Memory Cues Research Articles

Domain-specific hearing-in-noise performance is associated with absolute pitch proficiency

Recent evidence suggests that musicians may have an advantage over non-musicians in perceiving speech against noisy backgrounds. Previously, musicians have been compared as a homogenous group, despite demonstrated heterogeneity, which may contribute to discrepancies between studies. Here, we investigated whether “quasi”-absolute pitch (AP) proficiency, viewed as a general trait that varies across a spectrum, accounts for the musician advantage in hearing-in-noise (HIN) performance, irrespective of whether the streams are speech or musical sounds. A cohort of 12 non-musicians and 42 trained musicians stratified into high, medium, or low AP proficiency identified speech or melody targets masked in noise (speech-shaped, multi-talker, and multi-music) under four signal-to-noise ratios (0, − 3, − 6, and − 9 dB). Cognitive abilities associated with HIN benefits, including auditory working memory and use of visuo-spatial cues, were assessed. AP proficiency was verified against pitch adjustment and relative pitch tasks. We found a domain-specific effect on HIN perception: quasi-AP abilities were related to improved perception of melody but not speech targets in noise. The quasi-AP advantage extended to tonal working memory and the use of spatial cues, but only during melodic stream segregation. Overall, the results do not support the putative musician advantage in speech-in-noise perception, but suggest a quasi-AP advantage in perceiving music under noisy environments.

Single-neuron detection of place cells remapping in short-term memory using motion microelectrode arrays

Place cells establish rapid mapping relationships between the external environment and themselves in a new context. However, the mapping relationships of environmental cues to place cells in short-term memory is still completely unknown. In this work, we designed a silicon-based motion microelectrode array (mMEA) and an implantation device to record electrophysiological signals of place cells in CA1, CA3, and DG regions in the hippocampus of ten mice in motion, and investigated the corresponding place fields under distal or local cues in just a few minutes. The mMEA can expand the detection area and greatly lower the motion noise. Finding and recording place cells of moving mice in short-term memory is made possible by the mMEA. The place-related cells were found for the first time. Unlike place cells, which only fire in a particular position of the environment, place-related cells fire in numerous areas of the environment. Furthermore, place cells in the CA1 and CA3 have the most stable place memory for time-preferred single cues, and they fire in concert with place-related cells during short-term memory dynamics, whereas place cells in the DG regions have overlapping and unstable place memory in a multi-cue context. These results demonstrate the consistency of place cells in CA1 and CA3 and reflect their different roles in spatial memory processing during familiarization with new environments. The mMEA provides a platform for studying the place cells of short-term memory.

Entropic associative memory for manuscript symbols.

Manuscript symbols can be stored, recognized and retrieved from an entropic digital memory that is associative and distributed but yet declarative; memory retrieval is a constructive operation, memory cues to objects not contained in the memory are rejected directly without search, and memory operations can be performed through parallel computations. Manuscript symbols, both letters and numerals, are represented in Associative Memory Registers that have an associated entropy. The memory recognition operation obeys an entropy trade-off between precision and recall, and the entropy level impacts on the quality of the objects recovered through the memory retrieval operation. The present proposal is contrasted in several dimensions with neural networks models of associative memory. We discuss the operational characteristics of the entropic associative memory for retrieving objects with both complete and incomplete information, such as severe occlusions. The experiments reported in this paper add evidence on the potential of this framework for developing practical applications and computational models of natural memory.

The acquisition but not adaptation of contextual memories is enhanced in action video-game players

Visual search is facilitated when a target item is positioned within an invariant arrangement of task-irrelevant distractor elements (relative to non-repeated arrangements), because learnt target-distractor spatial associations guide visual search. While such configural search templates stored in long-term memory (LTM) cue focal attention towards the search-for target after only a few display repetitions, adaptation of existing configural LTM requires extensive training. The current work examined the important question whether individuals claimed to have better attention performance (i.e., action video game players; AVGP) show improved acquisition vs. adaptation of configural LTM (relative to no-gamers; NAVGP) in a visual-search task with repeated and non-repeated search configurations and consisting of an initial learning phase and, following target relocation, a subsequent adaptation phase. We found that contextual facilitation of search reaction times was more pronounced for AVGP relative to NAVGP in initial learning, probably reflecting enhanced learn-to-learn capabilities in the former individuals. However, this advantage did not carry over to the adaptation phase, in which gamers and non-gamers exhibited similar performance and suggesting that attention control required for overcoming visual distraction from previously learned (but no more relevant) target positions is relatively uninfluenced by action-game experience.

