Abstract
Episodic memory is the ability to consciously recollect personal past events. This type of memory has been tested in non-human animals by using depletion paradigms that assess whether they can remember the “what,” “where,” and “when” (i.e., how long ago) of a past event. An important limitation of these behavioral paradigms is that they do not clearly identify the cognitive mechanisms (e.g., episodic memory, semantic memory) that underlie task success. Testing adult humans in a depletion paradigm will help to shed light on this issue. In two experiments, we presented university undergraduates with a depletion paradigm which involved choosing one of two food snacks—a preferred but perishable food and a less preferred but non-perishable food–either after a short or a long interval. Whereas, in Experiment 1, participants were asked to imagine the time between hiding the food items and choosing one of them; in Experiment 2 participants experienced the time elapsed between hiding the food items and choosing one of them. In addition, in Experiment 2 participants were presented with 2 trials which allowed us to investigate the role of previous experience in depletion paradigms. Results across both experiments showed that participants chose the preferred and perishable food (popsicle) after the short interval but did not choose the less preferred and non-perishable food (raisins) after the long interval. Crucially, in Experiment 2 experiencing the melted popsicle in Trial l improved participants' performance in Trial 2. We discuss our results in the context of how previous experience affects performance in depletion tasks. We also argue that variations in performance on “episodic-like memory” tasks may be due to different definitions and assessment criteria of the “when” component.
Highlights
Episodic memory is a form of declarative memory that allows people to recall personally experienced events (Tulving, 1983)
Critical Choice Question Participants performed significantly better in the 3-min trial compared to the 1-h trial (χ 2 = 15.74, df = 1, p < 0.001)
Binomial tests indicated that participants chose the box containing the popsicle significantly above chance in the 3-min trial (p < 0.001) but failed to choose the box containing the raisins significantly above chance in the 1-h trial (p = 0.87)
Summary
Episodic memory is a form of declarative memory that allows people to recall personally experienced events (Tulving, 1983). A wide range of language-based paradigms (e.g., word lists, mental imagery tasks, navigation tasks, autobiographical memory questionnaires) have been used to investigate episodic memory in human adults (e.g., Tulving, 1972; Williams and Broadbent, 1986; Hassabis et al, 2007; Mullally et al, 2012). In most of these paradigms, participants are asked to describe the content of a memory and the subjective experience (i.e., type of awareness) associated with remembering this content (e.g., Levine et al, 2002; Buckner and Carroll, 2007). Relying exclusively on language-based tasks poses important challenges for testing episodic memory in non-verbal populations (e.g., pre-verbal children, non-human animals), and precludes making important comparisons across development and across species
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