Memory Accuracy Research Articles

A Study of the Emotional and Cognitive Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Nature Virtual Reality (VR) Videos on Mobile Terminals

Research Highlights: This study examined the emotional and cognitive health benefits of nature in comparison with working memory training. It considered the long-term effects, the application of mobile terminal technology, and routine-based approaches with the aim of integrating nature’s health benefits into people’s daily lives. Background and Objectives: Infectious diseases and aging may limit people’s activities indoors; the recovery effect of nature has been widely recognized, and terminal technology is developing rapidly. In this context, we want to explore the emotional and cognitive effects of viewing nature (VR) videos on mobile devices for a long time. Materials and Methods: The experiment employed a between-subjects design, with participants being randomly assigned to one of four groups: a forest VR video group, a water VR group, a working memory training group, and a control group. The participants watched the video three times a week for 20 min each for four weeks. The number of valid participants for compliance, preference, and willingness was 136, and the number of valid participants for the study of emotional and cognitive effects was 62. Brief Profile of Mood States (BPOMS) scales, running memory accuracy, shifting cost, etc., were used as indicators to reflect emotions and cognition. A repeated measures analysis of variance was performed on these indicators at four groups × two time points (pretest/post-test). Results: ① There were no significant differences in the participants’ adherence, preferences, and willingness to watch different natural videos and perform working memory training. ② Long-term home training (e.g., watching VR nature videos or working memory training) may have had a minimal effect on emotional responses to mobile terminals. However, home training may be more conducive to the stabilization of anger. ③ Watching forest VR videos had a positive effect on the updating function of the brain; watching water VR videos was beneficial for the shifting function and automatic processing speed; and working memory training had a positive effect on the updating and shifting functions. Conclusions: There were no significant differences in adherence, preference, willingness, and effects on emotion and cognition between long-term forest VR video viewing, water VR video viewing, and working memory training on mobile terminals. All three types of home training may be beneficial for the stabilization of emotion (especially anger), and all can have some positive effects on cognition.

Images with harder-to-reconstruct visual representations leave stronger memory traces.

Much of what we remember is not because of intentional selection, but simply a by-product of perceiving. This raises a foundational question about the architecture of the mind: how does perception interface with and influence memory? Here, inspired by a classic proposal relating perceptual processing to memory durability, the level-of-processing theory, we present a sparse coding model for compressing feature embeddings of images, and show that the reconstruction residuals from this model predict how well images are encoded into memory. In an open memorability dataset of scene images, we show that reconstruction error not only explains memory accuracy, but also response latencies during retrieval, subsuming, in the latter case, all of the variance explained by powerful vision-only models. We also confirm a prediction of this account with 'model-driven psychophysics'. This work establishes reconstruction error as an important signal interfacing perception and memory, possibly through adaptive modulation of perceptual processing.

The role of theta and gamma oscillations in item memory, source memory, and memory confidence.

Theta and gamma oscillations have been linked to episodic memory processes in various studies. Both oscillations seem to be vital for processes guided by the medial temporal lobe, such as the retrieval of information from memory. While theta oscillations increase with successful memory, it is unclear what the unique contribution of theta is to various subcomponents of memory. On the other hand, memory-related gamma oscillations have been mainly reported in the hippocampus, leaving the role of neocortical gamma in memory underexplored. In this study, we investigated how unique variability in memory accuracy and memory confidence contributes to fluctuations in theta and gamma power. To this end, we recorded EEG from 54 participants while they performed a source memory task. From this task we obtained their item memory accuracy, source memory accuracy, item memory confidence, and source memory confidence. These behavioral measures were put in a trial-by-trial linear mixed effects model to uncover their unique contribution to the oscillatory power in frontal and parietal regions. Our results are in line with the involvement of theta oscillations in both memory accuracy and confidence, but seem to indicate a main role for theta oscillations in memory-related confidence. In addition, we found that gamma oscillations play various roles in memory processing, dependent on brain region.

Neural correlates of retrospective memory confidence during face-name associative learning.

The ability to accurately assess one's own memory performance during learning is essential for adaptive behavior, but the brain mechanisms underlying this metamemory function are not well understood. We investigated the neural correlates of memory accuracy and retrospective memory confidence in a face-name associative learning task using magnetoencephalography in healthy young adults (n = 32). We found that high retrospective confidence was associated with stronger occipital event-related fields during encoding and widespread event-related fields during retrieval compared to low confidence. On the other hand, memory accuracy was linked to medial temporal activities during both encoding and retrieval, but only in low-confidence trials. A decrease in oscillatory power at alpha/beta bands in the parietal regions during retrieval was associated with higher memory confidence. In addition, representational similarity analysis at the single-trial level revealed distributed but differentiable neural activities associated with memory accuracy and confidence during both encoding and retrieval. In summary, our study unveiled distinct neural activity patterns related to memory confidence and accuracy during associative learning and underscored the crucial role of parietal regions in metamemory.