Toward an Integrated Context-Based Design Approach for Dementia Residential Care Homes: A Review of Key Operational Design Problems.

This article seeks to develop a context-based management system focusing on assessing key operational and design problems and affecting wayfinding in dementia residential care homes. Dementia is multifaceted neurocognitive impairments largely attributed to cognitive deterioration manifested in memory loss and visuospatial deficit which have wider practical implications to both environmental safety and wayfinding and navigation of dementia user. Two key questions were addressed in this context: (1) How can cognitively facilitating assistive technology (AT) be made more user-focused to mitigate the impacts of cognitive impairments on environmental safety and wayfinding? (2) How can design intervention and changes in design topology, colors and texture, and internal finishing aid wayfinding, navigation, and orientation in dementia residential care homes? A systematic literature review and analysis was undertaken to assess the efficacy of key cognitively-related AT to support activities of daily living and environmental safety of dementia sufferers in a care home and aid wayfinding, navigation, and orientation. Several key design variables to facilitate wayfinding and spatial orientation were identified which include design topology, floor finishing, signposting, and use of color and texture strengthened by meaning, emotional connection to places and cognitively focused intervention via memory cueing and objects-centered recognition. Key operational and design guidelines were proposed to assist built environment, care home developers, clinicians and healthcare professionals, and care services providers. There is a need to move toward a dementia-centered design to address the challenges facing people living with dementia in care homes. This should be based on the interrelated behavioral, cognitive, and communication factors.

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.

Olfactory imagery as a retrieval method for autobiographical memories

IntroductionThe retrieval of autobiographical memories is influenced by several factors, such as sensory modality and the emotional salience of memory cues. This study aimed at investigating the interaction between sensory modalities (olfaction, vision) and emotional dimensions (valence, arousal) of imagery cues, on the frequency, quality, and age distribution of the autobiographical memories (AMs) elicited.MethodA total of 296 females (aged between 18 and 35 years) received one out of eight brief instructions for olfactory or visual imagery. The participants were asked to create a mental image with either high arousal/positive valence, high arousal/negative valence, low arousal/positive valence, or low arousal/negative valence (e.g., ‘imagine an unpleasant and arousing odor/scene’); no specific stimulus was mentioned in the instruction.ResultsThe approach used elicited imagery with autobiographical content in the majority of participants (78%). In terms of frequency, odor imagery, compared to visual imagery, turned out to be more effective at retrieving either unpleasant memories associated with experiences in adulthood, or pleasant childhood memories. In terms of quality, the imagery was rated as less vivid in the olfactory compared to the visual condition (irrespective of valence and arousal of the imagery instruction). Visual imagery was associated with the experience of more diverse emotions (happiness, sadness, anxiety, anger) than odor imagery, which was related primarily with disgust and happiness.ConclusionOur findings indicate that nonspecific imagery induction is a useful approach in accessing AM.ImplicationThis approach presents promising clinical applications, such as in working with autobiographical memory narratives in psychotherapy.

Memory for Gaze Cues Can Attenuate Change Blindness in the Flicker Paradigm

Introduction: Observers often pay attention to objects that are the target of another’s gaze. The current experiments investigate if memory for gaze cues has similar effects on attention. Methods: We used the flicker paradigm, in which participants searched for changes in pictures of real-world scenes. In experiment 1, half of the scenes depicted a person looking at the changing object, and the other half depicted no people. In experiment 2, none of the scenes in the flicker sequence contained people, but participants previewed pictures prior to the flicker sequence, and half of the previews depicted a person looking at the changing object. Results: In both experiments, participants were faster to find changes when the changes were cued (Exp 1, t(20) = 2.55, p = .02; Exp 2, t(49) = 7.18, p < .001). Analysis of accuracy suggests it was not due to a speed-accuracy tradeoff. Conclusions: These results suggest that memory for gaze cues may help guide attention. However, the results do not suggest one way or the other whether this effect is reflexive or unique to social cues.

Materials and extracellular matrix rigidity highlighted in tissue damages and diseases: Implication for biomaterials design and therapeutic targets.

