Relational Memory Research Articles

Novel Low Memory Footprint DNN Models for Edge Classification of Surgeons’ Postures

Skill assessment is fundamental to enhance current laparoscopic surgical training and reduce the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries from performing these procedures. Recently, deep neural networks (DNNs) have been used to improve human posture and surgeons’ skills training. While they work well in the lab, they normally require significant computational power which makes it impossible to use them on edge devices. This letter presents two low memory footprint DNN models used for classifying laparoscopic surgical skill levels at the edge. Trained models were deployed on three Arm Cortex-M processors using the X-Cube-AI and Tensorflow Lite Micro (TFLM) libraries. Results show that the CUBE-AI-based models give the best relative performance, memory footprint, and accuracy tradeoffs when executed on the Cortex-M7.

Pesticides as a risk factor for cognitive impairment: Natural substances are expected to become alternative measures to prevent and improve cognitive impairment.

Pesticides are the most effective way to control diseases, insects, weeds, and fungi. The central nervous system (CNS) is damaged by pesticide residues in various ways. By consulting relevant databases, the systemic relationships between the possible mechanisms of pesticides damage to the CNS causing cognitive impairment and related learning and memory pathways networks, as well as the structure-activity relationships between some natural substances (such as polyphenols and vitamins) and the improvement were summarized in this article. The mechanisms of cognitive impairment caused by pesticides are closely related. For example, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation can constitute three feedback loops that interact and restrict each other. The mechanisms of neurotransmitter abnormalities and intestinal dysfunction also play an important role. The connection between pathways is complex. NMDAR, PI3K/Akt, MAPK, Keap1/Nrf2/ARE, and NF-κB pathways can be connected into a pathway network by targets such as Ras, Akt, and IKK. The reasons for the improvement of natural substances are related to their specific structure, such as polyphenols with different hydroxyl groups. This review's purpose is to lay a foundation for exploring and developing more natural substances that can effectively improve the cognitive impairment caused by pesticides.

Variation in maternal sensitivity and the development of memory biases in preschoolers.

Links between maternal sensitivity, hippocampal development, and memory abilities suggests early life insensitive care may shape structures and schemas influencing future decisions and stress management, biasing children to negative information. While it is possible that this pattern of neurodevelopment may have adaptive consequences, for example, preventing children from encountering untoward experience with future adversity, it may also leave some children at risk for the development of internalizing problems. Here, in a Two Wave Study, we examine whether insensitive care predicts sub sequentially assessed memory biases for threatening (but not happy) stimuli in preschoolers (n = 49), and if such relations cut across different forms of relational memory, i.e., memory for relations between two "items," between an "item" and its spatial location, and an "item" and its temporal sequence. In a subset (n = 18) we also examine links between caregiving, memory, and hippocampal subregion volume. Results indicate no main or interactive influence of gender on relational memory. However, insensitive caregiving predicted the difference between Angry and Happy memory during the Item-Space condition (B = 2.451, se = 0.969, p = 0.014, 95% CI (0.572, 4.340)], as well as memory for Angry (but not Happy) items [B = -2.203, se = 0.551, p < 0.001, 95% CI (-3.264,-1.094)]. Memory for the difference between Angry and Happy stimuli in the Space condition associated with larger right hippocampal body volumes (Rho = 0.639, p = 0.004). No relations were observed with internalizing problems. Results are discussed with reference to developmental stage and in consideration of whether negative biases may serve as an intermediate factor linking early life insensitive care and later socioemotional problems including an increased incidence of internalizing disorders.

Can different contexts affect memory recall?

To address questions about the dependence of human memory on the contingent context in which events occur, the author review research on contingent context-dependent memory in humans. The relationship between the context in which an item is stored and retrieved has a significant impact on a person's ability to recognize the item. The theoretical approach to this problem stems from Bjork's (1978) experiments on the effects of environmental context on recall and recognition. If a person learns and remembers in the same contextual environment, then learning and memory are dependent on the environmental context in which these activities occur. This paper discusses each of the three mental processes of memory in relation to their stimulus context. For example, the impact of inference methods of retrieval on context-dependent memory methods, and the improvement in retrieval of information by encoding environmental information along with plot specific objects or contexts in the storage information session. Further, this paper explores the effects of contextual stimuli in real-life contexts, particularly in classroom and examination settings of environmental context.

