Abstract
Episodic memory retrieval is increasingly influenced by schematic information as memories mature, but it is unclear whether this is due to the slow formation of schemas over time, or the slow forgetting of the episodes. To address this, we separately probed memory for newly learned schemas as well as their influence on episodic memory decisions. In this experiment, participants encoded images from two categories, with the location of images in each category drawn from a different spatial distribution. They could thus learn schemas of category locations by encoding specific episodes. We found that images that were more consistent with these distributions were more precisely retrieved, and this schematic influence increased over time. However, memory for the schema distribution, measured using generalization to novel images, also became less precise over time. This incongruity suggests that schemas form rapidly, but their influence on episodic retrieval is dictated by the need to bolster fading memory representations.
Highlights
Episodic memory retrieval is increasingly influenced by schematic information as memories mature, but it is unclear whether this is due to the slow formation of schemas over time, or the slow forgetting of the episodes
After confirming that the precision of episodic memories decreased over time, we examined how schema-consistency interacted with this decreased precision, hypothesizing that schematic memory would have a greater influence at a longer delay
We developed behavioral measures to separately quantify memory for a schema and its influence on the retrieval of specific episodes, and we used these measures to track changes in episodic and schematic memory over time
Summary
Episodic memory retrieval is increasingly influenced by schematic information as memories mature, but it is unclear whether this is due to the slow formation of schemas over time, or the slow forgetting of the episodes. We separately probed memory for newly learned schemas as well as their influence on episodic memory decisions In this experiment, participants encoded images from two categories, with the location of images in each category drawn from a different spatial distribution. Memory for the schema distribution, measured using generalization to novel images, became less precise over time This incongruity suggests that schemas form rapidly, but their influence on episodic retrieval is dictated by the need to bolster fading memory representations. Neuroscientific theories of systems-level consolidation posit that successful retrieval of episodic memories is initially supported by the hippocampus, but, over time, memories are supported by distributed cortical regions through incremental, coordinated reactivation of memories across the hippocampus and cortex[4,5] This process is thought to underpin the slow extraction and cortical representation of statistical regularities common across overlapping episodes[6]. Schemas can develop quickly and in the absence of time-dependent processing, in contrast to predictions of systems-level consolidation models
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