Information In Long-term Memory Research Articles

Suppressing the Maintenance of Information in Working Memory Alters Long-term Memory Traces.

The sensory recruitment hypothesis conceptualizes information in working memory as being activated representations of information in long-term memory. Accordingly, changes made to an item in working memory would be expected to influence its subsequent retention. Here, we tested the hypothesis that suppressing information from working memory, which can reduce short-term access to that information, may also alter its long-term neural representation. We obtained fMRI data (n = 25; 13 female / 12 male participants) while participants completed a working memory removal task with scene images as stimuli, followed by a final surprise recognition test of the examined items. We applied a multivariate pattern analysis to the data to quantify the engagement of suppression on each trial, to track the contents of working memory during suppression, and to assess representational changes afterward. Our analysis confirms previous reports that suppression of information in working memory involves focused attention to target and remove unwanted information. Furthermore, our findings provide new evidence that even a single dose of suppression of an item in working memory can (if engaged with sufficient strength) produce lasting changes in its neural representation, particularly weakening the unique, item-specific features, which leads to forgetting. Our study sheds light on the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the suppression of unwanted thoughts and highlights the dynamic interplay between working memory and long-term memory.

Working memory limitations constrain visual episodic long-term memory at both specific and gist levels of representation.

Limitations in one's capacity to encode information in working memory (WM) constrain later access to that information in long-term memory (LTM). The present study examined whether these WM constraints on episodic LTM are limited to specific representations of past episodes or also extend to gist representations. Across three experiments, young adult participants (n = 40 per experiment) studied objects in set sizes of two or six items, either sequentially (Experiments 1a and 1b) or simultaneously (Experiment 2). They then completed old/new recognition tests immediately after each sequence (WM tests). After a long study phase, participants completed LTM conjoint recognition tests, featuring old but untested items from the WM phase, lures that were similar to studied items at gist but not specific levels of representation, and new items unrelated to studied items at both specific and gist levels of representation. Results showed that LTM estimates of specific and gist memory representations from a multinomial-processing-tree model were reduced for items encoded under supra-capacity set sizes (six items) relative to within-capacity set sizes (two items). These results suggest that WM encoding capacity limitations constrain episodic LTM at both specific and gist levels of representation, at least for visual objects. The ability to retrieve from LTM each type of representation for a visual item is contingent on the degree to which the item could be encoded in WM.

Learning in motion for inclusion at school

Spaced learning is a teaching methodology whose peculiarity is the articulation of lesson time, which maximizes students' concentration and memorization. Kelley & Watson (2013) developed this technique to test whether it was possible to encode complex information in long-term memory (LTM) in students using repeated stimuli in a very short time scale. Spaced learning conceives the lesson as an alternative situation that makes students participate and aware. We are designing a training program to develop the spaced learning methodology in enhancing linguistic, mathematical, and scientific skills in children between 8 and 11 years old. We hypothesized an intervention in five phases, three moments of input and two intervals with distracting activities. Motor activity favors spaced learning because it stimulates students to consolidate knowledge and information through meaningful interactions between mind and body; this is also possible in children with special education needs. To allow students to learn in a relaxed and effective way, lessons will be interspersed with motor activities and interactive games through a 10-minute physical setting. We will use spaced learning to strengthen hard skills in primary school: text comprehension, grammar, solving math problems, and scientific conceptualizations. The experimental research will be articulated into phases over the course of two years; it will be aimed at a sample made up of 70 classes of Sicilian schools.

Electroencephalography (EEG) Evidence for the Psychological Processes of Humor Generation: A Comparison Perspective on Humor and Creativity.

(1) Background: Humor stands out as the most dynamic and innovative aspect of human intelligence. Drawing on the cognitive parallels between humor and creativity, this study explored the EEG alpha frequency band activity patterns during humor generation by comparing the process of generating humorous and creative ideas. (2) Methods: Thirty-six participants were randomly assigned to either the humor generation group or the creative generation group, and the dependent variable was the neural oscillation in both low-frequency and high-frequency alpha during the early, middle, and late stages of both humor and creative generation. (3) Results: In the early stages, both humor and creative generation exhibited significantly higher power in low-frequency alpha and high-frequency alpha in the temporal region compared to the middle and late stages. In the middle and late stages, the low-frequency alpha oscillation in the frontal region for humor generation was significantly higher than that for creative generation. (4) Conclusions: Humor and creative generation share similar neural activation patterns in the early stages, involving the activation and retrieval of long-term memory information based on contextual cues. The differences between the two primarily manifest in the middle and late stages, where the selection of humorous ideas requires inhibiting not only irrelevant or ordinary ideas, akin to creative generation but also novel yet non-humorous ideas. This study sheds light on the neurocognitive mechanisms of humor generation and provides insights into the cognitive parallels and distinctions between humor generation and creative generation.