Butyrate ameliorates chronic alcoholic central nervous damage by suppressing microglia-mediated neuroinflammation and modulating the microbiome-gut-brain axis

BackgroundAlcohol abuse triggers neuroinflammation, leading to neuronal damage and further memory and cognitive impairment. Few satisfactory advances have been made in the management of alcoholic central nervous impairment. Therefore, novel and more practical treatment options are urgently needed. Butyrate, a crucial metabolite of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), has been increasingly demonstrated to protect against numerous metabolic diseases. However, the impact of butyrate on chronic alcohol consumption-induced central nervous system (CNS) lesions remains unknown. MethodsIn this study, we assessed the possible effects and underlying mechanisms of butyrate on the attenuation of alcohol-induced CNS injury in mice. Firstly, sixty female C57BL/6 J mice were randomly divided into 4 groups: pair-fed (PF) group (PF/CON), alcohol-fed (AF) group (AF/CON), PF with sodium butyrate (NaB) group (PF/NaB) and AF with NaB group (AF/NaB). Each group was fed a modified Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet with or without alcohol. After six weeks of feeding, the mice were euthanized and the associated indicators were investigated. ResultsAs indicated by the behavioral tests and brain morphology, dietary NaB administration significantly ameliorated aberrant behaviors, including locomotor hypoactivity, anxiety disorder, depressive behavior, impaired learning, spatial recognition memory, and effectively reduced chronic alcoholic central nervous system damage. To further understand the underlying mechanisms, microglia-mediated inflammation and the associated M1/M2 polarization were measured separately. Firstly, pro-inflammatory TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in brain and peripheral blood circulation were decreased, but IL-10 were increased in the AF/NaB group compared with the AF/CON group. Consistently, the abnormal proportions of activated and resting microglial cells in the hippocampus and cortex regions after excessive alcohol consumption were significantly reduced with NaB treatment. Moreover, the rectification of microglia polarization (M1/M2) imbalance was found after NaB administration via binding GPR109A, up-regulating the expression of PPAR-γ and down-regulating TLR4/NF-κB activation. In addition to the direct suppression of neuroinflammation, intriguingly, dietary NaB intervention remarkably increased the levels of intestinal tight junction protein occludin and gut morphological barrier, attenuated the levels of serum lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and dysbiosis of gut microbiota, suggesting that NaB supplementation effectively improved the integrity and permeability of gut microecology. Finally, the neurotransmitters including differential Tryptophan (Trp) and Kynurenine (Kyn) were found with dietary NaB administration, which showed significantly altered and closely correlated with the gut microbiota composition, demonstrating the complex interactions in the microbiome-gut-brain axis involved in the efficacy of dietary NaB therapy for alcoholic CNS lesions. ConclusionDietary microbial metabolite butyrate supplementation ameliorates chronic alcoholic central nervous damage and improves related memory and cognitive functions through suppressing microglia-mediated neuroinflammation by GPR109A/PPAR-γ/TLR4-NF-κB signaling pathway and modulating microbiota−gut−brain axis.

Modifiable Lifestyle Activities Affect Cognition in Cognitively Healthy Middle-Aged Individuals at Risk for Late-Life Alzheimer's Disease.

It is now acknowledged that Alzheimer's disease (AD) processes are present decades before the onset of clinical symptoms, but it remains unknown whether lifestyle factors can protect against these early AD processes in mid-life. We asked whether modifiable lifestyle activities impact cognition in middle-aged individuals who are cognitively healthy, but at risk for late life AD. Participants (40-59 years) completed cognitive and clinical assessments at baseline (N = 206) and two years follow-up (N = 174). Mid-life activities were measured with the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire. We assessed the impact of lifestyle activities, known risk factors for sporadic late-onset AD (Apolipoprotein E ɛ4 allele status, family history of dementia, and the Cardiovascular Risk Factors Aging and Dementia score), and their interactions on cognition. More frequent engagement in physically, socially, and intellectually stimulating activities was associated with better cognition (verbal, spatial, and relational memory), at baseline and follow-up. Critically, more frequent engagement in these activities was associated with stronger cognition (verbal and visuospatial functions, and conjunctive short-term memory binding) in individuals with family history of dementia. Impaired visuospatial function is one of the earliest cognitive deficits in AD and has previously associated with increased AD risk in this cohort. Additionally, conjunctive memory functions have been found impaired in the pre-symptomatic stages of AD. These findings suggest that modifiable lifestyle activities offset cognitive decrements due to AD risk in mid-life and support the targeting of modifiable lifestyle activities for the prevention of AD.

