Meaningful Memory Research Articles

Bridging big data in the ENIGMA consortium to combine non-equivalent cognitive measures

Investigators in neuroscience have turned to Big Data to address replication and reliability issues by increasing sample size. These efforts unveil new questions about how to integrate data across distinct sources and instruments. The goal of this study was to link scores across common auditory verbal learning tasks (AVLTs). This international secondary analysis aggregated multisite raw data for AVLTs across 53 studies totaling 10,505 individuals. Using the ComBat-GAM algorithm, we isolated and removed the component of memory scores associated with site effects while preserving instrumental effects. After adjustment, a continuous item response theory model used multiple memory items of varying difficulty to estimate each individual’s latent verbal learning ability on a single scale. Equivalent raw scores across AVLTs were then found by linking individuals through the ability scale. Harmonization reduced total cross-site score variance by 37% while preserving meaningful memory effects. Age had the largest impact on scores overall (− 11.4%), while race/ethnicity variable was not significant (p > 0.05). The resulting tools were validated on dually administered tests. The conversion tool is available online so researchers and clinicians can convert memory scores across instruments. This work demonstrates that global harmonization initiatives can address reproducibility challenges across the behavioral sciences.

Enhancing the user authentication process with colour memory cues

ABSTRACT The authentication process is the first line of defence against potential impostors, and therefore is an important concern when protecting personal and organisational data. Although there are many options to authenticate digital users, passwords remain the most common authentication mechanism. However, with password numbers increasing, many users struggle with remembering multiple passwords, which affects their security behaviour. Previous researchers and practitioners have attempted to suggest ways to improve password memorability and security simultaneously. We introduce novel approach that utilises colour as a memory cue to increase password memorability and security. A longitudinal study examined in total over 3000 passwords that were created, learnt and recalled (password process) over a period of five-weeks. By adding colour to the password process, our results suggest that password memorability and security can be increased simultaneously. Through giving the user the option of choosing the colours (compared with colours being preselected), encourages users to create more personal and meaningful memory cues when creating their passwords. Additionally, colour also provided another security parameter by increasing password entropy. These unique results have practical implications for researchers and practitioners that could positively impact password security, and the financial losses suffered due to password security breaches.

Evaluating the effectiveness of compensatory memory interventions in adults with acquired brain injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis of memory and everyday outcomes.

Adults with acquired brain injury (ABI) often experience memory impairments that are persistent and difficult to treat. Although evidence has shown that rehabilitation programs may improve cognitive performance in persons with ABI, there is an opportunity to look more closely at the benefits provided by specific interventions. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate whether compensation-based memory programs improve memory or everyday outcomes (e.g., mood, quality of life, community integration, everyday functioning). The review was limited to published, English-language controlled trials that evaluated compensatory memory interventions for adults (18 +) with ABI using at least one memory or everyday outcome. The final search was conducted in April 2021 using PsychINFO, Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Review database, Google Scholar, and the reference lists of relevant articles. Of 2,817 identified articles, 22 controlled trials met inclusion criteria, of which 12 provided sufficient data to include in the meta-analyses. Risk of bias assessment identified problems with recruitment and masking procedures. Results indicate that compared to controls, these interventions produce positive effects on outcomes of immediate verbal recall (g = 0.43), participant-reported memory (g = 0.28), and strategy use (g = 0.39) and that these improvements are maintained at follow-up. Compensatory memory programs produce meaningful memory improvements and are a promising avenue for reducing ABI-related memory impairment. Future research focusing on specific subsets of ABI populations and a broader range of participant-reported outcomes is needed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Transcending time in the brain: How event memories are constructed from experience.

