A rapid, neural measure of implicit recognition memory using fast periodic visual stimulation

George Stothart,Laura J Smith,Alexander Milton

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116628

George Stothart, Laura J Smith + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116628

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Journal: NeuroImage	Publication Date: Feb 8, 2020
Citations: 2	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: University of Bath, University of Bristol

Abstract

Fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS) has recently emerged as a powerful new tool in cognitive neuroscience. Capable of measuring a range of cognitive functions in single subjects in just minutes of recording time, it has been adapted to measure visual, semantic and linguistic processing. We present a new adaptation of the FPVS approach to measure recognition memory via old/new contrasts. Twenty one subjects (23 (±6) yrs, 7 males) completed an FPVS-oddball paradigm that assessed their spontaneous ability to differentiate between rapidly presented images on the basis of a pre-FPVS encoding task, i.e. oddball stimuli were only defined by the subject’s experimentally induced memory of them. A clear oddball detection response reflecting recognition memory was observed within one minute of EEG recording time, simply through the passive viewing of stimuli, i.e. subjects received no task instructions and provided no behavioural response. Performance on a subsequent behavioural recognition task showed high levels of recognition of the oddball stimuli. As such, the FPVS approach returned an objective, non-verbal measure of recognition memory in just one minute of recording time, free from the confounds of behavioural recognition tasks. This finding reinforces the adaptability of the FPVS approach for the examination of higher-level cognition and provides a new method for the neural measurement of recognition memory.

Highlights

Reliable objective measures of cognition are key experimental and clinical goals of cognitive neuroscience
The current study aims to adapt the Fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS) technique to provide an objective measure of visual recognition memory, detectable in minutes, which requires no behavioural recognition response or comprehension of the task
Post-FPVS recognition task In the pre-FPVS encoding condition all subjects performed at ceiling in correctly identifying the oddball images they had been asked to remember

Summary

Introduction

Reliable objective measures of cognition are key experimental and clinical goals of cognitive neuroscience. Electroencephalography (EEG) provides a non-invasive objective measure of neural activity that has been used to examine a wide range of cognitive processes from perception through to higher order cognition (Polich et al, 2008; Pratt, 2011), as well as functional network properties (Khanna et al, 2015; Stam, 2014). Despite decades of experimental progress the clinical use of EEG remains remarkably limited, with current common clinical uses restricted to identifying epileptiform activity (Noachtar and Remi, 2009), studying sleep disorders (Petit et al, 2004) and measuring gross spectral changes in disorders of consciousness (Brenner, 2005). Differences observed in group grand average waveforms may be absent in any one individual’s average, and there are further sources of bias and inter-experiment variability in the selection of electrodes, time windows and quantification methods that further hamper the reliability and reproducibility of results (Kappenman and Keil, 2017)

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