The facilitating effect of identical objects in visual working memory.

According to the associative network of memory representations proposed by embedded processes models, the links between related memory representations were automatically established, which rendered these representations more easily activated. The present study adopted color recall tasks to explore whether the memory performance of identical objects was enhanced via the strengthening links between them, producing facilitating effect of identical objects. In Experiment 1, the number of identical items was manipulated. The results evidenced the facilitating effect, which was positively related to the number of identical objects. Experiment 2 modulated the spatial location of identical objects, which suggested that the facilitating effect was absent when two pairs of identical objects were located diagonally. Furthermore, Experiment 3 suggested that the facilitating effect was observed for the identical items which were presented in the second and fourth quadrants, rather than the first and third quadrants. Together, these results evidenced the facilitating effect of identical objects, which, however, was affected by spatial bias.

Национальное и интернациональное в организации пространства болгарских поселений в Республике Коми

The paper examines the peculiarities of the formation of an environment with ethnic markers in the space of Bulgarian logging villages in the Udora district of the Komi Republic in the 70–80-ies of the twentieth century. The relevance of the research is determined by the issue of fixing the historical context and preserving the monuments of fine art reflecting the epoch and the communicative features of various cultural layers, as well as the interaction of personal and collective memory. The aim of the study is to identify the mechanisms of visual image formation in the international and national content of Bulgarian art in the Komi Republic. The authors payspecial attention to the culture of memory in relation to other commemorative practices based on the visualization of the objective world and cultural landscape. The importance of this topic is explained by the active movement of people between cities and countries and the erasing of spatial boundaries of the cultural landscape in the conditions of Soviet ideological attitudes of internationalism, in which national peculiarities are preserved, while a tolerant relationship in society is established. The results obtained allowed identifying the sources and conditions of formation of the spatial environment in Bulgarian workers' settlements and analyzing the context of national and international features of architectural structures and monumental painting and sculpture in the cultural landscape. The authors come to the conclusion that the Bulgarian workers' settlements of the Komi Republic attest to the fact that visual agitation in combination with other works of art was an effective means of shaping a cultural landscape with ethnic markers in terms of the international content.

Advantage conferred by overnight sleep on schema-related memory may last only a day.

Sleep contributes to declarative memory consolidation. Independently, schemas benefit memory. Here we investigated how sleep compared with active wake benefits schema consolidation 12 and 24 hours after initial learning. Fifty-three adolescents (age: 15-19 years) randomly assigned into sleep and active wake groups participated in a schema-learning protocol based on transitive inference (i.e. If B > C and C > D then B > D). Participants were tested immediately after learning and following 12-, and 24-hour intervals of wake or sleep for both the adjacent (e.g. B-C, C-D; relational memory) and inference pairs: (e.g.: B-D, B-E, and C-E). Memory performance following the respective 12- and 24-hour intervals were analyzed using a mixed ANOVA with schema (schema, no-schema) as the within-participant factor, and condition (sleep, wake) as the between-participant factor. Twelve hours after learning, there were significant main effects of condition (sleep, wake) and schema, as well as a significant interaction, whereby schema-related memory was significantly better in the sleep condition compared to wake. Higher sleep spindle density was most consistently associated with greater overnight schema-related memory benefit. After 24 hours, the memory advantage of initial sleep was diminished. Overnight sleep preferentially benefits schema-related memory consolidation following initial learning compared with active wake, but this advantage may be eroded after a subsequent night of sleep. This is possibly due to delayed consolidation that might occur during subsequent sleep opportunities in the wake group. Name: Investigating Preferred Nap Schedules for Adolescents (NFS5) URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04044885. Registration: NCT04044885.