Our daily lives unfold continuously, yet when we reflect on the past, we remember those experiences as distinct and cohesive events. To understand this phenomenon, early investigations focused on how and when individuals perceive natural breakpoints, or boundaries, in ongoing experience. More recent research has examined how these boundaries modulate brain mechanisms that support long-term episodic memory. This work has revealed that a complex interplay between hippocampus and prefrontal cortex promotes the integration and separation of sequential information to help organize our experiences into mnemonic events. Here, we discuss how both temporal stability and change in one's thoughts, goals, and surroundings may provide scaffolding for these neural processes to link and separate memories across time. When learning novel or familiar sequences of information, dynamic hippocampal processes may work both independently from and in concert with other brain regions to bind sequential representations together in memory. The formation and storage of discrete episodic memories may occur both proactively as an experience unfolds. They may also occur retroactively, either during a context shift or when reactivation mechanisms bring the past into the present to allow integration. We also describe conditions and factors that shape the construction and integration of event memories across different timescales. Together these findings shed new light on how the brain transcends time to transform everyday experiences into meaningful memory representations.

Oscillatory EEG dynamics underlying automatic chunking during sentence processing

Sentences are easier to remember than random word sequences, likely because linguistic regularities facilitate chunking of words into meaningful groups. The present electroencephalography study investigated the neural oscillations modulated by this so-called sentence superiority effect during the encoding and maintenance of sentence fragments versus word lists. We hypothesized a chunking-related modulation of neural processing during the encoding and retention of sentences (i.e., sentence fragments) as compared to word lists. Time–frequency analysis revealed a two-fold oscillatory pattern for the memorization of sentences: Sentence encoding was accompanied by higher delta amplitude (4Hz), originating both from regions processing syntax as well as semantics (bilateral superior/middle temporal regions and fusiform gyrus). Subsequent sentence retention was reflected in decreased theta (6Hz) and beta/gamma (27–32Hz) amplitude instead. Notably, whether participants simply read or properly memorized the sentences did not impact chunking-related activity during encoding. Therefore, we argue that the sentence superiority effect is grounded in highly automatized language processing mechanisms, which generate meaningful memory chunks irrespective of task demands.

Semantic Congruence Accelerates the Onset of the Neural Signals of Successful Memory Encoding

As the stream of experience unfolds, our memory system rapidly transforms current inputs into long-lasting meaningful memories. A putative neural mechanism that strongly influences how input elements are transformed into meaningful memory codes relies on the ability to integrate them with existing structures of knowledge or schemas. However, it is not yet clear whether schema-related integration neural mechanisms occur during online encoding. In the current investigation, we examined the encoding-dependent nature of this phenomenon in humans. We showed that actively integrating words with congruent semantic information provided by a category cue enhances memory for words and increases false recall. The memory effect of such active integration with congruent information was robust, even with an interference task occurring right after each encoding word list. In addition, via electroencephalography, we show in 2 separate studies that the onset of the neural signals of successful encoding appeared early (∼400 ms) during the encoding of congruent words. That the neural signals of successful encoding of congruent and incongruent information followed similarly ∼200 ms later suggests that this earlier neural response contributed to memory formation. We propose that the encoding of events that are congruent with readily available contextual semantics can trigger an accelerated onset of the neural mechanisms, supporting the integration of semantic information with the event input. This faster onset would result in a long-lasting and meaningful memory trace for the event but, at the same time, make it difficult to distinguish it from plausible but never encoded events (i.e., related false memories). <b>SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT</b> Conceptual or schema congruence has a strong influence on long-term memory. However, the question of whether schema-related integration neural mechanisms occur during online encoding has yet to be clarified. We investigated the neural mechanisms reflecting how the active integration of words with congruent semantic categories enhances memory for words and increases false recall of semantically related words. We analyzed event-related potentials during encoding and showed that the onset of the neural signals of successful encoding appeared early (∼400 ms) during the encoding of congruent words. Our findings indicate that congruent events can trigger an accelerated onset of neural encoding mechanisms supporting the integration of semantic information with the event input.

