Referential processing places high demands on hippocampal declarative memory

<div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Duff, M.C., & Kurczek, J. (2012, October). Referential processing places high demands on hippocampal declarative memory. <i>Poster presentation at the Society for the Neurobiology of Language Conference</i>, San Sebastian, Spain.</p><p>• In a preliminary study of referential processing in patients with bilateral hippocampal damage and severe and selective declarative memory impairment we reported disruptions; these patients produced fewer cohesive ties, the adequacy of their ties were more often judged to be incomplete, and ratings of their local coherence were consistently lower than comparison participants (Kurczek & Duff, 2011) </p> <p>• Here we extend this line of work by performing a more extensive examination of discourse cohesion and coherence in patients with hippocampal amnesia across a variety of narrative tasks </p> </div> </div> </div> </div

Hippocampal amnesia disrupts episodic memory and narrative construction

Duff, M.C., & Kurczek, J. (2013, April). Hippocampal amnesia disrupts episodic memory and narrative construction. <i>Poster presentation at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference</i>, San Francisco, CA.<div> <div> <div> <div> <p><br></p><p>• Hallmark processing features of the hippocampus include its relational binding and representational flexibility (Eichenbaum & Cohen, 2001). Recent findings demonstrate that these same processes are engaged on-line in service of supporting behavior in the moment (Hannula & Ranganath, 2008 Barense et al., 2007; Warren et al., 2011). </p> <p>• This functionality of the hippocampus has been linked to cognitive abilities beyond its traditional role in long-term declarative (relational) memory including language. Duff and Brown-Schmidt (2012) have proposed that the functionality of the hippocampus positions it as a key contributor to language use and processing. Indeed, patients with hippocampal damage have a variety of deficits in the flexible and creative use of language and in the on-line processing of language (Duff & Brown-Schmidt, 2012). </p> <p>• An on-going debate is the whether deficits in the production of narrative elements, across either personal stories or picture descriptions/narratives, represent solely an impairment in memory (Race et al., 2011; 2013) or a more basic impairment in cognitive functioning outside of memory (Gasser et al., 2011; Zeman et al., 2012). </p> <p>• Here, we examine narrative in patients with hippocampal amnesia and analyze their narrative productions using methods from both the memory and language literatures. Based on our proposal about the role of hippocampus in language use, including narratives, we predict that hippocampal damage and relational memory impairment will disrupt narrative production across a variety of memory and language measures. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div

Use of the historical present in the narratives of patients with hippocampal amnesia

<div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Kurczek, J. & Duff, M.C. (2013, November). Use of the historical present in the narratives of patients with hippocampal amnesia. <i>Poster presentation at the Society for Neuroscience Conference</i>, San Diego, CA.</p><p>Indeed, systematic study of the narratives of patients with memory impairments has been a powerful tool in documenting and characterizing the nature of declarative memory impairment in amnesia (e.g., Hassabis et al., 2007; Duff et al., 2007; Race et al., 2011; Duff & Kurczek, 2013). " </p> <p>Park and colleagues (2011) examined the use of the linguistic construct historical present (HP) in the narratives of individuals with unilateral TLE. Historical present is the use of a present tense verb when clearly referring to a past event. They found not only fewer instances of the HP in narratives of TLE patients in comparison to matched healthy participants, but also a relationship between HP and measures of recollection for past narratives. Thus, HP is thought to reflect the conscious experiencing of recollection." </p> <p>Here, we extend the study of the HP to the narratives of patients with bilateral hippocampal damage and, in addition narratives of past events, also examine narratives for future events. Based on work by Park and colleagues and our proposal that the hippocampus is a key contributor to language use and processing (Duff & Brown-Schmidt, 2012), we predict that hippocampal damage and relational memory impairment will disrupt the use of the HP in past and future narratives." </p> </div> </div> </div> </div

The Neural Substrates of Creative Thinking

<div>Kurczek, J. & Duff, M. C. (2012, May). The neural substrates of creative thinking. <i>Paper presentation at the Conceptual Structure, Discourse, and Language Conference (CSDL)</i>, Vancouver, BC, Canada.</div><div><br></div>A neuropsychological investigation of creative thinkin

