The formation of source memory under distraction.

Heekyeong Park,Fernando Leal,James D Schaeffer,Cheryl Abellanoza

doi:10.1186/1744-9081-10-40

Heekyeong Park, Fernando Leal + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-10-40

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Abstract

BackgroundIt is vital to select and process relevant information while restraining irrelevant information for successful retrieval. When multiple streams of information are concurrently present, the ability to overcome distraction is very crucial for processing relevant information. Despite its significance, the neural mechanism of successful memory formation under distraction remains unclear, especially with memory for associations. The present fMRI study investigated the effect of distraction due to irrelevant stimuli in source memory.MethodsIn the MR scanner, participants studied an item and perceptual context with no distractor, a letter-distractor, or a word-distractor. Following the study phase, a source recognition test was administered in which participants were instructed to judge the study status of the test items and context of studied items. Participants’ encoding activity was back-sorted by later source recognition to find the influence of distractors in subsequent memory effects.ResultsSource memory with distractors recruited greater encoding activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the bilateral inferior temporal gyrus/fusiform cortex, along with the left posterior hippocampus. However, enhanced activity in the left anterior ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the left parahippocampal cortex predicted successful source memory regardless of the presence of a distractor.ConclusionsThese findings of subsequent memory effects suggest that strong binding of the item-context associations, as well as resistance to interference, may have greater premium in the formation of successful source memory of pictures under distraction. Further, attentional selection to the relevant target seems to play a major role in contextual binding under distraction by enhancing the viability of memory representations from interference effects of distractors.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1744-9081-10-40) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

It is vital to select and process relevant information while restraining irrelevant information for successful retrieval
The understanding of episodic memory requires the specification of neural mechanisms involved in forming memory representations when an irrelevant distractor interferes with encoding of the target
The present study implicates the importance of the posterior hippocampus in forming memory associations under distraction, arguably the most ubiquitous form of learning and memory in modern society

Summary

Introduction

It is vital to select and process relevant information while restraining irrelevant information for successful retrieval. When multiple streams of information are concurrently present, the ability to overcome distraction is very crucial for processing relevant information. The neural mechanism of successful memory formation under distraction remains unclear, especially with memory for associations. As information processing under distraction has become ubiquitous in modern society, processing relevant information from multiple streams of incoming information constitutes an important aspect of human cognition. Successful formation of source memory while filtering out irrelevant stimuli poses a significant challenge in cognitive capacity. Despite the prevalence of multiple streams of incoming information and the importance of successful source memory in daily life, neural correlates of source memory under distraction are relatively poorly understood

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