The effects of divided attention at encoding on specific and gist-based associative episodic memory

Age-related decline in source and associative memory

This review explores the multifaceted nature of age-related decline in source memory and associative memory. The review highlights the potential effects of age-related decline in these types of memory. By integrating insights from behavioral, cognitive, and neuroscientific research, it examines how encoding, retrieval, and neural mechanisms influence this decline. Understanding these processes is critical to alleviate memory decline in older adults. Directing attention to source information during encoding, employing unitization techniques to strengthen memory associations, and utilizing metacognitive strategies to focus on relevant details show promise in enhancing memory retrieval for older adults. However, the review acknowledges limitations in processing resources and executive function, necessitating a nuanced approach to the complexities of age-related decline. In conclusion, this review underscores the importance of understanding the complexities of age-related source and associative memory decline and the potential benefits of specific cognitive strategies. It emphasizes the need for continued research on age-related memory function to improve the quality of life for aging populations.

Reducing age differences in the retrieval of verbatim and gist representations: Encoding manipulations

Aging causes changes in episodic memory. While the ability to remember the general idea or gist of past episodes is relatively preserved from the effects of aging, the ability to remember the verbatim details of these episodes declines. The aim of the present study was to examine whether age-related differences in the quality of episodic representations could be reduced by manipulations of information encoding. Two experiments were conducted with younger adults (NExp.1 = 32, NExp.2 = 31, 18-27 years old) and older adults (NExp.1 = 31, NExp.2 = 30, 54-81 years old) in which either the retrieval of gist representations of studied items was facilitated by presenting items that could be grouped within the same category (Exp. 1) or the retrieval of verbatim details of studied items was facilitated by presenting the same items repeatedly (Exp. 2). Both manipulations proved effective in increasing retrieval of either gist or verbatim representations in a recognition task in younger and older adults. Increasing gist retrieval improved correct recognition performance for both younger and older adults but also led the latter to make more recognition errors. Increasing verbatim retrieval improved correct recognition performance for both younger and older adults, and the gain was greater for older adults. These findings support the notion that age-related changes in episodic memory can be explained by changes in the specificity of representations and suggest that simple encoding manipulations could improve episodic memory in older adults.

The effect of part-list cuing on associative recognition

The modulation of part-list cuing on item memory has been well-documented, whereas its impact on associative memory remains largely unknown. The present study explored the effect of part-list cuing on associative recognition and, more specifically, whether this forgetting effect caused by part-list cuing is more sensitive to recollection or familiarity in recognition memory. Experiments 1a and 1b combined the intact/rearranged/new judgement task of associative recognition with the classical part-list cuing paradigm, and the result showed that part-list cuing impaired the recognition accuracy of "intact" and "rearranged" face-scene pairs. Moreover, the discriminability score of relational recognition and item recognition was significantly decreased in the part-list cuing condition compared to the no-part-list cuing condition. Experiments 2a and 2b further used the Remember/Know/Guess task to explore which recognition processes (recollection vs. familiarity) were sensitive to the presentation of part-list cuing. The results showed that part-list cuing reduced the familiarity of relational recognition and the recollection and familiarity of item recognition. These findings suggest that part-list cuing was harmful to the recognition of relationships (familiarity) and items (recollection and familiarity) in associative memory.

The Relation Between Attention and Memory

The relation between attention and memory has long been deemed important for understanding cognition, and it was heavily researched even in the first experimental psychology laboratory by Wilhelm Wundt and his colleagues. Since then, the importance of the relation between attention and memory has been explored in myriad subdisciplines of psychology, and we incorporate a wide range of these diverse fields. Here, we examine some of the practical consequences of this relation and summarize work with various methodologies relating attention to memory in the fields of working memory, long-term memory, individual differences, life-span development, typical brain function, and neuropsychological conditions. We point out strengths and unanswered questions for our own embedded processes view of information processing, which is used to organize a large body of evidence. Last, we briefly consider the relation of the evidence to a range of other theoretical views before drawing conclusions about the state of the field.

Cross-modal associative memory impairment in schizophrenia

Impaired associative memory function in patients with schizophrenia has received considerable attention. However, previous studies have primarily concentrated on unisensory materials, which limits our understanding of the broader implications of this impairment. In this study, we sought to expand on this knowledge by examining two types of associative memory domains in individuals with schizophrenia, leveraging both visual (Vis) and auditory (Aud) materials. A total of 32 patients with schizophrenia and 29 healthy controls were recruited to participate in the study. Each participant participated in an experiment composed of three paradigms in which different abstract materials (Aud-Aud, Aud-Vis, and Vis-Vis) were presented. Subsequently, the discriminability scores of the two groups were calculated and compared in different modal tasks. Results from the study indicated that individuals with schizophrenia demonstrated varying degrees of associative memory dysfunction in both the same and cross-modalities, with the latter having a significantly lower score than healthy controls (t = 4.120, p < 0.001). Additionally, the cross-modal associative memory function was significantly and negatively correlated with the severity of negative symptoms among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (r = -0.362, p = 0.042). This study provides evidence of abnormalities in the processing and memorization of information that integrates multiple sensory modalities in individuals with schizophrenia. This is of great significance for further understanding the cognitive symptoms and pathological mechanisms of schizophrenia, potentially guiding the development of relevant interventions and treatment methods.