Stability and consistency of narrative production across time in hippocampal amnesia

<div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Kurczek, J., & Duff, M.C. (2016, April). Stability and consistency of narrative production across time in hippocampal amnesia <i>Poster presentation at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting.</i> New York, New York.</p><p> The critical role of the hippocampus and related medial temporal lobe regions in the formation of new enduring memories (i.e., long-term memory) and in their subsequent retrieval is well established. </p> <p>• Hippocampal dependent declarative (relational) memory has two hallmark features; relational (or associative) memory binding and the flexible expression of memory (Eichenbaum & Cohen, 2001). </p> <p>• An important aspect of memory is its ability to be flexibly and constructively recalled in novel contexts. Here we measure episodic and semantic memories in two contexts, one in which the same narratives were told and retold over the course of a month and a second in which the same narratives were told from different perspectives. </p> <p>• Few studies have investigated the role of damage to the hippocampus in telling memories/narratives over time. Evidence from individuals with depression (Semkovska et al., 2012) suggests that individuals with hippocampal damage will be less consistent when retrieving memories and retelling narratives. </p> <p>• We rarely just tell the same story in the same way. Different contextual demands (e.g., people, setting, purpose) drives telling different versions of memories. Findings here may address how damage to the hippocampus affects integrating both past (i.e., having told the stories previously) and current demands (i.e. updating the story to tell a new perspective) when attempting to re-construct both personal (episodic) and semantic narratives. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div

Coherence, cohesion, and declarative memory: Discourse patterns in patients with hippocampal amnesia

Kurczek, J., & Duff, M.C. (2010, May). Cohesion, coherence and declarative memory: Discourse patterns in patients with hippocampal amnesia. <i>Poster presentation at the Clinical Aphasiology Conference (CAC)</i>, Charleston, SC. (Abstract) Aphasiology, 24 (7-8).<div> <div> <div> <div> <p><br></p><p>Defined as surface indicators of relations within and between sentences (Halliday & Hasan, 1976), cohesive ties are a linguistic device that gives our communication continuity, allowing us to make connections across utterances, speakers, and topics. Given that we routinely return to and elaborate on conversations across long stretches of interaction (days and longer), cohesive ties also link our communicative histories across time. </p> <p>• Investigations of discourse cohesion, and coherence, have been fruitful in indentifying discourse level impairments in individuals with various cognitive-communication impairments (e.g., TBI, dementia). </p> <p>• Deficits in working memory (e.g, Dijkstra et al., 2004; Youse & Coelho, 2005), executive function (e.g., Glosser & Deser, 1990), and broad cognitive dysfunction (e.g., Davis & Coelho, 2004) have all been associated with impairments in cohesion and coherence in patients with TBI and dementia. </p> <p>• We believe there are compelling reasons to investigate the contribution of declarative memory to cohesion and coherence. Taking advantage of a rare patient group with selective and severe declarative memory impairments, the current study is an attempt to isolate the contribution of declarative memory to cohesion and coherence in discourse. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div

Effects of hippocampal amnesia on discourse following traumatic brain injury

<div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Duff, M. C. & Kurczek, J. (2011, November), Effects of hippocampal amnesia on discourse following tramatic brain injury. <i>Poster presentation at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)</i>, San Diego, CA.</p><p>We reported the case of AK, who despite a profound anterograde amnesia had a remarkable functional outcome in terms of academic, vocational, and interpersonal success (Duff et al, 2008a). She demonstrated a keen sense of self-awareness and insight into her deficits. Particularly striking was AK’s ability to conceal her memory impairment in everyday settings including in her social interactions. </p> <p>In a separate line of work, we have been investigating the contribution of declarative memory to meeting the real-world demands that communication places on language-and-memory-in-use by studying the discourse practices of a group of individuals with hippocampal amnesia. In previous studies we have reported a number of discourse level impairments in patients with amnesia (Duff et al., 2007; 2008b; 2009; 2011; Kurczek & Duff, 2011). </p> <p>Here we examine the discourse of AK and three demographically matched comparison participants across microlinguistic, macrolinguisitc, and interactional measures. Of particular interest was whether her discourse abilities differs significantly from those individuals with amnesia we have previously studied and if her discourse contributes to her unique profile and successful outcome. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div

