Individual Memory Research Articles

Der Weg zum Erwachsenwerden und die Suche nach Identität in Warten bis der Frieden kommt von Judith Kerr

Warten bis der Frieden kommt is the second part of an autobiographical trilogy in which the author Judith Kerr presents both her own experiences and the historical context of the 1930s and 1940s of the past century in a literary manner. The main character Anna has to flee from Germany together with her family in the year 1933. They first arrive in Switzerland, then in France and finally in England. While in the first book we encounter a very young and partly naive nine-year-old protagonist who tries to understand and interpret the world surrounding her, in the second part we are being presented with Anna as a teenager who spent the last seven years of her life as a refugee in foreign countries. As a consequence we can observe a change of perspective from the point of view of individual and collective memory. In the following article I aim to analyse to what extent the age of the main character influences the literary discourse in regard of the historical narrative.

Spirits in the Material World: Older Adults' Personal Curation of Memory Artifacts

Memory artifacts are personal and collective belongings that elicit deliberate or involuntary memories. They are significant as objects of continuity, vessels for identity, and links to past relationships and history-for individuals, families, and communities. Drawing from in-depth interviews and cultural probe sessions with 16 individuals over 65, we consider how older adults curate and interact with their personal artifacts that embody and inform memory. Participants' hands-on experiences with memory artifacts uncover a heterogeneous set of personal curation practices and identify tensions that result from the competing goals of creating a legible narrative or legacy for themselves, their family, and their communities. The transition from physical to digital memory artifacts often perpetuates tension but can also create moments of reflection. These findings contribute a set of design considerations for supporting curation practices. This paper joins and expands upon CSCW scholarship regarding the importance of memory artifacts and the ongoing challenges of retaining individual memory and history over time, which, if managed effectively, can benefit and sustain family and community history at large.

Comparison of Cognitive Functions Between Individuals With Chronic Low Back Pain With High and Low Pain Catastrophizing and Pain-free Controls: A Cross-sectional Study.

Researchers suggested that the interruptive effects of chronic pain on cognitive functions may be modulated by the level of pain catastrophizing (PC). However, in individuals with chronic low back pain (CLBP), domains of cognitive function that may be affected by the level of PC remain largely unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to compare cognitive functions between individuals with CLBP with high and low PC and pain-free controls. This cross-sectional study examined cognitive functions of 42 individuals with CLBP and 21 pain-free controls. The PC scale was used to stratify participants with CLBP into high and low PC. Participants performed 5 cognitive tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, namely 5-choice reaction time, rapid visual processing, spatial working memory, attention switching task, and stop signal task. The statistical analyses revealed that compared with individuals with CLBP with low PC and pain-free controls, individuals with high PC demonstrated greater values of the between errors ( P =0.01), reaction latency ( P <0.001), and stop signal reaction time variables ( P =0.004, 0.003, respectively) but lower values of probability of hit ( P =0.02, 0.01, respectively), A' ( P =0.01, <0.001, respectively), and percent correct trials variables ( P =0.002, <0.001, respectively). The results of the current study showed deficits in sustained attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control in individuals with CLBP with high PC. From a clinical perspective, therapeutic interventions targeting PC should be considered to decrease catastrophic thinking about pain in individuals with CLBP. Additional research is warranted to explore cognitive functioning as an outcome of these interventions in individuals with CLBP.

THE POETICS OF PAIN About the prose of Dubravka Ugrešić

Dubravka Ugrešić after leaving her homeland Croatia, considered herself a transnational writer, and she picked this status with all its consequences. She was very determined not to belong to any nation or national literature, saying, “Wherever she was, if she had to belong to someone, she belonged to her readers”. Consequently, in her texts, she has dealt with individual and collective memory, identity and nationality, as well as the status of women. The characteristic elements of her prose are the private and public life, East and the West, politics, media and poetics, and the melting of „high literature” and pulp fiction. The Study focuses on this unique combination of artwork by Dubravka Ugrešić.

The process of memory semantization as the result of interactions between individual, collective, and social memories

The process of memory semantization as the result of interactions between individual, collective, and social memories

Chronic Sleep Deprivation Altered the Expression of Memory-Related Genes and Caused Cognitive Memory Dysfunction in Mice.