Meaningful Memory in Acute Anorexia Nervosa Patients-Comparing Recall, Learning, and Recognition of Semantically Related and Semantically Unrelated Word Stimuli.

It is unclear whether observed memory impairment in anorexia nervosa (AN) depends on the semantic structure (categorized words) of material to be encoded. We aimed to investigate the processing of semantically related information in AN. Memory performance was assessed in a recall, learning, and recognition test in 27 adult women with AN (19 restricting, 8 binge-eating/purging subtype; average disease duration: 9.32years) and 30 healthy controls using an extended version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, applying semantically related and unrelated word stimuli. Short-term memory (immediate recall, learning), regardless of semantics of the words, was significantly worse in AN patients, whereas long-term memory (delayed recall, recognition) did not differ between AN patients and controls. Semantics of stimuli do not have a better effect on memory recall in AN compared to CO. Impaired short-term versus long-term memory is discussed in relation to dysfunctional working memory in AN. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Examining the Positivity Effect in Autobiographical Memory Across Adulthood.

The positivity effect in memory is characterized by enhanced memory for emotionally positive information or decreased memory for emotionally negative information with increased age. The goals of the current study were to (a) examine the positivity effect in autobiographical memory using instructions that limited experimental constraints, (b) examine the relationship between memory valence and subjective well-being, and (c) examine the relationship between age and other memory characteristics across adulthood. In the current study, 281 individuals between the ages of 18 and 94 (Mage=53.14, SD=17.04) completed a modified Memory Experiences Questionnaire using online survey methods. Participants answered questions about emotional valence and other phenomenological characteristics regarding two memories, including any specific memory of their choosing and a personally meaningful memory. Results indicated that memory valence was unrelated to age, thus failing to provide evidence for the positivity effect. However, memory valence was found to be a significant predictor of life satisfaction. Age moderated the relationship between memory valence and subjective well-being but did so differently across the two memories. Age was also associated with increased vividness, coherence, sensory detail, time clarity, and a first-person perspective for the personally meaningful memory.

Something more than g: Meaningful Memory uniquely predicts training performance

Past research has shown that mental ability tests predict training and job performance by virtue of measuring general mental ability (g). After removing the effects of g, mental ability tests no longer predict performance, with the exception of perceptual speed and spatial abilities for certain occupations. In our study, we found evidence for a third exception: Meaningful Memory, the ability to learn and recall information that has meaningfully-related content predicts training performance (ρ=.511), even after removing the effects of g. Therefore, Meaningful Memory tests show promise in enhancing the effectiveness of mental ability tests to predict training performance.

The End of The Holocaust

The End of The Holocaust

Continuing commentary: Beyond recollection: Toward a dialogical psychology of collective memory

Collective memory implies the social and psychological production of meaningful acts of memory, a special kind of truth claim about a controversial past. Memory acts are thus conceptualized as ideological positioning movements toward others, which is impossible to account for from individual cognition. What kind of psychological processes, if any, would be involved in collective memory? A three-fold model is sketched to account for a whole act of memory. One analytical component is the generation of a knowledge structure about the past object. A second component is the construction of an attitude toward the theme. The third is the understanding of the ideological dimension within which the knowledge structure and the attitude under production are contextualized. An information storage-and-retrieval mechanism is not needed in this theoretical account. It is suggested that psychology of memory may contribute to accounting for these three micro-genetic levels as integrated into meaningful memory acts.

The Role of Left Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex during Episodic Decisions: Semantic Elaboration or Resolution of Episodic Interference?