Rigidity (or stiffness) of materials and extracellular matrix has proven to be one of the most significant extracellular physicochemical cues that can control diverse cell behaviors, such as contractility, motility, and spreading, and the resultant pathophysiological phenomena. Many 2D materials engineered with tunable rigidity have enabled researchers to elucidate the roles of matrix biophysical cues in diverse cellular events, including migration, lineage specification, and mechanical memory. Moreover, the recent findings accumulated under 3D environments with viscoelastic and remodeling properties pointed to the importance of dynamically changing rigidity in cell fate control, tissue repair, and disease progression. Thus, here we aim to highlight the works related with material/matrix-rigidity-mediated cell and tissue behaviors, with a brief outlook into the studies on the effects of material/matrix rigidity on cell behaviors in 2D systems, further discussion of the events and considerations in tissue-mimicking 3D conditions, and then examination of the in vivo findings that concern material/matrix rigidity. The current discussion will help understand the material/matrix-rigidity-mediated biological phenomena and further leverage the concepts to find therapeutic targets and to design implantable materials for the treatment of damaged and diseased tissues.

Prefrontal cortical activation associated with prospective memory while walking around a real-world street environment

Rostral PFC (area 10) activation is common during prospective memory (PM) tasks. But it is not clear what mental processes these activations index. Three candidate explanations from cognitive neuroscience theory are: (i) monitoring of the environment; (ii) spontaneous intention retrieval; (iii) a combination of the two. These explanations make different predictions about the temporal and spatial patterns of activation that would be seen in rostral PFC in naturalistic settings. Accordingly, we plotted functional events in PFC using portable fNIRS while people were carrying out a PM task outside the lab and responding to cues when they were encountered, to decide between these explanations. Nineteen people were asked to walk around a street in London, U.K. and perform various tasks while also remembering to respond to prospective memory (PM) cues when they detected them. The prospective memory cues could be either social (involving greeting a person) or non-social (interacting with a parking meter) in nature. There were also a number of contrast conditions which allowed us to determine activation specifically related to the prospective memory components of the tasks. We found that maintaining both social and non-social intentions was associated with widespread activation within medial and right hemisphere rostral prefrontal cortex (BA 10), in agreement with numerous previous lab-based fMRI studies of prospective memory. In addition, increased activation was found within lateral prefrontal cortex (BA 45 and 46) when people were maintaining a social intention compared to a non-social one. The data were then subjected to a GLM-based method for automatic identification of functional events (AIDE), and the position of the participants at the time of the activation events were located on a map of the physical space. The results showed that the spatial and temporal distribution of these events was not random, but aggregated around areas in which the participants appeared to retrieve their future intentions (i.e., where they saw intentional cues), as well as where they executed them. Functional events were detected most frequently in BA 10 during the PM conditions compared to other regions and tasks. Mobile fNIRS can be used to measure higher cognitive functions of the prefrontal cortex in “real world” situations outside the laboratory in freely ambulant individuals. The addition of a “brain-first” approach to the data permits the experimenter to determine not only when haemodynamic changes occur, but also where the participant was when it happened. This can be extremely valuable when trying to link brain and cognition.

Mapping Pitch Accents to Memory Representations in Spoken Discourse Among Chinese Learners of English: Effects of L2 Proficiency and Working Memory.

We examined L2 learners’ interpretation of pitch accent cues in discourse memory and how these effects vary with proficiency and working memory (WM). One hundred sixty-eight L1-Chinese participants learning L2-English listened to recorded discourses containing pairs of contrastive alternatives and then took a later recognition memory test. Their language proficiency and WM were measured through standard tests and the participants were categorized into low, medium, advanced, and high advanced language proficiency groups. We analyzed recognition memory task performance using signal detection theory to tease apart response bias (an overall tendency to affirm memory probes) from sensitivity (the ability to discern whether a specific probe statement is true). The results showed a benefit of contrastive L + H* pitch accents in rejecting probes referring to items unmentioned in a discourse, but not contrastive alternatives themselves. More proficient participants also showed more accurate memory for the discourses overall, as well as a reduced overall bias to affirm the presented statements as true. Meanwhile, that the benefit of L + H* accents in rejecting either contrast probes or unmentioned probes was modulated for people with greater working memory. Participants with higher WM were quite sure that it did not exist in the memory trace as this part of discourse wasn’t mentioned. The results support a contrast-uncertainty hypothesis, in which comprehenders recall the contrast set but fail to distinguish which is the correct item. Further, these effects were influenced by proficiency and by working memory, suggesting they reflect incomplete mapping between pitch accent and discourse representation.