Lack of sleep, whether acute or chronic, is quite common and negatively affects an individual's memory and cognitive function. The question of whether chronic sleep deprivation (CSD) causes cognitive impairment to arise and progress is not well studied. To investigate the effects of CSD on memory and cognition, this study began by establishing a CSD mouse model. Behavioral experiments on animals revealed that CSD induced cognitive behavioral abnormalities reminiscent of Alzheimer's disease. Western blot experiments further demonstrated a considerable increase in amyloid-β (Aβ) expression in the mouse brain following CSD. Meanwhile, the hub gene Prkcg was searched for in the cerebellum using RNA-seq and bioinformatics analysis. PKCγ (Prkcg) expression was significantly reduced, as demonstrated by RT-qPCR and Western blot validations. Additionally, CSD was associated with downregulated CREB expression, decreased expression of the endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE1), and increased phosphorylation of ERK1/2 downstream of PKCγ. These findings suggested that CSD down-regulated PKCγ expression, decreased ECE1 expression, impaired Aβ degradation, and affected the PKCγ/ERK/CREB pathway and the synthesis of memory-related proteins. Overall, this study highlighted how CSD modulated PKCγ-related metabolism, impacting Aβ clearance and the production of memory-related proteins. Such insights are crucial for understanding and preventing sporadic Alzheimer's disease (sAD) associated with CSD.

The Neuroaesthetics of Art and Design Education

AbstractTeaching is increasingly defined through the syntax of cognitive science, by retrieval practice, spaced learning, and interleaving, generating a computational rhythm for learning as a system of inputs and outputs that builds up an individual's memory over time. This, I argue, is at odds with the choreography of art and design education as an aesthetic, social, and material practice. An alternative mapping is required to fully understand the chronology of learning that takes place in and through the subject of art and design with human and nonhuman others. Drawing from a review of research in the field of Neuroaesthetics, I will seek to defend the unique temporality of art and design education and imagine different visualisations of learning in the subject beyond the computational.

Modeling collaborative memory with SAM.

While humans often encode and retrieve memories in groups, the bulk of our knowledge of human memory comes from paradigms with individuals in isolation. The primary phenomenon of interest within the relatively new field of collaborative memory is collaborative inhibition: the tendency for collaborative groups to underperform in free recall tasks compared with noncollaborative groups of the same size. This effect has been found in a variety of materials and group compositions. However, most research in this field is led by verbal conceptual theories without guidance from formal computational models. We present a framework to scale the Search of Associative Memory model (SAM) to collaborative free recall paradigms with multiple models working together. Multiple SAM models recalling together naturally produce collaborative inhibition when the group members use recalls by the group as cues to retrieve from memory, strongly supporting the "retrieval disruption" hypothesis. This work shows that SAM can act as a unified theory to explain both individual and collaborative memory effects and offers a framework for future predictions of scaling to increased group sizes, shared knowledge, and factors facilitating the spread of false memories in groups.

The group mind of hybrid teams with humans and intelligent agents in knowledge-intense work

Studies regularly demonstrate how well intelligent agents (IAs) can support humans or are demonstrably superior to them in some areas. Given that some tasks likely remain unsuitable for even the most intelligent machines in the mid-future, work in hybrid teams of humans and IAs—where the capabilities of both are effectively combined—will most likely shape the way we work in the coming decades. In an abductive study, we investigate an early example of hybrid teams, consisting of a conversational intelligent agent (IA) and humans, that aims to improve health behavior or change personality traits. We theorize Transactive Intelligent Memory System (TIMS) as a new vision of collaboration between humans and IAs in hybrid teams, based on our empirical insights and our literature review on transactive memory systems theory. Our empirical evidence shows that IAs can develop a form of individual and external memory, and hybrid teams of humans and IAs can realize joint systems of transactive memory—a competence that current literature only ascribes to humans. We further find that whether individuals view IAs merely as external memory aids or as part of their teams’ transactive memory is moderated by the tasks’ complexity and knowledge intensity, as well as the IA's ability to complete the task. This theorizing helps to better understand the role of IAs in future team-based working processes. Developers of IAs can use TIMS as a tool for requirements formulation to prepare their software agents for collaboration in hybrid teams.