Declarative memory and discursive cohesion in hippocampal amnesia

<div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Kurczek, J., & Duff, M.C. (2010, October). Declarative memory and discursive cohesion in hippocampal amnesia. <i>Poster presentation at the Iowa Speech Hearing Association (ISHA)</i>, Iowa City, IA.</p><p>Originally defined as surface indicators of relations within and between sentences (Halliday & Hasan, 1976), cohesive ties are a linguistic device that gives our communication continuity, allowing us to make connections across utterances, speakers, and topics. Given that we routinely return to and elaborate on conversations across long stretches of interaction (days, weeks, and longer), cohesive ties also link our communicative histories across time.<br> •Investigations of discourse cohesion, and coherence, have been particularly fruitful in indentifying discourse level impairments in individuals with various cognitive-communication impairments (e.g., TBI, dementia).<br> •While deficits in working memory (e.g, Dijkstra et al., 2004; Youse & Coelho, 2005), executive function (e.g., Glosser & Deser, 1990), and broad cognitive dysfunction (e.g., Davis & Coelho, 2004) have all been associated with impairments in cohesion and coherence, the diffuse nature of the pathology and the constellation of observed cognitive deficits associated with TBI and dementia have made identification of a specific underlying cognitive impairment to explain these disruptions difficult. •We believe there are compelling reasons to investigate the contribution of declarative memory to cohesion and coherence. Taking advantage of a rare patient group with selective and severe declarative memory impairments, the current study is an attempt to isolate the contribution of declarative memory to cohesion and coherence in discourse. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div

Damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex disrupts nonconscious facial mimicry

<div> <div> <div> <div> <div>Kurczek, J., Gupta, R., & Duff, M. (2012, April). Damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex disrupts nonconscious facial mimicry. <i>Poster presentation at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS)</i>, Chicago, IL.</div><ul> <li> <p>•  When exposed to emotional facial expressions, people nonconsciously mimic the expression (Dimberg & Petterson, 2000; Dimberg et al., 2000). </p> </li> <li> <p>•  Muscle groups associated with the production of a given expression become more active when viewing that expression compared to other facial expressions (i.e., greater activity of zygomaticus major when viewing happy expressions compared to angry; greater activity of corrugator supercilli when viewing angry expressions compared to happy) (Dimberg & Petterson, 2000; Dimberg et al., 2000). </p> </li> <li> <p>•  This nonconscious facial mimicry may contribute to the ability to recognize, understand, and empathize with anothers’ emotions and may contribute to the pervasive impairments in social and emotional functioning in individuals with ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) damage (e.g., Anderson et al., 2006). </p> </li> <li> <p>•  We hypothesized that vmPFC damage would impair nonconscious facial mimicry and used facial EMG to record muscle activity as vmPFC and matched healthy participants viewed emotional facial expressions. </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div

I’d tell you a story if I could: The role of hippocampal declarative memory in narrative construction

<div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Cohen, A.*, Kurczek J., & Duff, M. C. (2012, July). I’d tell you a story if I could: The role of hippocampal declarative memory in narrative construction. <i>Poster presentation at the University of Iowa Summer Undergraduate Research Conference</i>, Iowa City, IA.</p><p> The hippocampus has long been considered critical for declarative memory as hippocampal damage produces anterograde amnesia (i.e., an inability to form new memories). </p> <p>• Anterograde amnesia compromises the ability to create, update and juxtapose mental representations that can be used in service of declarative memory. Patients with amnesia, however, have been considered to have intact remote memory and an otherwise unremarkable neuropsychological profile (i.e., their sole deficit is forming new declarative memories). </p> <p>• However, new research suggests that the functioning of the hippocampus may extend beyond its contributions to memory to affect language (Duff & Brown- Schmidt, 2012). For example, the ability to create and tell stories requires the ability to bring together multiple representations. </p> <p>• When telling an autobiographical account or spontaneously creating a story individuals with amnesia may omit “episodic-like” details, such as time, place, and emotional states specific to the event and include more extraneous (i.e., semantic) details. </p> <p>• This research investigates narrative abilities in individuals with amnesia. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div