A quantitative model of ensemble perception as summed activation in feature space

Ensemble perception is a process by which we summarize complex scenes. Despite the importance of ensemble perception to everyday cognition, there are few computational models that provide a formal account of this process. Here we develop and test a model in which ensemble representations reflect the global sum of activation signals across all individual items. We leverage this set of minimal assumptions to formally connect a model of memory for individual items to ensembles. We compare our ensemble model against a set of alternative models in five experiments. Our approach uses performance on a visual memory task for individual items to generate zero-free-parameter predictions of interindividual and intraindividual differences in performance on an ensemble continuous-report task. Our top-down modelling approach formally unifies models of memory for individual items and ensembles and opens a venue for building and comparing models of distinct memory processes and representations.

Memory, aging and the brain: Old findings and current issues

In this article I reprise some selected findings and issues from my previous behavioural work on age-related differences in memory, and relate them to current work on the neural correlates of encoding, retrieval and representation. In particular, I describe the case study of a woman who had persistent experiences of erroneous recollection. I also describe the results of a study showing a double dissociation of implicit and explicit memory in younger and older adults. Finally, I assess recent work on loss of specificity in older adults' encoding and retrieval processes of episodic events. In all cases I attempt to relate these older findings to current ideas and empirical results in the area of memory, aging, and the brain.

The effect of load on spatial statistical learning

Statistical learning (SL), the extraction of regularities embedded in the environment, is often viewed as a fundamental and effortless process. However, whether spatial SL requires resources, or it can operate in parallel to other demands, is still not clear. To examine this issue, we tested spatial SL using the standard lab experiment under concurrent demands: high- and low-cognitive load (Experiment 1) and, spatial memory load (Experiment 2) during the familiarization phase. We found that any type of high-load demands during the familiarization abolished learning. Experiment 3 compared SL under spatial low-load and no-load. We found robust learning in the no-load condition that was dramatically reduced in the low-load condition. Finally, we compared a no-load condition with a very low-load, infrequent dot-probe condition that posed minimal demands while still requiring attention to the display (Experiment 4). The results showed, once again, that any concurrent task during the familiarization phase largely impaired spatial SL. Taken together, we conclude that spatial SL requires resources, a finding that challenges the view that the extraction of spatial regularities is automatic and implicit and suggests that this fundamental learning process is not as effortless as was typically assumed. We further discuss the practical and methodological implications of these findings.

Autobiographical event memory and aging: older adults get the gist

We propose that older adults' ability to retrieve episodic autobiographical events, although often viewed through a lens of decline, reveals much about what is preserved and prioritized in cognitive aging. Central to our proposal is the idea that the so-called gist of an autobiographical event is not only spared with normal aging but also well adapted to serve memory-guided behavior in older age. To support our proposal, we review cognitive and brain evidence indicating an age-related shift toward gist memory. We then discuss why this shift likely arises from more than age-related decline and instead partly reflects a natural, arguably adaptive, outcome of experience, motivation, and mode-of-thinking factors. Our proposal reveals an upside of age-related memory changes and identifies important research questions.

Attentional attenuation (rather than attentional boost) through task switching leads to a selective long-term memory decline

Allocating attention determines what we remember later. Attentional demands vary in a task-switching paradigm, with greater demands for switch than for repeat trials. This also results in lower subsequent memory performance for switch compared to repeat trials. The main goal of the present study was to investigate the consequences of task switching after a long study-test interval and to examine the contributions of the two memory components, recollection and familiarity. In the study phase, the participants performed a task-switching procedure in which they had to switch between two classifications tasks with pictures. After a short vs. a long study-test interval of a week, the participants performed a surprise memory test for the pictures and gave remember/know judgements. The results showed that recognition memory declined after 1 week and this was mainly due to a decrease in "remember" responses. The results also showed that the task-switching effect on memory was enduring. Whereas the results of the immediate test were mixed, the results of the delayed tests showed that the task-switching effect was based on recollection, expressed in more "remember" responses for repeat than for switch trials. As recollection is more sensitive to attention manipulations than familiarity, the results align with the notion that attentional requirements at study determine what we remember, in particular after a long study-test interval.