reactivating negative and positive AM in the context of either imagining a better (i.e. upward CFT) or a worse (i.e. downward CFT) alternative to an experienced event, as opposed to attentively retrieving the memory without mental modification (i.e. remembering) or no reactivation. Our results suggest that attentive remembering was the best strategy to both reduce the negative affect associated with negative AM, and to prevent the decay of positive affect associated with positive AM. In addition, reactivating positive, but not negative, AM with or without CFT modification reduces the perceived arousal of the original memory over time. Finally, reactivating negative AM in a downward CFT or an attentive remembering condition increases the perceived detail of the original memory over time.

Memory for staged events: Supporting older and younger adults' memory with SenseCam

Two experiments measured the effect of retrieval support provided by a wearable camera, SenseCam, on older and younger adults' memory for a recently experienced complex staged event. In each experiment, participants completed a series of tasks in groups, and the events were recalled 2 weeks later, after viewing SenseCam images (experimental condition) or thinking about the event (control condition). When IQ and education were matched, young adults recalled more event details than older adults, demonstrating an age-related deficit for novel autobiographical material. Reviewing SenseCam images increased the number of details recalled by older and younger adults, and the effect was similar for both groups. These results suggest that memory can be supported by the use of SenseCam, but the age-related deficit is not eliminated.

Shifting visual perspective during memory retrieval reduces the accuracy of subsequent memories

Memories for events can be retrieved from visual perspectives that were never experienced, reflecting the dynamic and reconstructive nature of memories. Characteristics of memories can be altered when shifting from an own eyes perspective, the way most events are initially experienced, to an observer perspective, in which one sees oneself in the memory. Moreover, recent evidence has linked these retrieval-related effects of visual perspective to subsequent changes in memories. Here we examine how shifting visual perspective influences the accuracy of subsequent memories for complex events encoded in the lab. Participants performed a series of mini-events that were experienced from their own eyes, and were later asked to retrieve memories for these events while maintaining the own eyes perspective or shifting to an alternative observer perspective. We then examined how shifting perspective during retrieval modified memories by influencing the accuracy of recall on a final memory test. Across two experiments, we found that shifting visual perspective reduced the accuracy of subsequent memories and that reductions in vividness when shifting visual perspective during retrieval predicted these changes in the accuracy of memories. Our findings suggest that shifting from an own eyes to an observer perspective influences the accuracy of long-term memories.

An Update on Memory Reconsolidation Updating

The reactivation of a stored memory in the brain can make the memory transiently labile. During the time it takes for the memory to restabilize (reconsolidate) the memory can either be reduced by an amnesic agent or enhanced by memory enhancers. The change in memory expression is related to changes in the brain correlates of long-term memory. Many have suggested that such retrieval-induced plasticity is ideally placed to enable memories to be updated with new information. This hypothesis has been tested experimentally, with a translational perspective, by attempts to update maladaptive memories to reduce their problematic impact. We review here progress on reconsolidation updating studies, highlighting their translational exploitation and addressing recent challenges to the reconsolidation field.

When the mind wanders: Distinguishing stimulus-dependent from stimulus-independent thoughts during incidental encoding in young and older adults

In recent years, several studies have indicated that healthy older adults exhibit a reduction in mind-wandering compared with young adults. However, relatively little research has examined the extent to which ongoing thoughts in young and older adults are dependent on environmental stimuli. In the current study, we assessed age-related differences in frequency of stimulus-dependent thoughts (SDTs) and stimulus-independent thoughts (SITs) during a slow-paced incidental encoding task. Based on previous research suggesting that older adults rely on external information to a greater extent than young adults, we hypothesized that ongoing thoughts in older adults may be more stimulus-dependent than in young adults. We found that although older adults reported overall fewer thoughts compared to young adults, they exhibited a reduction in proportion of SITs and an increase in proportion of SDTs. In both age groups, SDTs were more frequently about the past compared with SITs, while SITs were more frequently about the future. Finally, the extent to which both young and older adults reported SDTs, but not SITs, at encoding was positively correlated with how often they reported remembering thoughts at retrieval, and SDT frequency was positively correlated with overall performance on the memory task in older adults. Our results provide evidence that ongoing thoughts in older adults may be more dependent on environmental stimuli than young adults, and that these thoughts may impact performance in recognition tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record

False memories with age: Neural and cognitive underpinnings

As we age we become increasingly susceptible to memory distortions and inaccuracies. Over the past decade numerous neuroimaging studies have attempted to illuminate the neural underpinnings of aging and false memory. Here we review these studies, and link their findings with those concerning the cognitive properties of age-related changes in memory accuracy. Collectively this evidence points towards a prominent role for age-related declines in medial temporal and prefrontal brain areas, and corresponding impairments in associative binding and strategic monitoring. A resulting cascade of cognitive changes contributes to the heightened vulnerability to false memories with age, including reduced recollective ability, a reliance on gist information and familiarity-based monitoring mechanisms, as well as a reduced ability to inhibit irrelevant information and erroneous binding of features between memory traces. We consider both theoretical and applied implications of research on aging and false memories, as well as questions remaining to be addressed in future research.

Neural activity patterns evoked by a spouse's incongruent emotional reactions when recalling marriage-relevant experiences

Resonance with the inner states of another social actor is regarded as a hallmark of emotional closeness. Nevertheless, sensitivity to potential incongruities between one's own and an intimate partner's subjective experience is reportedly also important for close relationship quality. Here, we tested whether perceivers show greater neurobehavioral responsiveness to a spouse's positive (rather than negative) context-incongruent emotions, and whether this effect is influenced by the perceiver's satisfaction with the relationship. Thus, we used fMRI to scan older long-term married female perceivers while they judged either their spouse's or a stranger's affect, based on incongruent nonverbal and verbal cues. The verbal cues were selected to evoke strongly polarized affective responses. Higher perceiver marital satisfaction predicted greater neural processing of the spouse's (rather than the strangers) nonverbal cues. Nevertheless, across all perceivers, greater neural processing of a spouse's (rather than a stranger's) nonverbal behavior was reliably observed only when the behavior was positive and the context was negative. The spouse's positive (rather than negative) nonverbal behavior evoked greater activity in putative mirror neuron areas, such as the bilateral inferior parietal lobule (IPL). This effect was related to a stronger inhibitory influence of cognitive control areas on mirror system activity in response to a spouse's negative nonverbal cues, an effect that strengthened with increasing perceiver marital satisfaction. Our valence-asymmetric findings imply that neurobehavioral responsiveness to a close other's emotions may depend, at least partly, on cognitive control resources, which are used to support the perceiver's interpersonal goals (here, goals that are relevant to relationship stability).