A lifespan study of the confidence-accuracy relation in working memory and episodic long-term memory.

The relation between an individual's memory accuracy and reported confidence in their memories can indicate self-awareness of memory strengths and weaknesses. We provide a lifespan perspective on this confidence-accuracy relation, based on two previously published experiments with 320 participants, including children aged 6-13, young adults aged 18-27, and older adults aged 65-77, across tests of working memory (WM) and long-term memory (LTM). Participants studied visual items in arrays of varying set sizes and completed item recognition tests featuring 6-point confidence ratings either immediately after studying each array (WM tests) or following a long period of study events (LTM tests). Confidence-accuracy characteristic analyses showed that accuracy improved with increasing confidence for all age groups and in both WM and LTM tests. These findings reflect a universal ability across the lifespan to use awareness of the strengths and limitations of one's memories to adjust reported confidence. Despite this age invariance in the confidence-accuracy relation, however, young children were more prone to high-confidence memory errors than other groups in tests of WM, whereas older adults were more susceptible to high-confidence false alarms in tests of LTM. Thus, although participants of all ages can assess when their memories are weaker or stronger, individuals with generally weaker memories are less adept at this confidence-accuracy calibration. Findings also speak to potential different sources of high-confidence memory errors for young children and older adults, relative to young adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Eyewitness confidence in the interviewing context: Understanding the impact of question type and order

AbstractThe relationship between confidence and accuracy and the reliability of eyewitness identifications has attracted a lot of attention. In contrast, relatively little is known about the relationship between eyewitness confidence and the accuracy of recall memory in interview contexts. Here, we manipulated questioning approaches to investigate the impact of Free‐Recall and Cued‐Recall questions, whereby the latter were witness‐compatible (questions concerning details reported in the preceding Free‐Recall) or witness‐incompatible questions. We also manipulated the order these questions were asked. A sample of 124 mock witness participants watched a crime‐video and subsequently recalled the event to understand the impact of question type and order on confidence‐accuracy calibration. Our results show that a Free‐Recall invitation and compatible (compared to incompatible) questions promoted more stable confidence. Compatible questions yielded fewer errors, more accurate details, and promoted more reliable confidence‐accuracy calibration and discrimination, especially when they preceded the incompatible questions. Implications are discussed.

Semantic partitioning facilitates memory for object location through category-partition cueing

ABSTRACT In our lived environments, objects are often semantically organised (e.g., cookware and cutlery are placed close together in the kitchen). Across four experiments, we examined how semantic partitions (that group same-category objects in space) influenced memory for object locations. Participants learned the locations of items in a semantically partitioned display (where each partition contained objects from a single category) as well as a purely visually partitioned display (where each partition contained a scrambled assortment of objects from different categories). Semantic partitions significantly improved location memory accuracy compared to the scrambled display. However, when the correct partition was cued (highlighted) to participants during recall, performance on the semantically partitioned display was similar to the scrambled display. These results suggest that semantic partitions largely benefit memory for location by enhancing the ability to use the given category as a cue for a visually partitioned area (e.g., toys – top left). Our results demonstrate that semantically structured spaces help location memory across partitions, but not items within a partition, providing new insights into the interaction between meaning and memory.

Cholinergic Neuromodulation of Prefrontal Attractor Dynamics Controls Performance in Spatial Working Memory.

The behavioral and neural effects of the endogenous release of acetylcholine following stimulation of the nucleus basalis (NB) of Meynert have been recently examined in two male monkeys (Qi et al., 2021). Counterintuitively, NB stimulation enhanced behavioral performance while broadening neural tuning in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The mechanism by which a weaker mnemonic neural code could lead to better performance remains unclear. Here, we show that increased neural excitability in a simple continuous bump attractor model can induce broader neural tuning and decrease bump diffusion, provided neural rates are saturated. Increased memory precision in the model overrides memory accuracy, improving overall task performance. Moreover, we show that bump attractor dynamics can account for the nonuniform impact of neuromodulation on distractibility, depending on distractor distance from the target. Finally, we delve into the conditions under which bump attractor tuning and diffusion balance in biologically plausible heterogeneous network models. In these discrete bump attractor networks, we show that reducing spatial correlations or enhancing excitatory transmission can improve memory precision. Altogether, we provide a mechanistic understanding of how cholinergic neuromodulation controls spatial working memory through perturbed attractor dynamics in the PFC.