Context memory retrieval tasks often implicate the left ventrolateral pFC (LVPFC) during functional imaging. Although this region has been linked to controlled semantic processing of materials, it may also play a more general role in selecting among competing episodic representations during demanding retrieval tasks. Thus, the LVPFC response during context memory retrieval may reflect either semantic processing of memoranda or adjudication of interfering episodic memories evoked by memoranda. To distinguish between these hypotheses, we contrasted context and item memory retrieval tasks for meaningful and nonmeaningful memoranda using fMRI. Increased LVPFC activation during context compared with item memory only occurred for meaningful memory probes. In contrast, even demanding context retrieval for nonmeaningful materials failed to engage LVPFC. These data demonstrate that the activation previously seen during episodic tasks likely reflects semantic processing of the probes during episodic retrieval attempt, not the selection among competing elicited episodic representations. Posterior middle temporal gyrus and the body/head of the caudate demonstrated the same selective response as LVPFC, although resting state functional connectivity analyses suggested that these two regions likely shared separate functional relationships with the LVPFC.

Adolescents' meaningful memories reflect a trajectory of self-development from family over school to friends

The relationship between autobiographical memories and self is important in many theories. Promising recent approaches from cross-cultural psychology use a concept of "self-construal”, in which reference to others can be as important as indicators of autonomy. However, these studies typically ask for earliest memories only, whereas we would expect the roles of others to change over the course of development. Taking as a premise that adolescents' life unfolds in three concurrent settings - family, school, and friendship - we asked 66 adolescents (22 Norwegians in Study 1, and 40 Slovaks in Study 2) for a meaningful memory from each of these settings. The memories they selected from the family setting were oldest, school memories intermediate and friend memories most recent, suggesting a developmental trajectory in which the three settings have changed in importance. Memories from the friendship setting were also most frequently on their mind. Furthermore, family memories referred most to other people, friend memories marginally less and school memories least, suggesting different contributions of these settings to self-construal. We conclude that characteristics of adolescents' meaningful memories reflect shifting settings' dominance during development and complementary roles of family, school and friends for adolescents' current self-construal.

Location and meaningful visual detail influence crossmodal working memory capacity

Location and meaningful visual detail influence crossmodal working memory capacity

Poor presurgical performance on both verbal and visual memory measures is associated with low risk for memory decline following left temporal lobectomy for intractable epilepsy

Studies have shown a lower risk for verbal memory decline following dominant anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) among patients with poor, presurgical verbal memory scores. It is unclear however, if the risk of decline is increased in patients who also have reduced visual memory. Objective and subjective memory outcome following left ATL was examined in twelve patients with reduced presurgical visual and verbal memory scores. Only one patient demonstrated a meaningful decline in memory scores, with a decline in visual memory following surgery. Presurgically, this patient demonstrated poor memory bilaterally on Wada testing and small discrepancy in hippocampal volumes. She was also one of two patients who continued to have seizures post-surgery. This preliminary study suggests that patients with unilateral, left TLE and poor verbal and visual memory are unlikely to show meaningful memory declines following left ATL, particularly if they demonstrate expected patterns on Wada testing, hippocampal volume discrepancy (left < right), and postsurgical seizure-freedom.

Neuroimaging evidence for the emotional potency of odor-evoked memory

To assess past behavioral reports of the emotional distinctiveness of odor-evoked memories, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare regions of activation during recall triggered by olfactory and visual cues that were connected to a personally meaningful memory and a comparable control cue presented in olfactory and visual form. Five healthy right-handed females experienced both behavioral and fMRI memory testing. fMRI analyses indicated significantly greater activation in the amygdala and hippocampal regions during recall to the personally significant odor than any other cue, and behavioral responses confirmed that emotional responses were greatest to the personally meaningful odor. These findings provide convincing neurobiological evidence that the subjective experience of the emotional potency of odor-evoked memory is correlated with specific activation in the amygdala during recall and offers new insights into the affective organization of memory.