Altered neural correlates of episodic memory for food and non-food cues in females with overweight/obesity

Episodic memory formation is fundamental to cognition and plays a key role in eating behaviors, indirectly promoting the maintenance and acceleration of weight gain. Impaired episodic memory function is a hallmark of people with overweight/obesity, nevertheless, little research has been conducted to explore the effects of overweight/obesity on neural networks associated with episodic memory. The current study aimed to unravel the behavioral responses and neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the episodic memory for food and non-food cues in females with overweight/obesity. To explore this issue, a group of females with overweight/obesity (n = 26) and a group of age-matched females with healthy weight (n = 28) participated in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) event-related episodic memory paradigm, during which pictures of palatable food and pictures of neutral daily necessities were presented. Whole-brain analyses revealed differential engagement in several neural regions between the groups during an episodic memory task. Specifically, compared to the healthy weight controls, females with overweight/obesity exhibited reduced brain activity in the temporal, parietal, and frontal regions during episodic memory encoding and successful retrieval of both food and non-food cues. Additionally, activation patterns in the left hippocampus and right olfactory cortex of females with and without overweight/obesity suggested that item memory changed according to the type of stimuli presented during item memory. Specifically, females with overweight/obesity showed greater engagement of the left hippocampus and right olfactory cortex when processing food cues, but less activation of the left hippocampus and right olfactory cortex when presented with non-food cues. Consistent with the obesity and suboptimal food-related decision theoretical model, these findings provide evidence of dissociation of the neural underpinnings of episodic memory in females with overweight/obesity and underline important effects of overweight/obesity on brain functions related to episodic memory.

P10. Acute Stress Induces Memory Bias and Stronger Preference for Smoking-Associated Places in Smokers

Tobacco use disorder has a chronic course that is characterized by repeated relapse. Previous studies have revealed several triggers of relapse, including stress and exposure to drug-related cues. While literature suggests that both stress and memory system play a critical role in relapse to addiction, it remains unclear (1) how stress affects drug-specific memory performance and (2) whether the associative memory of smoking-related cues is related to craving and emotional experience.

Perceptual coupling and decoupling of the default mode network during mind-wandering and reading.

While reading, our mind can wander to unrelated autobiographical information, creating a perceptually decoupled state detrimental to narrative comprehension. To understand how this mind-wandering state emerges, we asked whether retrieving autobiographical content necessitates functional disengagement from visual input. In Experiment 1, brain activity was recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in an experimental situation mimicking naturally occurring mind-wandering, allowing us to precisely delineate neural regions involved in memory and reading. Individuals read expository texts and ignored personally relevant autobiographical memories, as well as the opposite situation. Medial regions of the default mode network (DMN) were recruited during memory retrieval. In contrast, left temporal and lateral prefrontal regions of the DMN, as well as ventral visual cortex, were recruited when reading for comprehension. Experiment two used functional connectivity both at rest and during tasks to establish that (i) DMN regions linked to memory are more functionally decoupled from regions of ventral visual cortex than regions in the same network engaged when reading; and (ii) individuals with more self-generated mental contents and poorer comprehension, while reading in the lab, showed more decoupling between visually connected DMN sites important for reading and primary visual cortex. A similar pattern of connectivity was found in Experiment 1, with greater coupling between this DMN site and visual cortex when participants reported greater focus on reading in the face of conflict from autobiographical memory cues; moreover, the retrieval of personally relevant memories increased the decoupling of these sites. These converging data suggest we lose track of the narrative when our minds wander because generating autobiographical mental content relies on cortical regions within the DMN which are functionally decoupled from ventral visual regions engaged during reading.

Investigating the role of involuntary retrieval in music-evoked autobiographical memories

Music is a particularly salient autobiographical memory cue. Prior work has indicated that autobiographical memories evoked by music are more episodically rich than those evoked by other sensory cues. One explanation for this effect could be that music evokes autobiographical memories in a more involuntary manner than other cues. Here, we investigated the role of involuntary retrieval in music-evoked autobiographical memories. Results indicated that, regardless of intentionality, music-evoked autobiographical memories were more episodically rich and contained more perceptual details than face-evoked memories. That is, even when directly comparing involuntary music-evoked memories to involuntary face-evoked memories, there was still a consistent difference in episodic richness between memories evoked by the two cue types. This suggests that it is not the involuntary nature of music-evoked memories alone that drives this difference, but that the difference in episodic richness between cue types seems at least partially to depend on other stimulus features.