Cognitive load theory and individual differences

Cognitive load theory is an instructional theory based on the following assumptions. (1) Information can be divided into biologically primary information that we have evolved to process and acquire unconsciously, and secondary information that requires conscious effort. (2) Secondary information is either acquired during problem solving or from other people. It is processed by a limited capacity, limited duration working memory before being stored for subsequent use in long-term memory. Once stored, information may be transferred back to working memory to govern action relevant to the extant environment. Working memory has no known capacity or duration limits when dealing with information transferred back from long-term memory. (3) The major consequence that flows from instruction is the accumulation of information in long-term memory. (4) That differential knowledge results in individual differences in expertise and provides a major source, possibly the only source, of modifiable cognitive differences between learners. (5) Learners with differential knowledge held in long-term memory require different instructional procedures leading to the expertise reversal effects of cognitive load theory. Educational relevanceCognitive load theory is an instructional theory based on our knowledge of evolutionary psychology leading to human cognitive architecture. That architecture specifies individual differences due to either biological or environmental factors. Information held in long-term memory provides the major source of environmentally mediated individual differences. The theory uses randomised, controlled trials to determine instructional effectiveness.

Kajian Neoropsikology: Strategi Mnemonic Untuk Meningkatkan Kinerja Memori Dalam Pembelajaran di Sekolah Dasar

Human memory has a large capacity and unlimited capabilities. Humans use memory to store information important for survival. Mnemonics is a strategy to improve memory performance by encoding information with associations between new information and previously learned information in long-term memory. This research uses a qualitative research method, the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) model with the PRISMA approach with stages Identification, Screening, Eligibility, Included. Identification of literature review data was taken from publish or perish, Google Scholar, Researchgate, and ScienceDirect and 141 articles were obtained which were searched based on keywords, then in second selection they were selected based on more sensitive issues and 19 learning articles were obtained using mnemonic strategies. In the 3rd stage of selection, a study was carried out on the methodology and research results by 2 reviewers so that appropriate articles were obtained and in accordance with the SLR protocol. There were 5 relevant articles containing the issue of neuropsychological studies of learning with memory strategies that can be applied to education in elementary schools. From the results of the analysis, it was found that mnemonics are a fun learning approach strategy with a high success rate and are able to strengthen retention in long-term memory. Menmonic also improves memory performance in the part of the brain Pre Frontal Cortex.

SENTIMENT ANALYSIS WITH LONG-SHORT TERM MEMORY (LSTM) AND GATED RECURRENT UNIT (GRU) ALGORITHMS

Sentiment analysis is a form of machine learning that functions to obtain emotional polarity values or data tendencies from data in the form of text. Sentiment analysis is needed to analyze opinions, sentiments, reviews, and criticisms from someone for a product, service, organization, topic, etc. Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) is one of the Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms that is used in sentiment analysis. RNN is a neural network that can use internal memory to process input. RNN itself has a weakness in Long-Term Memory (LTM). Therefore, this article examines the combination of Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) algorithms. GRU is an algorithm that is used to make each recurrent unit able to record adaptively at different time scales. Meanwhile, LSTM is a network architecture with the advantage of learning long-term dependencies on data. LSTM can remember long-term memory information, learn long-sequential data, and form information relation data in LTM. The combination of LSTM and GRU aims to overcome RNN’s weakness in LTM. The LSTM-GRU is combined by adding GRU to the data generated from LSTM. The combination of LSTM and GRU creates a better performance algorithm for addressing the LTM problem.

Mnemonic techniques in medicine: experience of dental mnemonics usage in teaching of therapeutic dentistry for foreign students