Accurate Memory Kernel Extraction from Discretized Time-Series Data.

Memory effects emerge as a fundamental consequence of dimensionality reduction when low-dimensional observables are used to describe the dynamics of complex many-body systems. In the context of molecular dynamics (MD) data analysis, accounting for memory effects using the framework of the generalized Langevin equation (GLE) has proven efficient, accurate, and insightful, particularly when working with high-resolution time series data. However, in experimental systems, high-resolution data are often unavailable, raising questions about the impact of the data resolution on the estimated GLE parameters. This study demonstrates that direct memory extraction from time series data remains accurate when the discretization time is below the memory time. To obtain memory functions reliably, even when the discretization time exceeds the memory time, we introduce a Gaussian Process Optimization (GPO) scheme. This scheme minimizes the deviation of discretized two-point correlation functions between time series data and GLE simulations and is able to estimate accurate memory kernels as long as the discretization time stays below the longest time scale in the data, typically the barrier crossing time.

Post-hypnotic suggestion improves confidence and speed of memory access with long-lasting effects

In our study, we use the post-hypnotic suggestion of easy remembering to improve memory with long-lasting effects. We tested 24 highly suggestible participants in an online study. Participants learned word lists and recalled them later in a recognition memory task. At the beginning of the study, participants were hypnotized and the post-hypnotic suggestion to remember easily was associated with a cue that participants used during the recognition memory task. In a control condition, the same participants used a neutral cue. One week later, participants repeated both conditions with new word lists.Participants were significantly faster and more confident in their recognition ratings in the easy-remembering condition compared to the control condition, and this effect persisted over one week. Crucially, the increased speed and confidence in the easy-remembering condition did not affect memory accuracy. That makes our hypnosis intervention promising for patients experiencing subjective memory impairments. APA PsycINFO codes2343 (Learning and Memory), 2380 (Consciousness States), 3351 (Clinical Hypnosis)

Meta-prospective memory accuracy in older adults with and without suspected Mild Cognitive Impairment (sMCI)

This study examined if the relationship between generalized and task-specific appraisals of prospective memory (PM) and actual PM performance (i.e., meta-PM accuracy) differed between healthy and suspected Mild Cognitive Impairment (sMCI) older adults. Older adults recruited included 50 healthy and 31 sMCI participants from the community and an outpatient neuropsychology clinic. Data collected consisted of self-reported appraisals and task-specific predictions/postdictions of PM performance, objective PM performance, and executive functioning (EF). The sMCI group had significantly lower scores on objective PM and EF measures related to simple and complex task-switching. Moreover, sMCI participants displayed lower task-specific meta-PM accuracy in the direction of overconfidence, but they displayed relatively equivalent generalized meta-PM accuracy when compared to the healthy group. Notably, the sMCI group’s task-specific inaccuracies became non-significant in relation to the healthy group on the final long-term PM tasks after exposure to metacognitive reflection on the first two PM tasks. Despite lower scores on EF measures, EF performance did not explain task-specific meta-PM differences between groups beyond neurocognitive status. Based on these data, sMCI patients may be better assisted by metacognitive calibration strategies, EF protocols, and the implementation of general compensatory memory strategies as targets for early intervention and prevention of neurocognitive decline.

Emotion language use in narratives of the 9/11 attacks predicts long-term memory.

Despite considerable cognitive neuroscience research demonstrating that emotions can influence the encoding and consolidation of memory, research has failed to demonstrate a relationship between self-reported ratings of emotions collected soon after a traumatic event and memory for the event over time. This secondary analysis of data from a multisite longitudinal study of memories of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, asked the question of whether emotional language use could predict memory over time. In the 2 weeks following the 9/11 attacks, participants (N = 691; Mage = 36.8; 72% identifying as male; 76% identifying as white) wrote narratives about how they learned of the attacks and the impact of the attacks on them. Language features of these narratives were extracted using the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count program and used to predict three types of memory: (a) event memory accuracy, (b) flashbulb memory consistency, and (c) emotion memory consistency. These outcomes were assessed at the time of writing, 1, 3, and 10 years after the 9/11 attacks. Results of linear mixed-effects models indicate that greater use of negative emotion words in narratives predicts better event memory accuracy 3 and 10 years after the attacks and worse flashbulb memory consistency 10 years after the attacks. However, emotion word use does not predict emotion memory consistency across time. We also examine whether other exploratory linguistic predictors are associated with memory over time. These findings suggest that written language may serve as a potential early indicator of memory over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

