Film Memory Research Articles

Unconscious thought reduces intrusion development: A replication and extension

Background and ObjectivesIntrusive images after a traumatic event, a hallmark feature of post-traumatic stress disorder, are suggested to develop because the trauma memory is disorganized and not integrated into autobiographical memory. Unconscious Thought Theory predicts that information can be conceptually organized after a period of unconscious thought (UT), more so than after conscious thought (CT). We aimed to test the hypothesis that UT decreases intrusions and increases conceptual organization in memory. MethodsParticipants were shown a stressful film and were required to perform an UT task, a CT task, or a distraction task. Intrusions of the film, intrusion qualities, and sequence memory were measured afterwards. ResultsWe confirmed our hypothesis that UT (versus CT or mere distraction) leads to fewer intrusions, thereby replicating earlier research. Contrary to prediction, we found no difference between the conditions on sequence memory. In addition, conscious thought appeared to increase intrusion nowness and arousal. LimitationsThe analogue design and healthy participant sample prevent from generalizing results to other populations. Intrusion frequency and qualities were assessed immediately after the film thereby prohibiting us from drawing conclusions about any long-term effects. ConclusionsEngaging in unconscious thought after a stressful film can reduce intrusion frequency. This has potential implications for clinical interventions to prevent initial stress symptoms. The underlying mechanism remains unclear for now and provides an avenue for future research.

Missing Links: Digital Cinema, Analogical Archives, Film Historiography

The sudden and permeating rise of digital technologies has been widely investigated by film critics and scholars. However, most studies tend to focus on the impact of digital technologies on contemporary film production, distribution, exhibition and the finished products it brings forth, reserving too little attention to the massive digitization of born-analog films. The production of digital motion pictures marks an unprecedented breaking point in history, putting the very nature of “film” and “cinema” at stake, while the digitization of film prints risks having an irreversible feedback effect on cinema's technological history. Focusing on two case studies—the 1995 restoration of the 1949 color version of Jacques Tati's Jour de fête and the discovery of some 16mm reels on nitrate stock in a collection deposited with the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Torino, Italy—we illuminate the importance of technology for film historiography and reassert the need for a joint effort on the part of archives and academic institutions in the preservation of film memory for future generations.

Effect of defect content on the unipolar resistive switching characteristics of ZnO thin film memory devices

In this study, unipolar resistive switching (URS) characteristics in ZnO thin film memory devices were systematically investigated with variable defect content. ZnO films displayed typically URS behavior while oxygen-deficient ZnO1−x films did not show resistive switching effects. The devices with two intentional Ohmic interfaces still show URS. These results show that appearance of URS behavior can be dominated by initial oxygen vacancy content in ZnO thin films. Modest increase in oxygen vacancy content in ZnO films will lead to forming-free and narrower distributions of switching parameters (set and reset voltage, high and low resistance states). It indicates that controlling the initial oxygen vacancy content was an effective method to enhance the URS performance.

Concept of a thin film memory transistor based on ZnO nanoparticles insulated by a ligand shell

In this work, we report on the synthesis and the electrical properties of ZnO nanoparticles, which differ in their organic shell. The introduction of a 2-ethylhexanoate shell instead of a common acetate shell has an impact on the accessible size of the ZnO nanoparticles and changes the electrical properties of thin films in transistors. While acetate covered ZnO particles behave as a semiconductor with an electron mobility of 0.38 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), the 2-ethylhexanoate ligand shell inhibits a charge transport resulting in insulating films (with an average ε(r) = 9.4). These films can be reconverted to semiconductive layers by removing the ligand shell with oxygen plasma treatment or they can be used as a solution processed dielectric layer in organic transistors. Its use as dielectric allows low voltage device operation and shows potential application as a charge storage layer as needed in non-volatile memory transistors.