“We Make the Road by Walking” With the People

We two mothers, one black and the other white, leaned forward in the pew to hear the words of our teenagers, Dara and Michael, as they stood at the pulpit to describe the experience that had the most personal meaning to them on the Civil Rights Tour from which they had just returned. The congregation strained to hear the stories they and 13 other young people told of walking the streets of Montgomery, Ala. It was there, in 1956, that Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., led a bus boycott to usher in a non-violent movement that changed the world. Our children told of standing before the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery with water cascading over its marble rim and the words from the book of Amos, “Until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Ala., 2003 (Photograph by Dara Satterfield.) Speaker after speaker, unable to limit the most meaningful memory to just one site they had visited, described walking together across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where 600 people in 1965 persevered through Bloody Sunday and continued the march to Montgomery to resist unjust voting practices. That was an experience with such profound depth that it defied words, they said, but would forever affect their lives. At the close of the church service, young people, church members, other parents, and the two of us, with glistening eyes threatening to spill, joined in …

Travels and Adventures in an Unchartable Field

[Figure: see text]There was considerable optimism about the future of anthropology when I came into the field over forty years ago, at a time when World War II was still a meaningful memory, the Korean War was a subject of great agony, and Vietnam was not yet part of our consciousness. During the late 1950s I had developed an interest in experiencing other cultures, and this led me to the field of international studies and indirectly to anthropology. Anthropology seemed a very positive way to get to know about other peoples and their ways of life. Such knowledge would create greater understanding among all peoples, and particularly, it had the potential for reducing friction and avoiding conflict. Naively, I think, some of my contemporaries and I believed that the field would grow and become a powerful influence in international relations, providing the knowledge and strategies for establishing communication among peoples and promoting peaceful coexistence. We were very young then and inexperienced. In this overview I touch on only some of the high points of my experiences in anthropology over the past decades and briefly comment on some of my reactions to developments in the field.

Computer-stimulated design: construction of a personal repertoire from scattered fragments

This paper describes some possibilities of creating and structuring a personal digital memory capable of facilitating architectural design and design learning. The raw materials of this memory are different representations that can be found on the Web. Having interpreted these representations, one is able to construct a meaningful memory, educated and personal, which can be called upon subsequently during the design phase, as long as one has a medium that can represent this memory and put it to good use. As a practical, effective application of this process, we will describe part of a configuration geared towards the learning of architectural design. This configuration is composed of various elements, precisely arranged in space and time in a set of interrelations and interactions. The design student is placed at the centre of the arrangement, from where he or she can call on a broad spectrum of possibilities from the Web as provider of image documents. When necessary, students can use specially developed software that allows them a verbal and pictorial interpretation stimulated during particular phases of the learning process. In this way, through pictorial material presented on the network, the students can build up a digital library appropriate to their own understanding of architecture and their own representation of the world. At this point, they can abandon the universe of digital documents and media and return to the world of materials and shapes in intensive design studio sessions, where slowly maturing ideas can at last find concrete form. Thus, we deal with the relationship between the public, shareable aspect of the documents, and the private aspect: the individual interpretation of these documents. In the same way, we show how, within the framework of the teaching programme that has been set up, and without interference, this relationship between public and private can be linked into a dimension of the work of learning which is at times personal, at times collective. The conclusion attempts to outline the issues raised by this sort of configuration, and to show how thoughtful use of computers and networks can stimulate and enrich design rather than just “aid” it, as is generally accepted.

“Mind” as Humanizing the Brain: Toward a Neurotheology of Meaning

The concept “mind” refers to the human and humanlike features of the brain. A historical review of thinking about the mind contextualizes humanity's search to understand itself by sketching biblical and philosophical perspectives from the Hebrew scriptures through the Greeks and Descartes to the German philosophers Goethe, Kant, and Hegel. These provide an enlarged context for an analytic approach to mind as focusing on the interface between physical signals and experiential symbolic expressions. Drawing on a holistic paradigm, several features are discernible: empathic rationality, imaginative intentionality, meaningful memory, and adaptability. These reflect the evolutionary development of uncommitted cortex that contributes to the brain's explosive capacity for order, complexity, and novelty. The basic issue continues, namely, how are the distributed modules of information‐processing integrated into the meaning‐making reality of human beings?