13,207 research outputs found

    Mapping dynamic interactions among cognitive biases in depression

    Get PDF
    Depression is theorized to be caused in part by biased cognitive processing of emotional information. Yet, prior research has adopted a reductionist approach that does not characterize how biases in cognitive processes such as attention and memory work together to confer risk for this complex multifactorial disorder. Grounded in affective and cognitive science, we highlight four mechanisms to understand how attention biases, working memory difficulties, and long-term memory biases interact and contribute to depression. We review evidence for each mechanism and highlight time- and context-dependent dynamics. We outline methodological considerations and recommendations for research in this area. We conclude with directions to advance the understanding of depression risk, cognitive training interventions, and transdiagnostic properties of cognitive biases and their interactions

    A Theory of the Acquisition of Episodic Memory

    Get PDF
    Case-based reasoning (CBR) has been viewed by many as just a methodology for building systems, but the foundations of CBR are psychological theories. Dynamic Memory (Schank, 1982) was the first attempt to describe a theory for learning in computers and people, based on particular forms of data structures and processes, that nowadays are widely used in a variety of forms in CBR. In addition to being useful for system building, CBR provides a way of discussing a range of issues concerned with cognition. This focus on the practical uses of CBR has deflected attention from the need to develop further the underlying theory. In particular, the issue of knowledge acquisition, in not adequately handled by the existing theory. This paper discusses this theoretical weakness and then proposes an enhanced model of learning which is compatible with the CBR paradigm

    Short article: When are moving images remembered better? Study–test congruence and the dynamic superiority effect

    Get PDF
    It has previously been shown that moving images are remembered better than static ones. In two experiments, we investigated the basis for this dynamic superiority effect. Participants studied scenes presented as a single static image, a sequence of still images, or a moving video clip, and 3 days later completed a recognition test in which familiar and novel scenes were presented in all three formats. We found a marked congruency effect: For a given study format, accuracy was highest when test items were shown in the same format. Neither the dynamic superiority effect nor the study–test congruency effect was affected by encoding (Experiment 1) or retrieval (Experiment 2) manipulations, suggesting that these effects are relatively impervious to strategic control. The results demonstrate that the spatio-temporal properties of complex, realistic scenes are preserved in long-term memory. </jats:p

    Experiences of aiding autobiographical memory Using the SenseCam

    Get PDF
    Human memory is a dynamic system that makes accessible certain memories of events based on a hierarchy of information, arguably driven by personal significance. Not all events are remembered, but those that are tend to be more psychologically relevant. In contrast, lifelogging is the process of automatically recording aspects of one's life in digital form without loss of information. In this article we share our experiences in designing computer-based solutions to assist people review their visual lifelogs and address this contrast. The technical basis for our work is automatically segmenting visual lifelogs into events, allowing event similarity and event importance to be computed, ideas that are motivated by cognitive science considerations of how human memory works and can be assisted. Our work has been based on visual lifelogs gathered by dozens of people, some of them with collections spanning multiple years. In this review article we summarize a series of studies that have led to the development of a browser that is based on human memory systems and discuss the inherent tension in storing large amounts of data but making the most relevant material the most accessible

    Experiences of aiding autobiographical memory using the sensecam

    Get PDF
    Human memory is a dynamic system that makes accessible certain memories of events based on a hierarchy of information, arguably driven by personal significance. Not all events are remembered, but those that are tend to be more psychologically relevant. In contrast, lifelogging is the process of automatically recording aspects of one's life in digital form without loss of information. In this article we share our experiences in designing computer-based solutions to assist people review their visual lifelogs and address this contrast. The technical basis for our work is automatically segmenting visual lifelogs into events, allowing event similarity and event importance to be computed, ideas that are motivated by cognitive science considerations of how human memory works and can be assisted. Our work has been based on visual lifelogs gathered by dozens of people, some of them with collections spanning multiple years. In this review article we summarize a series of studies that have led to the development of a browser that is based on human memory systems and discuss the inherent tension in storing large amounts of data but making the most relevant material the most accessible

    Boosting Long-term Memory via Wakeful Rest: Intentional Rehearsal is not Necessary, Automatic Consolidation is Sufficient.