Robust unipolar resistive switching of Co nano-dots embedded ZrO2 thin film memories and their switching mechanism

The preparation and electrical properties of Ti/Co Embedded (Co-E) ZrO2/Pt resistive switching memories are investigated. The Co nano-dots are formed in ZrO2 thin film after the memory device is annealed at 600 °C in N2 ambient for 60 s without any chemical reaction between Co and ZrO2, which is confirmed from the transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analyzer, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy observations. The devices exhibit low forming voltage of −1.5∼−2.8 V and robust negative bias unipolar resistive switching behaviors with small negative set voltage of −1.1∼−1.6 V. A physical model based on a filament mechanism is employed to explain the switching behaviors. It has a high potential for ultra high density nonvolatile memory applications.

Forming-free resistive switching behaviors in Cr-embedded Ga2O3 thin film memories

Resistive switching behaviors are studied for the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) Ga2O3 thin film embedding a Cr metal layer. By modifying the thickness, area, and RTA temperature of the device, the thermal-induced resistive switching is similar to those induced by the electrical forming process. The conducting filaments composed of oxygen vacancies are created by the Cr diffusion and oxidization during RTA. The related carrier conduction mechanism obeys space charge limited conduction theory accompanied by the formation/rupture of the conducting filaments at the interface between Ti and Cr:Ga2O3 film. This study demonstrates a convenient process to fabricate forming-free resistive switching memory devices.

Violence and Memory in Film that descrive the Cultural Revolution

Violence and Memory in Film that descrive the Cultural Revolution

Cr metal thin film memory

As state of the art flash memory technologies scale down to sub 30 nm node, conventional floating gate flash memory approaches its physical scaling limit mainly because of the high gate coupling ratio (GCR) requirement to secure proper memory window. Here, we report a novel flash memory device called Cr metal thin film memory (MTFM) that can circumvent the GCR issue and extend flash memory scalability by employing Cr thin film as a storage layer. Cr metal thin film memory devices with simple and low temperature processes produced a wide memory window of 10 V at the ±18 V voltage sweep with GCR of only 0.3. Such a large window can be adopted for multi-level cell operations, which can further increase the memory density. Also, retention measurement shows more than 10 years retention time due to higher energy barrier between Cr metal and tunnel oxide than conventional poly silicon and tunnel oxide. Cross section transmission electron microscope (TEM) images showed the structure and accurate dimensions of the Cr MTFM device with continuous Cr film and sharp interfaces. As for material characterizations, an amorphous like Cr phase was observed through TEM and x-ray diffraction (XRD). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the Cr-Cr bond and Cr-O bond near the Cr surface after evaporation and rapid thermal annealing. This metal thin film memory may open a new route to achieve the terabit level flash memory.

Remembering, and Forgetting, the Vietnam War

A generation ago, cultural studies of foreign relations were as rare as tattoos on professional athletes. Not only have they proliferated of late, but cultural approaches to international history are fast becoming as common as, well, tattoo-adorned bodies in the National Basketball Association. Traditionalists have decried the cultural turn in diplomatic history as a wrong turn. Some have professed a severe allergic reaction to the profligate infusion of terms such as “discourse,”“discursive,”“constructed,” and “representations” into books and articles about international affairs, characterizing that vocabulary as little more than trendy gibberish. Others have complained that the newfound scholarly interest in the international dimensions of gender, race, religion, sports, tourism, film, world fairs, music, popular culture, and societal memory—everything, it seems, except foreign policy and state-to-state relations—represents a triumph of the trivial over what should be the core subject matter of our field. That culturalists frequently ask different questions and utilize different sources than those who remain centrally concerned with the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy ofttimes creates the impression of ships passing in the night.

Sustained experience of emotion after loss of memory in patients with amnesia

Can the experience of an emotion persist once the memory for what induced the emotion has been forgotten? We capitalized on a rare opportunity to study this question directly using a select group of patients with severe amnesia following circumscribed bilateral damage to the hippocampus. The amnesic patients underwent a sadness induction procedure (using affectively-laden film clips) to ascertain whether their experience of sadness would persist beyond their memory for the sadness-inducing films. The experiment showed that the patients continued to experience elevated levels of sadness well beyond the point in time at which they had lost factual memory for the film clips. A second experiment using a happiness induction procedure yielded similar results, suggesting that both positive and negative emotional experiences can persist independent of explicit memory for the inducing event. These findings provide direct evidence that a feeling of emotion can endure beyond the conscious recollection for the events that initially triggered the emotion.