Annotation. The ability to memorize new and vast material is a necessary component of students’ success. Mnemonic techniques are a variety of strategies that help to store complex and extensive information in long-term memory. Most researchers consider that mnemonics improve memory by using natural memory processes such as visual imagery, organization, and detailed encoding. Mnemonic techniques can lead to long-term storage of information and can work with complex materials in combination with other techniques when the appropriate conditions are created. The purpose of the study was the implementation of dental mnemonics when teaching of therapeutic dentistry for foreign students to facilitate memorization, reproduction and analysis of vast amounts of information. A review of the literature was performed and the results were synthesized in the form of a narrative. The manuscript presents dental mnemonics and mnemonic techniques, which are used in integration with other teaching methods for English-speaking students to facilitate mastering of the material in order to improve their knowledge, skills and abilities. We used verbal, visual and linguistic dental mnemonics. It was established that foreign students prefer alternative learning strategies, among various mnemonic techniques choose the simple methods. The most widely used mnemonic among students is the technique of first letters (or acronyms), followed by rhyming and keyword methods. Complex techniques such as the methods of loci, binding and phonetic system are the least popular. Mnemonics facilitate learning, consolidation and recall of information, that significantly improves training productivity. Mnemonic techniques cannot replace standard teaching methods, but in conjunction with other strategies, it is an effective educational tool. In the future, new mnemonics will be developed to present fresh information in a more systematic and organized format, which can be used as a step for creation updated mnemonic technique.

The influences of familiarity and key on pitch accuracy in singing

Singing is a typical human behavior but individuals vary in pitch accuracy. Poor singing performance can be explained by deficits in translating sensory information to a vocal motor plan or problems encoding or recalling pitch from long-term memory. We compared the sensorimotor translation and long-term memory hypotheses by assessing the influence of familiarity and musical key on singing performance. Thirty participants imitated excerpts of 20 familiar and unfamiliar pop songs presented in their original key or a transposed key. We analyzed pitch accuracy by measuring the difference in pitch between the first two notes of participants’ productions and the target stimuli. Participants sang familiar songs more accurately than unfamiliar songs and songs in their original keys less accurately than songs in transposed keys. The results, based on Bayesian hypothesis testing, provide some support for both memory hypotheses and partially confirm the findings of previous research on singing performance. Importantly, our work suggests that if individuals maintain pitch information in long-term memory, they do not draw on it when imitating songs.

Events shape long-term memory for story information

ABSTRACT We segment what we read into meaningful events, each separated by a discrete boundary. How does event segmentation during encoding relate to the structure of story information in long-term memory? To evaluate this question, participants read stories of fictional historical events and then engaged in a postreading verb arrangement task. In this task, participants saw verbs from each of the events placed randomly on a computer screen and then arranged the verbs into groups onscreen based on their understanding of the story. Participants who successfully comprehended the story placed verbs from the same event closer to each other than verbs from different events, even after controlling for orthographic, text-based, semantic, and situational overlap between verbs. Thus, how people structure story information into separate events during online comprehension is associated with how that information is stored in memory. Specifically, story information within an event is bound together in memory more so than information between events.

Receive, Retain and Retrieve: Psychological and Neurobiological Perspectives on Memory Retrieval.

Memory and learning are interdependent processes that involve encoding, storage, and retrieval. Especially memory retrieval is a fundamental cognitive ability to recall memory traces and update stored memory with new information. For effective memory retrieval and learning, the memory must be stabilized from short-term memory to long-term memory. Hence, it is necessary to understand the process of memory retention and retrieval that enhances the process of learning. Though previous cognitive neuroscience research has focused on memory acquisition and storage, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying memory retrieval and its role in learning are less understood. Therefore, this article offers the viewpoint that memory retrieval is essential for selecting, reactivating, stabilizing, and storing information in long-term memory. In arguing how memories are retrieved, consolidated, transmitted, and strengthened for the long term, the article will examine the psychological and neurobiological aspects of memory and learning with synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation, genetic transcription, and theta oscillation in the brain.

The role of working memory for mental operations on information in long-term memory

The role of working memory for mental operations on information in long-term memory

Chunking, boosting, or offloading? Using serial position to investigate long-term memory's enhancement of verbal working memory performance.

Individuals can use information stored in episodic long-term memory (LTM) to optimize performance in a working memory (WM) task, and the WM system negotiates the exchange of information between WM and LTM depending on the current memory load. In this study, we assessed the ability of different accounts of interactions between LTM and WM to explain these findings, by investigating whether the position of pre-learnt information within a memory list encoded into WM affects the benefit it provides to immediate memory. In two experiments we varied the input position of previously learned word-word pairs within a set of four to-be-remembered pairs. We replicated previous findings of superior performance when these LTM pairs were included in the WM task and show that the position in the list in which these LTM pairs were included not seem to matter. These results are most consistent with the idea that having access to information in LTM reduces or removes the need to rely on WM for its storage, implying that people "offload" information in conditions containing LTM pairs.

Reward Enhances Memory via Age-Varying Online and Offline Neural Mechanisms across Development.