    Get PDF
    <div><p>People perform better on tests of delayed free recall if learning is followed immediately by a short wakeful rest than by a short period of sensory stimulation. Animal and human work suggests that wakeful resting provides optimal conditions for the consolidation of recently acquired memories. However, an alternative account cannot be ruled out, namely that wakeful resting provides optimal conditions for intentional rehearsal of recently acquired memories, thus driving superior memory. Here we utilised non-recallable words to examine whether wakeful rest boosts long-term memory, even when new memories could not be rehearsed intentionally during the wakeful rest delay. The probing of non-recallable words requires a recognition paradigm. Therefore, we first established, via Experiment 1, that the rest-induced boost in memory observed via free recall can be replicated in a recognition paradigm, using concrete nouns. In Experiment 2, participants heard 30 non-recallable non-words, presented as ‘foreign names in a bridge club abroad’ and then either rested wakefully or played a visual spot-the-difference game for 10 minutes. Retention was probed via recognition at two time points, 15 minutes and 7 days after presentation. As in Experiment 1, wakeful rest boosted recognition significantly, and this boost was maintained for at least 7 days. Our results indicate that the enhancement of memory via wakeful rest is <i>not</i> dependent upon intentional rehearsal of learned material during the rest period. We thus conclude that consolidation is <i>sufficient</i> for this rest-induced memory boost to emerge. We propose that wakeful resting allows for superior memory consolidation, resulting in stronger and/or more veridical representations of experienced events which can be detected via tests of free recall and recognition.</p></div

    Prior knowledge contribution to declarative learning. A study in amnesia, aging and Alzheimer's disease

    Get PDF
    L'étude expérimentale de la mémoire humaine a connu deux moments historiques dans les soixante dernières années. 1957 marque la découverte du rôle du lobe temporal interne bilatéral dans l'apprentissage conscient, déclaratif. 1997 marque la découverte de deux systèmes de mémoire déclarative, épisodique et sémantique. Ces découvertes résultent d'études de cas en neuropsychologie. Cette thèse s'inscrit dans la tradition neuropsychologique: sa genèse doit tout à un patient souffrant d'une forme atypique d'amnésie développementale, le patient KA. Son point de départ est une étude de cas approfondie, avec deux résultats surprenants. Malgré une amnésie sévère, KA dispose de connaissances sémantiques exceptionnelles. Par ailleurs, il montre des capacités préservées d'apprentissage explicite, mais uniquement pour des stimuli concrets, pas abstraits. En conséquence, cette thèse a exploré deux pistes de recherche. Premièrement, nous avons caractérisé les processus préservés d'apprentissage déclaratif et l'anatomie cérébrale chez ce patient. Deuxièmement, nous avons étudié le rôle des connaissances préalables dans l'apprentissage: comment ce que l'on sait influence ce dont nous nous souvenons ? Une première série d'expériences montre chez ce patient une atteinte sévère et sélective de l'ensemble du système hippocampique, alors que les structures sous- hippocampiques (cortex entorhinal, périrhinal et parahippocampique) sont préservées. Malgré une amnésie épisodique sévère, nous montrons des connaissances sémantiques supranormales et des aptitudes d'apprentissage explicite rapide. Ces aptitudes sont toutefois restreintes aux stimuli associés à des connaissances préalables. Une seconde série d'expériences explore l'hypothèse selon laquelle les connaissances préalables facilitent l'apprentissage en mémoire déclarative, même dans les situations où le lobe temporal interne est fragilisé, comme dans le vieillissement, ou lésé, comme chez le patient KA ou dans la maladie d'Alzheimer. Nos résultats suggèrent l'existence de processus d'apprentissage rapide en mémoire déclarative, indépendants du système hippocampique et sensibles à la présence de représentations préexistantes. Ces processus semblent affectés par la maladie d'Alzheimer, et ce en lien avec un défaut d'activité des régions sous-hippocampiques antérieures. A l'inverse, les sujets âgés sains peuvent utiliser les connaissances préalables et pourraient ainsi compenser le déclin de la mémoire associative. Ce travail s'accorde avec les modèles postulant une dissociation fonctionnelle au sein du lobe temporal interne pour l'apprentissage déclaratif. Il soutient les propositions neurocognitives et computationnelles récentes, suggérant une voie d'apprentissage néocortical rapide mobilisable dans certaines circonstances. Il met en exergue la dynamique des apprentissages en mémoire déclarative et notamment l'intrication fondamentale entre "savoir" et "se souvenir". Ce que je sais a un impact profond sur ce dont je vais me souvenir. Cette thèse permet d'envisager de nouveaux outils cognitifs pour le diagnostic de la maladie d'Alzheimer. De plus, il semble que des lésions temporales internes auront un impact distinct sur l'apprentissage selon le statut des informations à mémoriser en mémoire à long terme, offrant un regard nouveau sur les effets stimulus-dépendants dans l'amnésie. Une considération approfondie des connaissances préalables associées au contenu de nos expériences, et leur caractérisation détaillée, est requise pour affiner les modèles de la mémoire déclarative. Ces résultats apportent de nouvelles pistes de recherche quant aux circonstances épargnant l'apprentissage, notamment associatif, lors du vieillissement. Plus généralement, ils contribuent à la compréhension des déterminants d'un apprentissage réussi, en mettant l'accent sur les recouvrements entre processus de récupération et d'acquisition. Des applications potentielles en découlent dans le domaine éducatif.The experimental study of human memory has had two historic moments in the last sixty years. 1957 marks the discovery of the role of the medial temporal lobes in conscious learning. 1997 marks the discovery of two systems of declarative memory, namely episodic and semantic memories. These major breakthroughs are owed to clinical case studies in neuropsychology. This thesis follows on from the neuropsychological tradition: its genesis owes everything to a patient suffering from an atypical form of developmental amnesia, the patient KA. The starting point of this work was a thorough neuropsychological study of this patient. Two striking findings shortly arose. First, despite lifelong amnesia, KA had acquired exceptional levels of knowledge about the world. Second, remaining explicit learning abilities were restricted to meaningful, not meaningless, memoranda. As a consequence, we have investigated two research pathways in that thesis. First, we aimed at better characterizing preserved learning abilities and brain structure of the patient KA. Second, our goal was to explore how prior knowledge affects new declarative learning or, put simply, how do we learn what we know? In a first series of behavioural and neuroimaging experiments, we have shown in this patient a severe and selective damage of the whole extended hippocampal system, but preserved subhippocampal structures (entorhinal, perirhinal and parahippocampal cortex). The patient suffers from severe episodic amnesia, but we bring striking evidence for supranormal semantic knowledge as well as normal explicit learning skills. These skills were, however, restricted to familiar stimuli, that is, stimuli carrying pre-experimental knowledge. In a second series of behavioural and neuroimaging experiments, we explored the hypothesis that prior knowledge can facilitate new learning in declarative memory, even in aging or in situations where structures of the medial temporal lobe are or injured, as in amnesia or Alzheimer's disease. Our results suggest the existence of processes allowing fast learning in declarative memory, independently of the hippocampal system, and that are sensitive to the presence of pre-existing representations in long-term memory. Such learning processes appear to be selectively affected by Alzheimer's disease at the pre-dementia stage, in relation to a lack of activation of subhippocampal regions. In contrast, healthy elderly were able to rely on these learning processes to compensate for the decline in associative memory associated with aging. This work lends support to the models postulating a functional dissociation with respect to learning in declarative memory. It indeed strengthens recent neurocognitive and computational accounts that suggest a rapid neocortical learning path under certain circumstances. It highlights the dynamics of learning in declarative memory and in particular the fundamental entanglement between "knowing" and "remembering". What I know profoundly impacts what I will remember. The present thesis points towards new cognitive tools for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. It further brings evidence that medial temporal lesions differentially impact learning depending on the status of the memoranda in long-term memory, which sheds a new light on material-specific effects in amnesia. Our work speaks for a thorough consideration of whether the contents of events have prior representations within long-term memory, and to further better characterize their nature if we are to better understand learning mechanisms. It also brings additional clues for a deeper understanding of how learning and memory can be preserved in aging. More generally, it contributes to a better understanding of the factors determining successful learning, with a focus on how retrieval and acquisition processes overlap during learning. Such findings have potential applications in the educational field