Interpreting Collective and Individual War Memories in Borders in Anuk Arudprakasam’s The Passage North: Affective Memories in a Hot Spot Interpreting Collective and Individual War Memories in Borders in Anuk Arudprakasam’s The Passage North: Affective Memories in a Hot Spot

War memories are the patchwork of collective and individual memory, public and private remembrance and a recollection of current knowledge, and interpretation of the facts and events during and after the wars. The knowledge and interpretation of wars occur through the conscience, trauma, and injury which shapes the personal and public memory of an individual or an ethnic group. This paper deals with the effect of war memory in the post-Srilankan civil war state with the novel The Passage North by Anuk Arudprakasam. This novel narrates the oral testimonies, the ravages of the civil war and its effects on the survivors. The thoughts and personal memories of the protagonist, Krishan, concern how people live, yet become diminished in the aftermath of civil war, and the horrors Rani experienced during the Civil war reveal the memories, trauma and actions that have determined the scar in their lives as they cope up with displacement from borders and longingness for the lived land. This research paper employs the theoretical framework of Theodule Ribot’s affective memory and conceptualises it along with the collective and individual war memory of the survivor. The paper also moves towards the application of the theory of ethnic conflict in the borders where it does reveal the alien and dreadful memories and also transcends intermittently of reconnecting, of reimagining and of reconstituting the past as network or as archive or as present as Hoskins says (Hoskin, 05). This research attempts to probe the questions of civil war memory, and remembering and forgetting of violence and trauma in the mental borders.

Dynamic patterns of functional connectivity in the human brain underlie individual memory formation

Remembering our everyday experiences involves dynamically coordinating information distributed across different brain regions. Investigating how momentary fluctuations in connectivity in the brain are relevant for episodic memory formation, however, has been challenging. Here we leverage the high temporal precision of intracranial EEG to examine sub-second changes in functional connectivity in the human brain as 20 participants perform a paired associates verbal memory task. We first identify potential functional connections by selecting electrode pairs across the neocortex that exhibit strong correlations with a consistent time delay across random recording segments. We then find that successful memory formation during the task involves dynamic sub-second changes in functional connectivity that are specific to each word pair. These patterns of dynamic changes are reinstated when participants successfully retrieve the word pairs from memory. Therefore, our data provide direct evidence that specific patterns of dynamic changes in human brain connectivity are associated with successful memory formation.

Differing effectiveness of transcranial random noise stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation for enhancing working memory in healthy individuals: a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundTranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is a promising technique for enhancing working memory (WM) performance in healthy and psychiatric populations. However, limited information is available about the effectiveness of transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) applied to the left DLPFC on WM. This study investigated the effectiveness of tRNS on WM compared with that of tDCS, which has established functional evidence.MethodsThis randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial enrolled 120 healthy right-handed adults who were randomly allocated to four stimulation groups: tRNS + direct current (DC) offset, tRNS, tDCS, or sham. Each stimulus was placed over the left DLPFC and had a current intensity of 2 mA applied for 20 min during the dual n-back task. The dual n-back task was repeated thrice: pre-stimulation, during stimulation, and post-stimulation. The d-prime scores, and response times were calculated as the main outcome measures. A linear mixed model was created to identify the main effects and interactions between the groups and times, with the group and time as fixed effects, and baseline performance and the subject as a covariate and random effect, respectively. The relationships between the benefit of each stimulus and baseline WM performance were also examined.ResultsFor the d-prime score during stimulation, the tRNS group significantly performed better than the sham group at online assessment (β = 0.310, p = 0.001). In the relationships between the benefit of each stimulus and baseline WM performance, the tRNS group had significantly larger negative line slopes than the sham group for the d-prime score (β = −0.233, p = 0.038).ConclusionstRNS applied to the left DLPFC significantly improved WM performance and generated greater benefits for healthy individuals with lower WM performance. These findings highlight the potential utility of tRNS for enhancing WM performance in individuals with lower WM performance and contribute evidence for clinical application to patients with cognitive decline.Trial RegistrationThis study was registered in the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trial Registry in Japan (UMIN000047365) on April 1, 2022; https://center6.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000054021.