Exploring the Role of Meaningful Experiences in Users' Appreciation of “Good Movies”

This article extends current theorizing in media psychology on audience responses to cinema by examining individuals' perceptions of meaningfulness. Specifically, it presents the results of a study designed to expand upon research on psychological and subjective well-being to experiences and memories of films that are perceived as particularly meaningful by viewers. Characteristics and themes of such films are examined and identified, as well as the specific emotional responses that accompany perceptions of meaningful cinema.

Antes da Queda do Muro, além dele e sem ele: A estética emergente em Die neuen Leiden...

Nesta análise do romance Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. (1973) em sua intertextualidade com os romances de Goethe, Defoe e Salinger, sugere-se que o texto de Plenzdorf cria um universo estilístico e ideológico instigante a uma produção inserida no contexto literário do Realismo Socialista dos anos 70 na Alemanha Oriental. Vinte anos após a Queda do Muro de Berlim, esse universo revela-se atual, senão modelar, para o (re)trabalho de memória cultural da RDA representado na literatura e no cinema contemporâneos. Para tanto, recorre-se às análises da intertextualidade como um método de abordagem de processos de transformação. Expõem-se, então, os diferentes processos observados no romance em relação aos seus pré-textos.

Structural studies of Ba1-xLaxTiO3 using X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy

La-doped barium titanate (Ba1-xLaxTiO3) is an important electronic ceramic material used in a wide variety of applications including in multilayer capacitor, transducers, ferroelectric thin film memories, and positive temperature coefficient resistor (PTCR). In this work, we investigated the changes of the local atomic structure around barium and titanium ions of Ba1-xLaxTiO3 compounds prepared by solid state reaction using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) spectra at the Ti K-edge (4966 eV) and Ba LIII-edge (5247 eV) were analyzed. Our findings suggest that La3+ doping can modify the degree of covalency of the Ti-O bonds, but cause no change in the BaTiO3 unit cell volume and the atomic coordinate around Ti4+, Ba2+ions.

Nonpolar Bistable Resistive Switching Behaviors of Bismuth Titanate Oxide Thin Film

Nonpolar bistable resistive switching behaviors of sol-gel derived bismuth titanate oxide (BTO) thin film are investigated in this study. The BTO thin film memory device without thermal treatment shows higher resistance ratio (∼ 10 4 ) than the other annealed devices. The resistive switching behavior of the Pt/BTO/LNO/Pt device is reproducible and can be traced over 100 times. Both low resistance state (ON-state) and high resistance state (OFF-state) are stable over 10 4 s under 0.3 V voltage stress at room temperature (RT) and 85°C. The retention behaviors of both memory states in the Pt/BTO/LNO/Pt device are very stable over 2 × 10 6 s at RT and 85°C, showing that the BTO thin film memory device is a good candidate for nonvolatile memory application

A pentacene-based organic thin film memory transistor

An organic memory device based on a pentacene thin film transistor is demonstrated. Gold nanoparticles have been used as the charge storage elements while a thin film of polymethylmethacrylate formed the gate insulator. The electrical characteristics and the memory behavior of the organic thin film memory transistor (OTFMT) are reported. Under an appropriate gate bias (1 s pulses), the gold nanoparticles are charged and discharged, resulting in significant threshold voltage shifts of the OTFMT. The detailed programing and erasing procedures are reported.

Occurrence of Both Unipolar Memory and Threshold Resistance Switching in a NiO Film

We observed two types of reversible resistance switching (RS) effects in a NiO film: memory RS at low temperature and threshold RS at high temperature. We were able to control the type of RS effects by thermal cycling. These phenomena were explained using a new dynamic percolation model that can describe the rupture and formation of conducting filaments. We showed that the RS effects are governed by the thermal stability of the filaments, which arise from competition between Joule heating and thermal dissipation. This work provides us understandings on basic mechanism of the RS effects and their interrelation.