ПОДХОДЫ К РЕШЕНИЮ ПРОБЛЕМЫ ДОСТОВЕРНОСТИ ВОСПОМИНАНИЙ О ПЕРЕЖИТОМ В ДЕТСКОМ ВОЗРАСТЕ ЖЕСТОКОМ ОБРАЩЕНИИ

The article provides an overview of the theoretical foundations that allow a reasonable approach to assessing the reliability and accuracy of memories of traumatic events, in particular, abuse experienced in childhood. Solving the problem of accuracy and reliability of memories of abuse experienced in childhood requires simultaneous taking into account both the patterns of functioning of autobiographical memory and the peculiarities of the formation of individual traumatic memory. The most plastic components of autobiographical memory are the temporal localization of specific memories and the plot sequence of individual events within an entire episode. Autobiographical recollections of characters within a certain personally significant situation in the past are little subject to change. Victims of repeated violent acts may not remember the details of each specific episode, but they form a kind of ‘scheme’ or ‘script’ that includes characteristic elements of what happened to them. Such a ‘script’ has a high degree of accuracy and is subject to little change over time. The study of the basis for assessing the accuracy and reliability of memories of traumatic events is relevant for various areas of science and practice: from statistical estimates of the prevalence of violence against children and adolescents to law enforcement practice in situations of violent acts against children.

It's not a lie … If you believe it: Narrative analysis of autobiographical memories reveals over-confidence disposition in patients who confabulate

Humans perceive their personal memories as fundamentally true, and although memory is prone to inaccuracies, flagrant memory errors are rare. Some patients with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) recall and act upon patently erroneous memories (spontaneous confabulations). Clinical observations suggest these memories carry a strong sense of confidence, a function ascribed to vmPFC in studies of memory and decision making. However, most studies of the underlying mechanisms of memory overconfidence do not directly probe personal recollections and resort instead to laboratory-based tasks and contrived rating scales. We analyzed naturalistic word use of patients with focal vmPFC damage (N = 18) and matched healthy controls (N = 23) while they recalled autobiographical memories using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) method. We found that patients with spontaneous confabulation (N = 7) tended to over-use words related to the categories of ‘certainty’ and of ‘swearwords’ compared to both non-confabulating vmPFC patients (N = 11) and control participants. Certainty related expressions among confabulating patients were at normal levels during erroneous memories and were over-expressed during accurate memories, contrary to our predictions. We found no elevation in expressions of affect (positive or negative), temporality or drive as would be predicted by some models of confabulation. Thus, erroneous memories may be associated with subjectively lower certainty, but still exceed patients' report criterion because of a global proclivity for overconfidence. This may be compounded by disinhibition reflected by elevated use of swearwords. These findings demonstrate that analysis of naturalistic expressions of memory content can illuminate global meta-mnemonic contributions to memory accuracy complementing indirect laboratory-based correlates of behavior. Memory accuracy is the result of complex interactions among multiple meta-mnemonic processes such as monitoring, report criteria, and control processes which may be shared across decision-making domains.

Hearing fearful prosody impairs visual working memory maintenance

Interference by distractors has been associated multiple times with diminished visual and auditory working memory (WM) performance. Negative emotional distractors in particular lead to detrimental effects on WM. However, these associations have only been seen when distractors and items to maintain in WM are from the same sensory modality. In this study, we investigate cross-modal interference on WM. We invited 20 participants to complete a visual change-detection task, assessing visual WM (VWM), while hearing emotional (fearful) and neutral auditory distractors. Electrophysiological activity was recorded to measure contralateral delay activity (CDA) and auditory P2 event-related potentials (ERP), indexing WM maintenance and distractor salience respectively. At the behavioral level, fearful prosody didn't decrease significantly working memory accuracy, compared to neutral prosody. Regarding ERPs, fearful distractors evoked a greater P2 amplitude than neutral distractors. Correlations between the two ERP potentials indicated that P2 amplitude difference between the two types of prosody was associated with the difference in CDA amplitude for fearful and neutral trials. This association suggests that cognitive resources required to process fearful prosody detrimentally impact VWM maintenance. That result provides a piece of additional evidence that negative emotional stimuli produce greater interference than neutral stimuli and that the cognitive resources used to process stimuli from different modalities come from a common pool.

