Abstract
Neural activity preceding memory probes differs according to retrieval goals. These divergences have been linked to retrieval orientations, which are content-specific memory states that bias retrieval towards specific contents. Here, participants were cued to retrieve either spatial location or encoding operations. On the first trial of each memory task (‘switch’ trials), preparatory ERPs preceding correct source memory judgments differed according to retrieval goal, but this effect was absent preceding memory errors. Initiating appropriate retrieval orientations therefore predicted criterial recollection. Preparatory ERPs on the second trial of each memory task (i.e. ‘stay’ trials) also differed according to retrieval goal, but the polarity of this effect was reversed from that observed on switch trials and the effect did not predict memory accuracy. This was interpreted as a correlate of retrieval orientation maintenance, with initiation and maintenance forming dissociable components of these goal-directed memory states. More generally, these findings highlight the importance of pre-retrieval processes in episodic memory.
Highlights
The retrieval of information from episodic memory is guided by control processes, including those that operate prior to retrieval, preparing us to search our memories for specific kinds of information
While a large number of EEG and fMRI studies have examined the influence of different episodic memory goals on neural activity during retrieval, there has been little evidence that these measures of retrieval orientation facilitate retrieval success
While pre-retrieval EEG/event-related potentials (ERPs) have been linked with subsequent source memory accuracy in a small number of studies, these have all used a single memory task (Addante et al, 2011; Herron and Evans, 2018; Xia et al, 2018)
Summary
The retrieval of information from episodic memory is guided by control processes, including those that operate prior to retrieval, preparing us to search our memories for specific kinds of information. A further series of studies reported additional divergences between event-related potentials (ERPs) time-locked to pre-stimulus cues signalling different episodic tasks (Herron et al, 2016; Herron and Wilding, 2004, 2006b) These cues directed participants to prepare to retrieve either the physical spatial location (left or right of fixation) or the encoding operations associated with test items, and the associated preparatory divergences were characterised as correlates of distinct content-specific retrieval orientations. A further EEG study explored pre-retrieval oscillations during a source memory task which required participants to remember the encoding task associated with each test item (Addante et al, 2011) These authors reported that fronto-parietal theta predicted the successful recollection of encoding task information. The design of this experiment permitted an exploration of whether within-task preparatory memory effects (i.e. neural activity differentiating subsequent source memory success from errors) are equivalent across the two memory tasks or whether they differ according to episodic content
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