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Gurguryan L, Yang H, Köhler S, Sheldon S. Lifetime familiarity cue effects for autobiographical memory. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:1456-1470. [PMID: 38696131 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-024-01968-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024]
Abstract
Recollecting an autobiographical memory requires a cue to initiate processes related to accessing and then elaborating on a past personal experience. Prior work has shown that the familiarity of a cue can influence the autobiographical memory retrieval process. Extending this work, we tested how familiarity accrued from cumulative lifetime exposures associated with the cue-as well as associated semantic knowledge-can affect how we access and remember autobiographical memories. In Experiment 1, we measured reaction times to access and report memories in response to cue words. In Experiment 2 we examined the details with which participants described memories in response to cue words. For both experiments, participants provided estimates of lifetime exposure and semantic knowledge for each cue. In Experiment 1, we found a cue's lifetime exposure, independent of semantic knowledge, led to quicker memory access. In Experiment 2, we found the lifetime exposure and semantic knowledge of a cue interactively affected the specificity of a described autobiographical memory. These results provide new evidence that the amount of lifetime exposure associated with a cue, both independently and interactively with semantic knowledge, influences how autobiographical memories are accessed and described.Clinical trial This was not a clinical trial.Trial Registration Number (TRN) N/A.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauri Gurguryan
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, 2001 Avenue McGill College, Montréal, QC, H3A 1G1, Canada
| | - Haopei Yang
- Department of Psychology & Brain and Mind, University of Western Ontario, Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Stefan Köhler
- Department of Psychology & Brain and Mind, University of Western Ontario, Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Signy Sheldon
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, 2001 Avenue McGill College, Montréal, QC, H3A 1G1, Canada.
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Lenormand D, Fauvel B, Piolino P. The formation of episodic autobiographical memory is predicted by mental imagery, self-reference, and anticipated details. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1355343. [PMID: 38476385 PMCID: PMC10930760 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1355343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Despite the ecological nature of episodic memory (EM) and the importance of consolidation in its functioning, studies tackling both subjects are still scarce. Therefore, the present study aims at establishing predictions of the future of newly encoded information in EM in an ecological paradigm. Methods Participants recorded two personal events per day with a SenseCam portable camera, for 10 days, and characterized the events with different subjective scales (emotional valence and intensity, self-concept and self-relevance, perspective and anticipated details at a month, mental images…). They then performed a surprise free recall at 5 days and 1 month after encoding. Machine learning algorithms were used to predict the future of events (episodic or forgotten) in memory at 1 month. Results The best algorithm showed an accuracy of 78%, suggesting that such a prediction is reliably possible. Variables that best differentiated between episodic and forgotten memories at 1 month were mental imagery, self-reference, and prospection (anticipated details) at encoding and the first free recall. Discussion These results may establish the basis for the development of episodic autobiographical memory during daily experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diane Lenormand
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau & Cognition (LMC2 UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | | | - Pascale Piolino
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau & Cognition (LMC2 UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
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Wardell V, Jameson T, Bontkes OJR, Le ML, Duan TY, St Jacques PL, Madan CR, Palombo DJ. Fade In, Fade Out: Do Shifts in Visual Perspective Predict the Consistency of Real-World Memories? Psychol Sci 2023; 34:932-946. [PMID: 37439721 DOI: 10.1177/09567976231180588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Memories of our personal past are not exact accounts of what occurred. Instead, memory reconstructs the past in adaptive-though not always faithful-ways. Using a naturalistic design, we asked how the visual perspective adopted in the mind's eye when recalling the past-namely, an "own eyes" versus "observer" perspective-relates to the stability of autobiographical memories. We hypothesized that changes in visual perspective over time would predict poorer consistency of memories. Young adults (N = 178) rated the phenomenology of and freely recalled self-selected memories of everyday events at two time points (10 weeks apart). Multilevel linear modeling revealed, as expected, that greater shifts in visual perspective over time predicted lower memory consistency, particularly for emotional details. Our results offer insight into the factors that predict the fidelity of memories for everyday events. Moreover, our results may elucidate new metrics that are useful in interpreting eyewitness testimony or experiences relayed in clinical contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Taylyn Jameson
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
| | | | - M Lindy Le
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
| | - Tz-Yu Duan
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
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Seely JM, Eby PR, Gordon PB, Appavoo S, Yaffe MJ. Errors in Conduct of the CNBSS Trials of Breast Cancer Screening Observed by Research Personnel. JOURNAL OF BREAST IMAGING 2022; 4:135-143. [PMID: 38417008 DOI: 10.1093/jbi/wbac009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 03/01/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate why the Canadian National Breast Screening Study (CNBSS) did not show mortality reduction with mammography. This study explored long-standing concerns related to the validity of the randomization process, methods of recruiting women to participate in the trials, and training of the staff working in the CNBSS. METHODS Surviving former CNBSS personnel, whose roles involved direct recruitment, enrollment, randomization, clinical examination, image interpretation, and management of patients in the CNBSS were interviewed. Individuals were contacted and consented to provide firsthand accounts of daily operations and adherence to research protocols via standardized questions. Consistency of observational data with quantitative results from the CNBSS trials was