Reward motivation enhances memory through interactions between mesolimbic, hippocampal, and cortical systems, both during and after encoding. Developmental changes in these distributed neural circuits may lead to age-related differences in reward-motivated memory and the underlying neural mechanisms. Converging evidence from cross-species studies suggests that subcortical dopamine signaling is increased during adolescence, which may lead to stronger memory representations of rewarding, relative to mundane, events and changes in the contributions of underlying subcortical and cortical brain mechanisms across age. Here, we used fMRI to examine how reward motivation influences the "online" encoding and "offline" postencoding brain mechanisms that support long-term associative memory from childhood to adulthood in human participants of both sexes. We found that reward motivation led to both age-invariant enhancements and nonlinear age-related differences in associative memory after 24 h. Furthermore, reward-related memory benefits were linked to age-varying neural mechanisms. During encoding, interactions between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) were associated with better high-reward memory to a greater degree with increasing age. Preencoding to postencoding changes in functional connectivity between the anterior hippocampus and VTA were also associated with better high-reward memory, but more so at younger ages. Our findings suggest that there may be developmental differences in the contributions of offline subcortical and online cortical brain mechanisms supporting reward-motivated memory.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A substantial body of research has examined the neural mechanisms through which reward influences memory formation in adults. However, despite extensive evidence that both reward processing and associative memory undergo dynamic change across development, few studies have examined age-related changes in these processes. We found both age-invariant and nonlinear age-related differences in reward-motivated memory. Moreover, our findings point to developmental differences in the processes through which reward modulates the prioritization of information in long-term memory, with greater early reliance on offline subcortical consolidation mechanisms and increased contribution of systems-level online encoding circuitry with increasing age. These results highlight dynamic developmental changes in the cognitive and neural mechanisms through which motivationally salient information is prioritized in memory from childhood to adulthood.

Does attributing mental states to a robot influence accessibility of information represented during reading?

When we read fiction, we encounter characters that interact in the story. As such, we encode that information and comprehend the stories. Prior studies suggest that this comprehension process is facilitated by taking the perspective of characters during reading. Thus, two questions of interest are whether people take the perspective of characters that are not perceived as capable of experiencing perspectives (e.g., robots), and whether current models of language comprehension can explain these differences between human and nonhuman protagonists (or lack thereof) during reading. The study aims to (1) compare the situation model (i.e., a model that factors in a protagonist's perspective) and the RI-VAL model (which relies more on comparisons of newly acquired information with information stored in long term memory) and (2) investigate whether differences in accessibility of information differ based on adopting the intentional stance towards a robot. To address the aims of our study, we designed a preregistered experiment in which participants read stories about one of three protagonists (an intentional robot, a mechanistic robot and a human) and answered questions about objects that were either occluded or not occluded from the protagonist's view. Based on the situation model, we expected faster responses to items that were not occluded compared to those that were occluded (i.e., the occlusion effect). However, based on the RI-VAL model, we expected overall differences between the protagonists would arise due to inconsistency with general world knowledge. The results of the pre-registered analysis showed no differences between the protagonists, nor differences in occlusion. However, a post-hoc analysis showed that the occlusion effect was shown only for the intentional robot but not for the human, nor mechanistic robot. Results also showed that depending on the age of the readers, the RI-VAL or the situation model is able to explain the results such that older participants “simulated” the situation about which they read (situation model), while younger adults compared new information with information stored in long-term memory (RI-VAL model). This suggests that comparing to information in long term memory is cognitively more costly. Therefore, with older adults used less cognitively demanding strategy of simulation.

Cognitive load in academic clinical simulation activities. Cross-sectional study

Introduction: Cognitive load determines working memory ability to store and retain information in long-term memory, thus conditioning learning.
 Objective: To compare cognitive loads among different simulation activities, including anesthesia and surgery simulation workshops in medical students.
 Methods: Cross-sectional analytical observational study. Two cognitive load measurement scales (Paas and NASA-TLX) were given to the students after each simulation workshop. Comparisons were made based on the scores derived from the scales.
 Results: Relevant differences were found in terms of the mental effort assessed by means of the Paas scale, as relates to student rotation order in the airway management workshop, with a greater effort being found in the group that rotated initially in surgery (6.19 vs. 5.53; p = 0.029). The workshop with the highest associated rate of frustration was the airway management workshop. Higher scores were obtained for this workshop in all the items of the NASA-TLX scale, reflecting a higher cognitive load when compared to the others.
 Conclusion: It was not possible to determine whether higher scores in some of the activities were associated with the inherent difficulty of airway management or the specific workshop design. Consequently, further studies are required to distinguish between those components in order to improve the way learning activities are designed.