Sadness-associated eating styles and visual food cue reactivity: An eye-tracking investigation

BackgroundEmotional eating has been associated with biases of attention and memory for visual food cues. This eye-tracking study investigated whether the tendency to overeat in response to sadness is associated with the inspection and recall of visual food cues. MethodParticipants (n = 115, mean age = 26 years, 70 females, 45 males) viewed images depicting food and non-food. We compared gaze duration, ‘hyperscanning’ parameters (fixation duration, saccadic angle, scan path length), and recall performance between different image categories (high-calorie, low-calorie food, non-food) and groups with different sadness-associated eating styles (increased, decreased, unchanged food consumption during states of sadness). ResultsThe group with sadness-related overeating reported a higher body mass index than the other groups, but neither displayed a visual attention bias nor memory bias for food cues. We observed a prolonged gaze duration for low-calorie food cues, which were rated as more appetizing than high-calorie cues. All participants recalled more food cues (low- and high-calorie) than non-food cues independent of gaze duration. ConclusionThis study expanded previous research designs by groups that decrease vs. increase the amount eaten when feeling sad, and food/non-food images that were carefully matched for visual properties. Based on this approach, we were not able to show that self-disclosed sadness eating is associated with visual/memory biases for food images.

Metacomprehension Monitoring Accuracy: Effects of Judgment Frames, Cues and Criteria.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of judgment frames, cues, and test criteria on the accuracy of metacomprehension monitoring. The design was a 2 (rating comprehension vs. predicting performance) × 2 (memory cues vs. comprehension cues) × 2 (detailed questions test vs. inferential questions test) mixed design with judgment frames and cues as the between-subjects factors and test criteria as the within-subjects factor. The results showed that the influence of judgment frames on accuracy was moderated by the test criteria. The readers' monitoring was more accurate in rating comprehension than predicting performance when inferential questions were used as the criteria; when detailed questions were used as the criteria, this situation was reversed. The interaction effect of judgment cues and criteria on metacomprehension monitoring accuracy was significant. When readers predicted their performances on a test, those who received memory cues were more accurate than those who received comprehension cues. However, when readers rated their comprehension, those who received comprehension cues were more accurate than those who received memory cues.

Investigating the Use of Task Resumption Cues to Support Learning in Interruption-Prone Environments

The ubiquity of mobile devices in peoples’ everyday life makes them a feasible tool for language learning. Learning anytime and anywhere creates great flexibility but comes with the inherent risk of infrequent learning and learning in interruption-prone environments. No matter the length of the learning break, it can negatively affect knowledge consolidation and recall. This work presents the design and implementation of memory cues to support task resumption in mobile language learning applications and two evaluations to assess their impact on user experience. An initial laboratory experiment (N=15) revealed that while the presentation of the cues had no significant effect on objective performance measures (task completion time and error rate), the users still perceived the cues as helpful and would appreciate them in a mobile learning app. A follow-up study (N=16) investigated revised cue designs in a real-world field setting and found that users particularly appreciated our interactive test cue design. We discuss strengths and limitations of our concept and implications for the application of task resumption cues beyond the scope of mobile language learning.

Impaired performances on the category cued memory test in mild Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies: A comparative validity study

Cued recall taps amnesia of “the hippocampal type” as typically found in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Studies investigating the validity of cued recall measures in AD have typically been conducted in research settings. The Category Cued Memory Test (CCMT-48) measures learning/memory using the same categories during encoding and acquisition. The aim of this study was to investigate how frequently impairments were found on the CCMT-48 mild AD patients from a memory clinic (N = 77). We used a case-oriented approach where individually observed scores were compared to expected scores derived from regressions-based normative data. We also investigated if CCMT-48 performances differed in patients with mild AD and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) (N = 90). The results showed a significantly higher frequency of impairment in the AD group as compared to the DLB group for scores below 10th percentile-estimate (impaired: AD 88%; DLB 69%) and 5th percentile-estimate (impaired: AD 82%; DLB 53%). In conclusion, a very high frequency of impairment of a picture-based cued recall test in AD patients (very high sensitivity) in a memory clinic setting. However, specificity is not optimal since impairments also frequently occurred in DLB where memory problems could be assumed to be part of attentional deficits and poor retrieval strategies.

Music Evokes Fewer but More Positive Autobiographical Memories Than Emotionally Matched Sound and Word Cues

Anecdotal propositions that music is “special” as a memory cue have been partially supported by research demonstrating that music can evoke qualitatively different autobiographical memories than various other cues. However, it is unknown whether such differences in memory qualities may be attributed to inherent differences in properties of the retrieval cues. Across four online experiments, we tested whether unfamiliar musical retrieval cues exhibit differential effects on autobiographical memories when compared against matched emotional cues (environmental sounds and words). The music consistently elicited fewer memories in comparison to sound and word cues. Music also evoked relatively positive memories regardless of its valence, with negative-sounding music reliably bringing back more positive memories than negative sounds/words. Words elicited memories rated as more unique than music-cued memories. These results have implications for the use of music as a memory cue in both research and practical contexts, from music therapy to advertising.