The Phenomenon of Collective Memory in the Semantic Contexts of Post-Modernity

The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of collective memory in the value contexts of post-modernity. During the 20th century, the culture of memory is revealed through the individual-collective polarity, and in the postmodern era attention is focused on the boundary between them, on the culture of memory in the dimension of the modern media, on the contexts of the global information war. While individual memory loses touch with the past in the dimension of simulated identity, collective memory is usually associated with tradition as a reservoir of memory of the past. Collective memory in the age of modern media is in certain danger of targeted negative external influence, falsification, and inflation. The deepest cultural fears of the 20th century are the deformation or loss of memory, as well as the fear of memory substitution. The main value is linking memory with authenticity in the reproduction of the basic narrative in the cultural practices of today, in which the individual intersects with the collective. That is why the article pays special attention to the border between individual and collective memory, the culture of recall in communicative projects, and the reflection of moral dilemmas in different models of historical memory, the confrontation of different memories.

Gammarus aequicauda (Amphipoda) and two different prey species: Is the ability of a predator to learn important?

Individual experience contributes to total functional biodiversity in every aquatic ecosystem. However, the learning ability and individual memory of crustaceans are issues that remain poorly understood. The influence of individual experiences on the feeding behavior of the predator Gammarus aequicauda (Amphipoda) was studied experimentally. The predator was acclimated and allowed to feed on one of the alternative prey – chironomid larvae Baeotendipes noctivagus or anostracan parthenogenetic Artemia in studies from 3 to ten days. They were then placed in a vessel with both species of prey. We then measured the time spent on the main stages of the feeding process: searching for food before capturing prey, prey handling time, and subsequent digestion. If experiments were conducted in the presence of both prey species, the feeding behavior characteristics (searching and handling time) of G. aequicauda, which had previously fed on chironomid larvae, differed significantly from those of Gammarus, which had previously fed on Artemia. Acclimation of G. aequicauda to feed on chironomid larvae can significantly reduce the time spent on searching, capturing, and handling of chironomids. Acclimation of G. aequicauda to feed on Artemia led to smaller changes in time spent on capturing, and handling of Artemia. The effects of experience on foraging efficiency increased in both variants of acclimation.

Computerized cognitive games versus cognitive exergame: the comparison of motor and cognitive functions enhancement in the elderly

BackgroundConsidering the importance of cognitive and motor functions of the elderly people, the present study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a cognitive exergame, called Neurolight compared to computerized cognitive games, in enhancing core executive functions and motor performance.MethodsA total of 36 individuals in the age range of 60 to 69 years were studied in the form of three groups: The control group continued their daily activities, while the Neurolight group underwent a cognitive-motor training and the Maghzineh performed a computer-based cognitive training program for 24 sessions. Before and after interventions, working memory, inhibitory control, and balance were measured respectively by the N-back, Stroop, and TUG tests.ResultsThe results showed that cognitive-motor exercises using Neurolight, for 24 sessions, were able to significantly improve working memory, inhibitory control, and balance in individuals in this age group.ConclusionThis finding supports the other studies suggesting combined cognitive and physical exercises for better effect. Based on its findings, the use of this exercise system can be suggested to coaches and therapists working with the elderly.

Adult recollections of childhood memories in individuals convicted of sexual offences: implications for narrative therapy

ABSTRACT This study examines the autobiographical memories of 84 individuals convicted of sexual offences. Our results indicate that despite their adverse childhoods, chaotic families, and compromised social competence, justice-involved clients can engage meaningfully in longform narrative interviews that contain probing personal and reflective questions about their early lives. In fact, many participants expressed gratitude that they were invited to engage and share their experiences in this way. This pioneering interdisciplinary study has important practical implications for providers of psychotherapeutic treatment who work with custodial and community samples of people convicted of sexual offences. We conclude by emphasising the value of narrative therapy and present directions for future research. PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT Most therapeutic approaches offered in correctional settings emphasise a cognitive behavioural approach intended to dismantle cognitive distortions. Our results suggest that the willingness and ability of justice-involved individuals to participate in narrative therapy has been likely underestimated. Accordingly, this study will help clients and clinicians alike to make the treatment experience more personalised and meaningful.

