The influence of recollection and familiarity in the formation and updating of associative representations

Prior representations affect future learning. Little is known, however, about the effects of recollective or familiarity-based representations on such learning. We investigate the ability to reuse or reassociate elements from recollection- and familiarity-based associations to form new associations. Past neuropsychological research suggests that hippocampal, and presumably recollective, representations are more flexible than extra-hippocampal, presumably familiarity-based, representations. We therefore hypothesize that the elements of recollective associations, as opposed to familiarity-based representations, may be more easily manipulated and decoupled from each other, and facilitate the formation of new associations. To investigate this hypothesis we used the AB/AC learning paradigm. Across two recall studies we observed an advantage in learning AC word pairs if AB word pairs were initially recollected. Furthermore, AB word pairs were more likely to intrude during a final AC test if those AB word pairs were initially familiarity-based. A third experiment using a recognition version of the AB/AC paradigm ruled out the possibility that our findings were due to memory strength. Our results support the idea that elements in recollective associative traces may be more discretely coded, leading to their flexible use, whereas elements in familiarity-based associative traces are less flexible

BELIEVABLE BUT NOT MEMORABLE: EXAMINING THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE BELIEVABILITY AND MEMORABILITY OF EVIDENCE AS IT AFFECTS INFERENCES

Dual-process theories of reasoning (e.g., Gilbert, 1991; Stanovich & West, 1997) posit that decisions are mediated by two cognitive systems: a fast and automatic system which sometimes relies on past knowledge, and a conscious and effortful system which is more likely to adhere to the rules of logic. Dual-process accounts of memory (e.g., Joordens & Hockley, 2000) suggest that memory is influenced by two cognitive systems: a fast and automatic familiarity component, and a conscious and effortful recollection component. Both accounts suggest that cognition relies on two underlying systems, which are described similarly in the two literatures, suggesting some form of convergence in these two areas of research. Memory research may therefore be informed by considering decision making research, and vice versa. Combining these two theoretical perspectives, it follows that believable evidence should be less memorable than unbelievable evidence due to its shallow initial processing. Despite this fact however, when inferences are being made based on evidence retrieved from memory, believable evidence should actually have a larger impact than it does when it is provided online, whereas no change or a lesser impact should be noted for unbelievable evidence. Across 3 experiments these predictions are validated, suggesting that the impact of evidence on inferences depends not only on the believability of that evidence, but also on whether the decision is being made online or from memory. Specifically, memory-based inferences exaggerate the influence of believable but not unbelievable evidence, despite the fact that unbelievable evidence is more memorable

Is Free Recall Actually Superior to Cued Recall? Introducing the Recognized Recall Procedure to Examine the Costs and Benefits of Cueing

A vast literature and our own common sense tell us that free recall (i.e., recalling information without hints) is harder and less successful than cued recall (i.e., recalling information with hints). In this dissertation, I argue that in past work free and cued recall has not been directly comparable because cued recall procedures encourage guessing and the nature of the cues promotes accurate guesses. These biases often inflate cued recall performance above free recall, creating the illusion that cued recall is superior to free recall. To control for these issues, I introduce the recognized recall procedure. Recognized recall requires subjects to produce a word on every test trial and subsequently to recognize those produced words as “old” or “new.” Across eight experiments with recognized recall, it is demonstrated that cueing does help subjects produce more studied words than in free recall, however, subjects are often unable to recognize those extra words produced. Worse yet, false memories are observed to rise in all cases of cueing. Three subsequent experiments demonstrate that cueing fails to improve recall consistently because cues do not always cue the same meaning of the word as was encoded at study. A final experiment demonstrates that free associates of studied words produced by subjects can be highly effective at improving memory if used as cues at test. It is concluded that cues can improve memory if they are specific to the study episode but can often lead to a rise in false memories. Thus, in terms of consistently optimizing accurate recall while minimizing false memories, free recall may actually be superior to cued recall

119— The Role of Post-Encoding Retrieval on Cognitive and Neural Representations of Spatial Environments

Spatial memory is an important ability for navigating around one’s surrounding environment. However, due to the challenges of developing experimental paradigms that utilize large scale, real-world environments, little research has analyzed, in detail, the development of cognitive maps over time. Past research in rodents has shown that hippocampal place-cells replay during periods of quiet wakefulness, suggesting that mental replay of recent spatial experiences is tied to the development of cognitive maps. In humans, we hypothesize that the development of cognitive maps could therefore be manipulated by having participants selectively recall recent navigational experiences. We analyzed the development of cognitive maps for novel, real-world spatial environments in two groups, a spatial sequencing group (SSG) and rote-retrieval group (RRG), over a period of 2 weeks using Google Street View software. After navigating through the environment, participants’ spatial memories were tested with either rote retrieval or spatial sequencing recognition tests. Our preliminary results suggest the RRG was more successful navigating previously learned routes than the SSG with more practice on the trained routes, whereas the SSG may have developed some ability to discover shortcuts by being encouraged to think more broadly about the routes they were learning, and not rely on memorization

Recollection-dependent memory for event duration in large-scale spatial navigation