Causal functional maps of brain rhythms in working memory

Human working memory is a key cognitive process that engages multiple functional anatomical nodes across the brain. Despite a plethora of correlative neuroimaging evidence regarding the working memory architecture, our understanding of critical hubs causally controlling overall performance is incomplete. Causal interpretation requires cognitive testing following safe, temporal, and controllable neuromodulation of specific functional anatomical nodes. Such experiments became available in healthy humans with the advance of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). Here, we synthesize findings of 28 placebo-controlled studies (in total, 1,057 participants) that applied frequency-specific noninvasive stimulation of neural oscillations and examined working memory performance in neurotypical adults. We use a computational meta-modeling method to simulate each intervention in realistic virtual brains and test reported behavioral outcomes against the stimulation-induced electric fields in different brain nodes. Our results show that stimulating anterior frontal and medial temporal theta oscillations and occipitoparietal gamma rhythms leads to significant dose-dependent improvement in working memory task performance. Conversely, prefrontal gamma modulation is detrimental to performance. Moreover, we found distinct spatial expression of theta subbands, where working memory changes followed orbitofrontal high-theta modulation and medial temporal low-theta modulation. Finally, all these results are driven by changes in working memory accuracy rather than processing time measures. These findings provide a fresh view of the working memory mechanisms, complementary to neuroimaging research, and propose hypothesis-driven targets for the clinical treatment of working memory deficits.

Exploring the accuracy of musical tempo memory: The effects of reproduction method, reference tempo, and musical expertise

Although people commonly remember and recreate the tempo of musical pieces with high accuracy, comparatively less is known regarding sources of potential variation in musical tempo memory. This study therefore aimed to investigate musical tempo memory accuracy and the effects of reference tempo, reproduction method, musical expertise, and their interaction. A sample of 403 individuals with varying levels of musical training participated in the experimental online study, including nonmusicians, amateur musicians, and professional musicians. Participants were tasked with reproducing the tempos of 19 popular pop/rock songs using two methods: tempo tapping and adjusting the tempo of the audio file based on the previously tapped tempo. Results from multilevel models revealed overall high accuracy in tempo memory, with tempo adjusting yielding greater accuracy compared with tempo tapping. Higher musical expertise was associated with increased accuracy in tempo production. In addition, we observed a quadratic effect of reference tempo, with the greatest accuracy in tempo reproduction around 120 bpm. Gender, age, familiarity with the pieces, and accompaniment strategies were also associated with greater accuracy. These findings provide insights into the factors influencing musical tempo memory and have implications for understanding the cognitive processes involved in tempo perception and reproduction.

Warning before misinformation exposure modulates memory encoding

Exposure to misleading information after witnessing an event can impair future memory reports about the event. This pervasive form of memory distortion, termed the misinformation effect, can be significantly reduced if individuals are warned about the reliability of post-event information before exposure to misleading information. The present fMRI study investigated whether such prewarnings improve subsequent memory accuracy by influencing encoding-related neural activity during exposure to misinformation. We employed a repeated retrieval misinformation paradigm in which participants watched a crime video (Witnessed Event), completed an initial test of memory, listened to a post-event auditory narrative that contained consistent, neutral, and misleading details (Post-Event Information), and then completed a final test of memory. At the behavioral level, participants who were given a prewarning before the Post-Event Information were less susceptible to misinformation on the final memory test compared with participants who were not given a warning (Karanian et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117, 22771–22779, 2020). This protection from misinformation was accompanied by greater activity in frontal regions associated with source encoding (lateral PFC) and conflict detection (ACC) during misleading trials as well as a more global reduction in activity in auditory cortex and semantic processing regions (left inferior frontal gyrus) across all trials (consistent, neutral, misleading) of the Post-Event Information narrative. Importantly, the strength of these warning-related activity modulations was associated with better protection from misinformation on the final memory test (improved memory accuracy on misleading trials). Together, these results suggest that warnings modulate encoding-related neural activity during exposure to misinformation to improve memory accuracy.

The Accuracy and Precision of Memory for Natural Scenes: A Walk in the Park.

It is challenging to quantify the accuracy and precision of scene memory because it is unclear what 'space' scenes occupy (how can we quantify error when misremembering a natural scene?). To address this, we exploited the ecologically valid, metric space in which scenes occur and are represented: routes. In a delayed estimation task, participants briefly saw a target scene drawn from a video of an outdoor 'route loop', then used a continuous report wheel of the route to pinpoint the scene. Accuracy was high and unbiased, indicating there was no net boundary extension/contraction. Interestingly, precision was higher for routes that were more self-similar (as characterized by the half-life, in meters, of a route's Multiscale Structural Similarity index), consistent with previous work finding a 'similarity advantage' where memory precision is regulated according to task demands. Overall, scenes were remembered to within a few meters of their actual location.

How considering adaptive functions of mental imagery perspective may offer new insight on memory accuracy.

How considering adaptive functions of mental imagery perspective may offer new insight on memory accuracy.