A Wizard Hat for the Brain: Predicting Long-Term Memory Retention Using Electroencephalography

Learning is a ubiquitous process that transforms novel information and events into stored memory representations that can later be accessed. As a learner acquires new information, any feature of a memory that is shared with other memories may produce some level of retrieval- competition, making accurate recall more difficult. One of the most effective ways to reduce this competition and create distinct representations for potentially confusable memories is to practice retrieving all of the information through self-testing with feedback. As a person tests themself, competition between easily-confusable memories (e.g. memories that share similar visual or semantic features) decreases and memory representations for unique items are made more distinct. Using a portable, consumer-grade electroencephalography (EEG) device, I attempted to harness competition levels in the brain by training a machine learning classifier to predict long- term retention of novel associations. Specifically, I compare the accuracy of two logistic regression classifiers: one trained using existing category-word pairings (as has been done previously in the literature), and one trained using new episodic image-name associations developed to more closely model memory competition. I predicted that the newly developed classifier would be able to more accurately predict long-term retention. Further refinements to the predictive model and its applications are discussed

Shared memory for a fault-tolerant computer

A system is described for sharing a memory in a fault-tolerant computer. The memory is under the direct control and monitoring of error detecting and error diagnostic units in the fault-tolerant computer. This computer verifies that data to and from the memory is legally encoded and verifies that words read from the memory at a desired address are, in fact, actually delivered from that desired address. The means are provided for a second processor, which is independent of the direct control and monitoring of the error checking and diagnostic units of the fault-tolerant computer, and to share the memory of the fault-tolerant computer. Circuitry is included to verify that: (1) the processor has properly accessed a desired memory location in the memory; (2) a data word read-out from the memory is properly coded; and (3) no inactive memory was erroneously outputting data onto the shared memory bus

Metadata and ontologies for organizing students’ memories and learning: standards and convergence models for context awareness

Este artículo trata de las ontologías que sirven para la comprensión en contexto y la Gestión de la Información Personal (PIM)y su aplicabilidad al proyecto Memex Metadata(M2). M2 es un proyecto de investigación de la Universidad de Carolina del Norte en Chapel Hill para mejorar la memoria digital de los alumnos utilizando tablet PC, la tecnología SenseCam de Microsoft y otras tecnologías móviles(p.ej. un dispositivo de GPS) para capturar el contexto del aprendizaje. Este artículo presenta el proyecto M2, dicute el concepto de los portafolios digitales en las actuales tendencias educativas, relacionándolos con las tecnologías emergentes, revisa las ontologías relevantes y su relación con el proyecto CAF (Context Awareness Framework), y concluye identificando las líneas de investigación futuras.This paper focuses on ontologies supporting context awareness and Personal Information Management (PIM) and their applicability in Memex Metadata (M2) project. M2 is a research project of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to improve student digital memories using the tablet PC, Microsoft’s SenseCam technology, and other mobile technologies (e.g., a GPS device) to capture context. The M2 project offers new opportunities studying students’ learning with digital technologies. This paper introduces the M2 project; discusses E-portfolios and current educational trends related to pervasive computing; reviews relevant ontologies and their relationship to the projects’ CAF (context awareness framework), and concludes by identifying future research directions

Interference Conditions of the Reconsolidation Process in Humans: The Role of Valence and Different Memory Systems

Following the presentation of a reminder, consolidated memories become reactivated followed by a process of re-stabilization, which is referred to as reconsolidation. The most common behavioral tool used to reveal this process is interference produced by new learning shortly after memory reactivation. Memory interference is defined as a decrease in memory retrieval, the effect is generated when new information impairs an acquired memory. In general, the target memory and the interference task used are the same. Here we investigated how different memory systems and/or their valence could produce memory reconsolidation interference. We showed that a reactivated neutral declarative memory could be interfered by new learning of a different neutral declarative memory. Then, we revealed that an aversive implicit memory could be interfered by the presentation of a reminder followed by a threatening social event. Finally, we showed that the reconsolidation of a neutral declarative memory is unaffected by the acquisition of an aversive implicit memory and conversely, this memory remains intact when the neutral declarative memory is used as interference. These results suggest that the interference of memory reconsolidation is effective when two task rely on the same memory system or both evoke negative valence.Fil: Fernández, Rodrigo Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; ArgentinaFil: Bavassi, Mariana Luz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Kaczer, Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; ArgentinaFil: Forcato, Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; ArgentinaFil: Pedreira, Maria Eugenia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; Argentin

Get the gist? The effects of processing depth on false recognition in short-term and long-term memory

Gist-based processing has been proposed to account for robust false memories in the converging-associates task. The deep-encoding processes known to enhance verbatim memory also strengthen gist memory and increase distortions of long-term memory (LTM). Recent research has demonstrated that compelling false memory illusions are relatively delay-invariant, also occurring under canonical short-term memory (STM) conditions. To investigate the contributions of gist to false memory at short and long delays, processing depth was manipulated as participants encoded lists of four semantically related words and were probed immediately, following a filled 3- to 4-s retention interval, or approximately 20 min later, in a surprise recognition test. In two experiments, the encoding manipulation dissociated STM and LTM on the frequency, but not the phenomenology, of false memory. Deep encoding at STM increases false recognition rates at LTM, but confidence ratings and remember/know judgments are similar across delays and do not differ as a function of processing depth. These results suggest that some shared and some unique processes underlie false memory illusions at short and long delays

Imagining biosocial communities: HIV, risk and gay and bisexual men in the North East of England

Many critics have charted an increasing biomedical and individualised approach to HIV prevention among gay and bisexual men, citing a significant shift in HIV policy and practice away from the community-based approaches to HIV prevention which characterised early responses. However, this dichotomous approach to ‘the biomedical or the social’ fails to capture the complex ways in which community-based approaches and sexual practice are already inextricably linked with the biomedical. This article explores how biomedical constructions of risk are embedded in the community-based bodily management and sexual practice of gay and bisexual men in the North East of England. Drawing on Paul Rabinow’s concept of ‘biosociality’, the article proposes the notion of an imagined biosocial community: a community of gay and bisexual men who are affected by and at risk of HIV. Through this lens, the article explores how biomedical and sexual negotiations are situated in a broader history of illness, sexual politics and community. The article considers the importance of the biomedical in managing the body and the on-going significance of memory, community formation and identity in relation to ‘AIDS’. It then explores how the interplay of these elements is deployed or threatened within these imagined community norms of sexual practice, where responsibility to others is critical. In paying attention to an imagined biosocial community, this article demonstrates how perceptions of and adherence to imagined community sexual practice remain critical in addressing risk of HIV in an increasingly biomedicalised context