evaluated. RESULTS Eleven of 28 (39.3%) staff confirmed that women with preexisting symptoms of breast cancer were systematically recruited at some centers; 57.1% (16/28) confirmed that personnel performing screening in CNBSS had very limited training and experience; 39.3% (11/28) verified that imaging equipment was often substandard; 50% (14/28) indicated that mammography image quality was generally poor; and 28.6% (8/28) corroborated that in some cases surgeons were unwilling to perform biopsies or surgeries for women with suspicious abnormalities found only on screening mammography that lacked a palpable correlate. CONCLUSION These firsthand accounts provide new information confirming that the CNBSS did not consistently and rigorously assess the true efficacy of screening mammography. The staff accounts clarify reasons why the CNBSS results were outliers compared with the six other randomized trials of screening mammography and should not be used as credible scientific evidence to inform health policy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean M Seely
- University of Ottawa, Department of Radiology, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Peter R Eby
- University of Washington Virginia Mason Medical Center, Department of Radiology, WA, USA
| | - Paula B Gordon
- University of British Columbia, Department of Radiology, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Shushiela Appavoo
- University of Alberta, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Martin J Yaffe
- University of Toronto, Department of Medical Biophysics, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
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The ironic effect of older adults' increased task motivation: Implications for neurocognitive aging. Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 28:1743-1754. [PMID: 34173190 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-01963-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recent work suggests that most older adults who volunteer to take part in cognitive experiments are more motivated to do well than are undergraduate students. This empirical evidence is echoed by the impressions of cognitive aging researchers. We surveyed a large group (N = 88) of researchers asking about their perceptions of younger and older adults' motivation to take part in lab-based research. Not only were older adults seen as more motivated than younger adults, but researchers thought that the two groups participate for different reasons: younger adults to obtain course credit or monetary compensation, older adults to get a sense of their cognitive health, to further science, and out of curiosity. However, older adults' greater motivation to do well on cognitive tasks may leave them vulnerable to stereotype threat, the phenomenon by which individuals underperform when they are put in a position to either confirm or deny a negative stereotype about their group. In this opinion piece, we argue that most cognitive experiments, not just those designed to measure stereotype threat, likely induce some form of performance-related anxiety in older adults. This anxiety likely leads to greater task-related interference, or thoughts about how one is doing on the task, resulting in poorer performance. We discuss some of the potential implications for our understanding of neurocognitive aging.
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Armson MJ, Diamond NB, Levesque L, Ryan JD, Levine B. Vividness of recollection is supported by eye movements in individuals with high, but not low trait autobiographical memory. Cognition 2021; 206:104487. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2020] [Revised: 10/05/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Diamond NB, Armson MJ, Levine B. The Truth Is Out There: Accuracy in Recall of Verifiable Real-World Events. Psychol Sci 2020; 31:1544-1556. [DOI: 10.1177/0956797620954812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
How accurate is memory? Although people implicitly assume that their memories faithfully represent past events, the prevailing view in research is that memories are error prone and constructive. Yet little is known about the frequency of errors, particularly in memories for naturalistic experiences. Here, younger and older adults underwent complex real-world experiences that were nonetheless controlled and verifiable, freely recalling these experiences after days to years. As expected, memory quantity and the richness of episodic detail declined with increasing age and retention interval. Details that participants did recall, however, were highly accurate (93%–95%) across age and time. This level of accuracy far exceeded comparatively low estimations among memory scientists and other academics in a survey. These findings suggest that details freely recalled from one-time real-world experiences can retain high correspondence to the ground truth despite significant forgetting, with higher accuracy than expected given the emphasis on fallibility in the field of memory research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas B. Diamond
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
| | - Michael J. Armson
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
| | - Brian Levine
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
- Department of Medicine (Neurology), University of Toronto
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Different patterns of recollection for matched real-world and laboratory-based episodes in younger and older adults. Cognition 2020; 202:104309. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2019] [Revised: 04/12/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Abstract
The extent to which the details of past experiences are retained or forgotten remains controversial. Some studies suggest massive storage while others describe memories as fallible summary recreations of original events. The discrepancy can be ascribed to the content of memories and how memories are evaluated. Many studies have focused on recalling lists of words/pictures, which lack the critical ingredients of real world memories. Here we quantified the ability to remember details about one hour of real life. We recorded video and eye movements while subjects walked along specified routes and evaluated whether they could distinguish video clips from their own experience from foils. Subjects were minimally above chance in remembering the minutiae of their experiences. Recognition of specific events could be partly explained by a machine-learning model of video contents. These results quantify recognition memory for events in real life and show that the details of everyday experience are largely not retained in memory.
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Palombo DJ, Sheldon S, Levine B. Individual Differences in Autobiographical Memory. Trends Cogn Sci 2018; 22:583-597. [PMID: 29807853 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2018] [Revised: 04/24/2018] [Accepted: 04/25/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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