Time and space represent two key aspects of episodic memories, forming the spatiotemporal context of events in a sequence. Little is known, however, about how temporal information, such as the duration and the order of particular events, are encoded into memory, and if it matters whether the memory representation is based on recollection or familiarity. To investigate this issue, we used a real world virtual reality navigation paradigm where periods of navigation were interspersed with pauses of different durations. Crucially, participants were able to reliably distinguish the durations of events that were subjectively reexperienced (i.e., recollected), but not of those that were familiar. This effect was not found in temporal order (ordinal) judgments. We also show that the active experience of the passage of time (holding down a key while waiting) moderately enhanced duration memory accuracy. Memory for event duration, therefore, appears to rely on the hippocampally supported ability to recollect or reexperience an event enabling the reinstatement of both its duration and its spatial context, to distinguish it from other events in a sequence. In contrast, ordinal memory appears to rely on familiarity and recollection to a similar extent. © 2017 Brunec et al

Reverse production effect: Children recognize novel words better when they are heard rather than produced

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Tania S. Zamuner, Stephanie Strahm, Elizabeth Morin-Lessard, and Michael P. A. Page, 'Reverse production effect: children recognize novel words better when they are heard rather than produced', Developmental Science, which has been published in final form at DOI 10.1111/desc.12636. Under embargo until 15 November 2018. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.This research investigates the effect of production on 4.5- to 6-year-old children’s recognition of newly learned words. In Experiment 1, children were taught four novel words in a produced or heard training condition during a brief training phase. In Experiment 2, children were taught eight novel words, and this time training condition was in a blocked design. Immediately after training, children were tested on their recognition of the trained novel words using a preferential looking paradigm. In both experiments, children recognized novel words that were produced and heard during training, but demonstrated better recognition for items that were heard. These findings are opposite to previous results reported in the literature with adults and children. Our results show that benefits of speech production for word learning are dependent on factors such as task complexity and the developmental stage of the learner.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Cognitive mapping style relates to posterior-anterior hippocampal volume ratio

As London taxi drivers acquire ‘the knowledge’ and develop a detailed cognitive map of London, their posterior hippocampi (pHPC) gradually increase in volume, reflecting an increasing pHPC/aHPC volume ratio. In the mnemonic domain, greater pHPC/aHPC volume ratios in young adults have been found to relate to better recollection ability, indicating that the balance between pHPC and aHPC volumes might be reflective of cross-domain individual differences. Here, we examined participants’ self-reported use of cognitive map-based navigational strategies in relation to their pHPC/aHPC hippocampal volume ratio. We find that greater reported cognitive map use was related to significantly greater posterior, relative to anterior, hippocampal volume in two separate samples of young adults. Further, greater reported cognitive map usage correlated with better performance on a self-initiated navigation task. Together, these data help to advance our understanding of differences between aHPC and pHPC and the greater role of pHPC in spatial mapping

Cognitive mapping style relates to posterior-anterior hippocampal volume ratio

As London taxi drivers acquire "the knowledge" and develop a detailed cognitive map of London, their posterior hippocampi (pHPC) gradually increase in volume, reflecting an increasing pHPC/aHPC volume ratio. In the mnemonic domain, greater pHPC/aHPC volume ratios in young adults have been found to relate to better recollection ability, indicating that the balance between pHPC and aHPC volumes might be reflective of cross-domain individual differences. Here, we examined participants' self-reported use of cognitive map-based navigational strategies in relation to their pHPC/aHPC hippocampal volume ratio. We find that greater reported cognitive map use was related to significantly greater posterior, relative to anterior, hippocampal volume in two separate samples of young adults. Further, greater reported cognitive map usage correlated with better performance on a self-initiated navigation task. Together, these data help to advance our understanding of differences between aHPC and pHPC and the greater role of pHPC in spatial mapping

Capturing egocentric biases in reference reuse during collaborative dialogue

Words that are produced aloud—and especially self-produced ones—are remembered better than words that are not, a phenomenon labeled the production effect in the field of memory research. Two experiments were conducted to determine whether this effect can be generalized to dialogue, and how it might affect dialogue management. Triads (Exp. 1) or dyads (Exp. 2) of participants interacted to perform a collaborative task. Analyzing reference reuse during the interaction revealed that the participants were more likely to reuse the references that they had presented themselves, on the one hand, and those that had been accepted through verbatim repetition, on the other. Analyzing reference recall suggested that the greater accessibility of self-presented references was only transient. Moreover, among partner-presented references, those discussed while the participant had actively taken part in the conversation were more likely to be recalled than those discussed while the participant had been inactive. These results contribute to a better understanding of how individual memory processes might contribute to collaborative dialogue

Hippocampal and retrosplenial goal distance coding after long-term consolidation of a real-world environment

Recent research indicates the hippocampus may code the distance to the goal during navigation of newly learned environments. It is unclear however, whether this also pertains to highly familiar environments where extensive systems-level consolidation is thought to have transformed mnemonic representations. Here we recorded fMRI while University College London and imperial College London students navigated virtual simulations of their own familiar campus (> 2 years of exposure) and the other campus learned days before scanning. Posterior hippocampal activity tracked the distance to the goal in the newly learned campus, as well as in familiar environments when the future route contained many turns. By contrast retrosplenial cortex only tracked the distance to the goal in the familiar campus. All of these responses were abolished when participants were guided to their goal by external cues. These results open new avenues of research on navigation and consolidation of spatial information and underscore the notion that the hippocampus continues to play a role in navigation when detailed processing of the environment is needed for navigation