Effects of retention interval on recognition memory: Electrophysiological and behavioural evidence

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Event Abstract Back to Event Effects of retention interval on recognition memory: Electrophysiological and behavioural evidence Dimitris Tsivilis1*, W El-Deredy1, N. Williams2 and J. J. Downes2 1 School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, United Kingdom 2 School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom According to dual-process theories, recognition memory is supported by two independent processes, recollection which is associated with retrieval of episodic details- and familiarity- an item-specific, non-episodic form of memory. Event-related potential (ERP) studies have linked familiarity to a mid-frontal negative going old/new effect, also known as the FN400, whereas a later onsetting (around 500 ms) parietal, positive going effect has been associated with recollection. However, these investigations have involved short retention intervals mostly in the range of a few minutes between study and test. As a result, little is known about either the memory processes that support recognition memory at longer intervals or their neural correlates. In the first experiment, we contrasted ERPs elicited during retrieval by two different sets of object pictures studied at delays of 4 weeks (remote) and 5 min (recent) prior to a recognition memory test. As expected, recognition responses showed greater accuracy and reduced latency for recent relative to remote memories. Electrophysiological analysis showed that whereas both recent and remote memories elicited the FN400, only recent memories modulated the later old/new parietal effect. A separate behavioural study using a variant of the Remember/Know procedure, found that whereas recent memories were based on both recollection and familiarity, remote memories were supported almost exclusively by familiarity, thus confirming the electrophysiological findings. Taken together the two studies provide further support for the notion that the FN400 and the late-parietal effects are the neural correlates of familiarity and recollection, respectively. Importantly, they also suggest that longer retention intervals affect not only the quantity of retrieved memories but also their quality with successful recognition of remote stimuli lacking episodic content. These are also in line with theories of remote memory which propose a gradual, time-dependant transformation of episodic to semantic memories. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Memory & Learning Citation: Tsivilis D, El-Deredy W, Williams N and Downes JJ (2008). Effects of retention interval on recognition memory: Electrophysiological and behavioural evidence. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.304 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 10 Dec 2008; Published Online: 10 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Dimitris Tsivilis, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, Dimitris.Tsivilis@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Dimitris Tsivilis W El-Deredy N. Williams J. J Downes Google Dimitris Tsivilis W El-Deredy N. Williams J. J Downes Google Scholar Dimitris Tsivilis W El-Deredy N. Williams J. J Downes PubMed Dimitris Tsivilis W El-Deredy N. Williams J. J Downes Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.