    Memory consolidation effects in altered states of consciousness

    Get PDF
    Memory consolidation is the process by which new experiences are stabilized following their initial acquisition. Previous studies have shown that promoting consolidation via cueing during non-REM sleep is effective in boosting memory retrieval, while during waking states this is detrimental. Here, cued reactivation was examined amidst an artificially generated delta brainwave state (commonly found in non-REM sleep) with regard to its effect memory retrieval when compared to an ‘Awake’ state. In order to achieve this ‘Altered’ state of consciousness, binaural beat technology was used. Memory retrieval was examined using both explicit recollection and an implicit recognition memory task in an attempt to examine any differential effects on hippocampus dependent and hippocampus independent memories. During the control experiment involving an ‘Awake’ state, memory retrieval was not significantly reduced by cueing as expected when examining previous research. Similarly, during an ‘Altered’ state, no significant effect of cueing on memory was observed in either the explicit and implicit memory retrieval tasks. However, the depth of encoding appeared to greatly increase the memory recall throughout and so the possible explanations for these findings are discussed. Future iterations and improvements are outlined in an attempt to expand research into this subtle and often elusive phenomenon

    Know-how, intellectualism, and memory systems

    Get PDF
    ABSTRACTA longstanding tradition in philosophy distinguishes between knowthatand know-how. This traditional “anti-intellectualist” view is soentrenched in folk psychology that it is often invoked in supportof an allegedly equivalent distinction between explicit and implicitmemory, derived from the so-called “standard model of memory.”In the last two decades, the received philosophical view has beenchallenged by an “intellectualist” view of know-how. Surprisingly, defenders of the anti-intellectualist view have turned to the cognitivescience of memory, and to the standard model in particular, todefend their view. Here, I argue that this strategy is a mistake. As it turns out, upon closer scrutiny, the evidence from cognitivepsychology and neuroscience of memory does not support theanti-intellectualist approach, mainly because the standard modelof memory is likely wrong. However, this need not be interpretedas good news for the intellectualist, for it is not clear that theempirical evidence necessarily supp..
    corecore