Textile Collage as the Artistic Method to Comprehend Industrial Memory: the Analysis of the Project “Radiant City” by Elena Sharganova

The article is focused on the sociological analysis of the project “Radiant city” of Elena Sharganova, resident of the tenth season of Open Studios at the Center of Contemporary Art Winzavod (2023/24), that is devoted to the artist’s hometown — Nelidovo — and consists of a series of textile collages, made with mixed media techniques including photo printing, cyanotype, machine seam, hand embroidery. Sociological conceptualization of the project is made based on the interview with the artist, analysis of archive publications kindly provided by the artist, and researches on social memory and industrial cities. Based on the interpretation of collages as spaces of representation in terms of Henri Lefebvre that represent a zone of experience, in which images and symbols fill in physical space and knowledge about it, the article shows that the “Radiant city” is the artist’s reflections on Nelidovo’s unrealized development trajectories and destinies of small industrial cities in general. There are three key topics raised by the artist in this project: disappointment in communism and nostalgia for the past, the problem of small industrial cities’ development, interrelation of collective and individual memory. Elena Sharganova’s project significance is defined by experiments with art mediums and a research approach that brings together art and social issues.

Altered Mental Status and Delirium in Pediatric Patients.

Mental status is the collection of an individual's consciousness, perception, emotion, memory, and cognition at a particular point in time, which is inferred by the clinician through careful observation and interaction. The pediatric mental status assessment must be approached with an understanding of cognitive, language, and psychosocial development. Alterations must then be comprehensively and clearly described. Delirium is a phenotypic diagnosis with a specific set of criteria in the DSM and is a serious neurocognitive disorder caused by physiologic changes due to illness, injury, toxins, medications, and/or substances. Recognition of delirium in children is improved by monitoring of predisposing risks and precipitating factors, as well as the regular use of validated pediatric screening tools. Management of delirium is focused on treatment of the underlying etiology, prevention of iatrogenic deliriogenic factors, and patient safety.

Examining the Role of Neuroticism Polygenic Risk in Late Life Cognitive Change: A UK Biobank Study.

Cognitive decline is a public health concern affecting about 50 million individuals worldwide. Neuroticism, defined as the trait disposition to experience intense and frequent negative emotions, has been associated with an increased risk of late-life cognitive decline. However, the underlying biological mechanisms of this association remain unknown. This study investigated the relationship between genetic predisposition to neuroticism, computed by polygenic risk score (PRS), and performance in cognitive domains of reasoning, processing speed, visual attention, and memory in individuals over age 60. The sample consisted of UK Biobank participants with genetic and cognitive data available (N = 10,737, 4686 females; mean age = 63.4 ± 2.71). The cognitive domains were assessed at baseline for all participants and seven years later for a subset (N = 645, 262 females; mean age = 62.9 ± 2.44). Neuroticism PRS was not associated cross-sectionally with cognitive measures (p > 0.05). However, the trajectory of change for processing speed (β = 0.020; 95% CI = [0.006, 0.035], adjusted p = 0.0148), visual attention (β = -0.077; 95% CI = [-0.0985, -0.0553], adjusted p = 1.412 × 10-11), and memory (β = -0.033; 95% CI = [-0.0535, -0.0131], adjusted p = 0.005) was significantly associated with neuroticism PRS. Specifically, a higher genetic predisposition to neuroticism was associated with less decline in these cognitive domains. This trend persisted after sensitivity analysis using complete cases, although it only remained nominally significant for visual attention.

Using Geovisualizations to Educate the Public About Environmental Health Hazards: What Works and Why.

Informing the public about environmental risks to health is crucial for raising awareness around hazards, and promoting actions that minimize exposures. Geographic visualizations-geovisualizations-have become an increasingly common way to disseminate web-based information about environmental hazards, displaying spatial variations in exposures and health outcomes using a map. Unfortunately, ineffective geovisualizations can result in inaccurate inferences about a hazard, leading to misguided actions or policies. In this narrative review, we discuss key considerations for the use of geovisualizations to promote environmental health literacy. Many conventional geovisualizations used for hazard education and risk communication fail to consider how people process visual information. Design choices that prompt viewers to think and feel, leveraging processes such as individual attention, memory, and emotion, could promote improved comprehension and decision making around environmental health risks using geovisualizations. Based on the studies reviewed, we recommend six strategies for designing effective, evidence-based geovisualizations, synthesizing evidence from the cognitive sciences, cartography, and environmental health. These strategies include: Displaying only key data, tailoring and testing geovisualizations with the desired audience, using salient cues, leveraging emotion, aiding pattern recognition, and limiting visual distractions. Geovisualizations offer a promising avenue for advancing public awareness and fostering proactive measures in addressing complex environmental health challenges. This review highlights how incorporating evidence-based design principles into geovisualizations could promote environmental health literacy. More experimental research evaluating geovisualizations, using interdisciplinary approaches, is needed.