Set Size of Information in Long-Term Memory Similarly Modulates Retrieval Dynamics in Young and Older Adults.

Our ability to rapidly distinguish new from already stored (old) information is important for behavior and decision making, but the underlying processes remain unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that contextual cues lead to a preselection of information and, therefore, faster recognition. Specifically, on the basis of previous modeling work, we hypothesized that recognition time depends on the amount of relevant content stored in long-term memory, i.e., set size, and we explored possible age-related changes of this relationship in older humans. In our paradigm, subjects learned by heart four different word lists (24, 48, 72, and 96 words) written in different colors (green, red, orange, and blue). On the day of testing, a color cue (e.g., green) indicated with a probability of 50% that a subsequent word might be from the corresponding list or from a list of new words. The old/new status of the word had to be distinguished via button press. As a main finding, we can show in a sample of n = 49 subjects, including 26 younger and 23 older humans, that response times increased linearly and logarithmically as a function of set size in both age groups. Conversely, corrected hit rates decreased as a function of set size with no statistically significant differences between both age groups. As such, our findings provide empirical evidence that contextual information can lead to a preselection of relevant information stored in long-term memory to promote efficient recognition, possibly by cyclical top-down and bottom-up processing.

Thinking Analogy in Solving Indirect Analogy Problems based on Information Processing Theory

Cognitive ability in solving analogy problems really needs the right information processing. The core cognitive process in analogy thinking occurs when students make a mapping between the target problem and the source problem. This research aims to describe analogical thinking in solving indirect analogy problems based on information processing theory. The method usesd in this research is qualitative descriptive. The subject in this study were third and fifth-semester students of the Mathematics Tadris Program FTK UIN Mataram. Instruments are source problems and target problems use indefinite integral problems in the Integral Calculus course. Data analysis is used by using triangulation of methods and data sources. The results showed that there were 51.06% able to solve the target problem where students are able to recall long-term memory information related to solving source problems that have similarities to solving target problems. Source problem-solving information taken from long-term memory is used by students in solving target problems in short-term memory. The processing of information in short-term memory depends on the mapping process with previous information in long-term memory. Therefore, as a mathematics teacher, he is able to emphasize certain materials which are initial knowledge to study further material.

Multivariate FMRI Signatures of Learning in a Hebb Repetition Paradigm With Tone Sequences.

Important information from the environment often arrives to the brain in temporally extended sequences. Language, music, actions, and complex events generally unfold over time. When such informational sequences exceed the limited capacity of working memory, the human brain relies on its ability to accumulate information in long-term memory over several encounters with a complex stimulus. A longstanding question in psychology and neuroscience is whether the neural structures associated with working memory storage—often viewed as capacity limited and temporary—have any builtin ability to store information across longer temporal delays. According to the classic Hebbian dual memory theory, temporally local “activity traces” underlie immediate perception and working memory, whereas “structural traces” undergird long-term learning. Here we examine whether brain structures known to be involved in working maintenance of auditory sequences, such as area Spt, also show evidence of memory persistence across trials. We used representational similarity analysis (RSA) and the Hebb repetition paradigm with supracapacity tonal sequences to test whether repeated sequences have distinguishable multivoxel activity patterns in the auditory-motor networks of the brain. We found that, indeed, area Spt and other nodes of the auditory dorsal stream show multivoxel patterns for tone sequences that become gradually more distinct with repetition during working memory for supracapacity tone-sequences. The findings suggest that the structures are important for working memory are not “blank slates,” wiped clean from moment to moment, but rather encode information in a way can lead to cross-trial persistence.

Functional Connectivity during Encoding Predicts Individual Differences in Long-Term Memory.

What is the neural basis of individual differences in the ability to hold information in long-term memory (LTM)? Here, we first characterize two whole-brain functional connectivity networks based on fMRI data acquired during an n-back task that robustly predict individual differences in two important forms of LTM, recognition and recollection. We then focus on the recognition memory model and contrast it with a working memory model. Although functional connectivity during the n-back task also predicts working memory performance and the two networks have some shared components, they are also largely distinct from each other: The recognition memory model performance remains robust when we control for working memory, and vice versa. Functional connectivity only within regions traditionally associated with LTM formation, such as the medial temporal lobe and those that show univariate subsequent memory effect, have little predictive power for both forms of LTM. Interestingly, the interactions between these regions and other brain regions play a more substantial role in predicting recollection memory than recognition memory. These results demonstrate that individual differences in LTM are dependent on the configuration of a whole-brain functional network including but not limited to regions associated with LTM during encoding and that such a network is separable from what supports the retention of information in working memory.