Mechanical Constraint and Loading on Ferroelectric Memory Capacitors

AbstractThe influence of mechanical constraint imposed by device geometry upon the switching response of a ferroelectric thin film memory capacitor is investigated. The memory capacitor was represented by two-dimensional ferroelectric islands of different aspect ratio, mechanically constrained by surrounding materials. Its ferroelectric non-linear behaviour was modeled by a crystal plasticity constitutive law and calculated using the finite element method. The switching response of the device, in terms of remnant charge storage, was determined as a function of geometry and constraint. The switching response under applied in-plane tensile stress and hydrostatic pressure was also studied experimentally. Our results showed that (1) the capacitor's aspect ratio could significantly affect the clamping behaviour and thus the remnant polarization, (2) it was possible to maximise the switching charge through the optimisation of the device geometry, and (3) it is possible to find a critical switching stress at zero electric field and a critical coercive field at zero residual stress.

The influence of mechanical constraint upon the switching of a ferroelectric memory capacitor

The role of mechanical constraint upon the switching response of a ferroelectric thin film memory capacitor is explored. The memory capacitor is represented by a two dimensional ferroelectric island whose non-linear behaviour is modelled by a crystal plasticity constitutive law within the finite element method. The switching response of the device, in terms of remnant charge storage, is determined as a function of geometry and constraint. Various types of constraint on the ferroelectric capacitor are considered, including the presence of a silicon dioxide passivation layer, a silicon substrate and metallic electrodes. The effect of the relative resistance to 90 degree switching and 180 degree switching is also explored in a tetragonal ferroelectric device. Throughout the study, the finite element calculations are compared with the behaviour of a material element subjected to various degrees of mechanical constraint.

The Cinema of Robert Gardner

INTRODUCTION Resounding Images, Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Taylor, both Harvard University PART I: OVERVIEWS 1. The Music of Robert Gardner, Charles Warren, Boston University 2. Beyond the Burden of the Real: Anthropological Reflections on the Technique of a Master Cutter, Paul Henley, University of Manchester 3. The Burden of Symbols: Film and Representation in India, Marcus Banks, University of Oxford 4. Gardner's First Shots: Vectored Landscapes, Karl G. Heider, University of South Carolina 5. Out of Words: A Conversation with Robert Gardner, Ilisa Barbash, Harvard University PART II: THE FILMS AND PHOTOGRAPHS 6. The Camera in the Studio: Robert Gardner's Passenger, Anna Grimshaw, Emory University 7. Dancing with Gardner, William Rothman, University of Miami 8. Gardner's Bliss, David MacDougall, Australian National University 10. Gardens of War: Materiality and the Photographic Narrative, Elizabeth Edwards, University of the Arts London 9. Interactive Media and the Construction(s) of Memory in Nonfiction Film: The Case of Dead Birds, Roderick Coover, Temple University PART III: REMINISCENCES 11. Anecdote of a Season, Stanley Cavell, Harvard University 12. The Ethnographer's (Visual) Knowledge: Fieldwork with Camera and Notebook in Vishnupur, 1982 and 1983, Akos Ostor, Wesleyan University 13. The Rock of Gibraltar, Dusan Makavejev, Independent Filmmaker 14. Bob Gardner and Me, Sean Scully, Artist 15. 58 Highland Street, Susan Howe, State University of New York at Buffalo

Narrative versus style: Effect of genre-typical events versus genre-typical filmic realizations on film viewers’ genre recognition

This study investigated whether film viewers recognize four basic genres (comic, drama, action and nonfiction) on the basis of genre-typical event cues or of genre-typical filmic realization cues of events. Event cues are similar to the narrative content of a film sequence, while filmic realization cues are similar to stylistic surface cues of a film sequence. It was predicted that genre recognition of short film fragments is cued more by filmic realization cues than by event cues. The results showed that: (a) filmic realization was the stronger cue in viewers’ genre recognition, except for drama recognition; (b) the influence of a genre-typical event on genre recognition decreased stepwise from drama to action to comic to nonfiction. The latter result is explained in terms of specific genre characteristics. The former result is consistent with a conception of memory for film that acknowledges the role of media-specific mental representations. It is suggested viewers possess a specific genre knowledge embodied in visual simulators that in most cases is dominant over genre knowledge embodied in event simulators, at least in a task requiring genre classification of film fragments lasting up to 24 s.