Understanding Everyday Events: Predictive Looking Errors Drive Memory Updating

peer reviewedMemory-guided predictions can improve event comprehension by guiding attention and the eyes to the location where an actor is about to perform an action. But when events change, viewers may experience predictive looking errors and need to update their memories. In two experiments (Ns = 38 and 111), we examined the consequences of mnemonic predictive looking errors for comprehending and remembering event changes. University students watched movies of everyday activities with actions that repeated exactly and actions that repeated with changed features—for example, an actor reached for a paper towel on one occasion and a dish towel on the next. Memory guidance led to predictive looking errors that were associated with better memory for subsequently changed event features. These results indicate that retrieving recent event features can guide predictions during unfolding events, and that error signals derived from mismatches between mnemonic predictions and actual events contribute to new learning.Mind-wandering in everyday event comprehension: Memory, attention, and the brai

Episodic Memory Impairment in Children and Adolescents at Risk for Schizophrenia: A Role for Context Processing

This project examines free recall and recognition performance in children and adolescents who are at varying risk for schizophrenia