Convolutional Neural Network Knowledge Graph Link Prediction Model Based on Relational Memory.

A knowledge graph is a collection of fact triples, a semantic network composed of nodes and edges. Link prediction from knowledge graphs is used to reason about missing parts of triples. Common knowledge graph link prediction models include translation models, semantics matching models, and neural network models. However, the translation models and semantic matching models have relatively simple structures and poor expressiveness. The neural network model can easily ignore the overall structural characteristics of triples and cannot capture the links between entities and relations in low-dimensional space. In response to the above problems, we propose a knowledge graph embedding model based on a relational memory network and convolutional neural network (RMCNN). We encode triple embedding vectors using a relational memory network and decode using a convolutional neural network. First, we will obtain entity and relation vectors by encoding the latent dependencies between entities and relations and some critical information and keeping the translation properties of triples. Then, we compose a matrix of head entity encoding embedding vector, relation encoding embedding vector, and tail entity embedding encoding vector as the input of the convolutional neural network. Finally, we use a convolutional neural network as the decoder and a dimension conversion strategy to improve the information interaction capability of entities and relations in more dimensions. Experiments show that our model achieves significant progress and outperforms existing models and methods on several metrics.

Virtual reality as a technology of memory: Immersive presence in Polish politics of memory

Abstract Experiences that take place in virtual reality (VR) become part of users’ autobiographical memory. As memories can impact users’ self-perception, personal beliefs, and social interactions, storyliving in VR narratives can be used to manipulate memory and mould users’ self according to the preferences of the VR narrative creators. Poland's Ministry of Culture and National Heritage has, in recent years, generously invested in the production of VR films that depict events from the Polish historical canon. VR is a spatial technology that positions users ‘inside’ a virtual storyworld and leverages users’ sense of body position and movement to enhance memory and a sense of presence. Three dimensions of presence – self, social, and spatial – are relevant to understanding the role of VR in the politics of memory. The article interrogates a recent Polish VR production, Wiktoria 1920 (2020, dir. Tomasz Dobosz), and argues that VR representations exploit a sense of presence to shape users’ memory, perspective, and emotions in relation to the past.

A construction method of urban road risky vehicles based on dynamic knowledge graph

&lt;abstract&gt; &lt;p&gt;The growth of the Internet of Things makes it possible to share information on risky vehicles openly and freely. How to create dynamic knowledge graphs of continually changing risky vehicles has emerged as a crucial technology for identifying risky vehicles, as well as a research hotspot in both artificial intelligence and field knowledge graphs. The node information of the risky vehicle knowledge graph is not rich, and the graph structure plays a major role in its dynamic changes. The paper presents a fusion algorithm based on relational graph convolutional network (R-GCN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to build the dynamic knowledge graph of risky vehicles and conducts a comparative experiment on the link prediction task. The results showed that the fusion algorithm based on R-GCN and LSTM had better performance than the other methods such as GCN, DynGEM, ROLAND, and RE-GCN, with the MAP value of 0.2746 and the MRR value of 0.1075. To further verify the proposed algorithm, classification experiments are carried out on the risky vehicle dataset. Accuracy, precision, recall, and F-values were used as heat-tolerance evaluation indexes in classification experiments, the values were 0.667, 0.034, 0.422, and 0.52 respectively.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/abstract&gt;

Sleep spindles and slow waves are physiological markers for age-related changes in gray matter in brain regions supporting problem-solving skills.

As we age, the added benefit of sleep for memory consolidation is lost. One of the hallmark age-related changes in sleep is the reduction of sleep spindles and slow waves. Gray matter neurodegeneration is related to both age-related changes in sleep and age-related changes in memory, including memory for problem-solving skills. Here, we investigated whether spindles and slow waves might serve as biological markers for neurodegeneration of gray matter and for the related memory consolidation deficits in older adults. Forty healthy young adults (20-35 yr) and 30 healthy older adults (60-85 yr) were assigned to either nap or wake conditions. Participants were trained on the Tower of Hanoi in the morning, followed by either a 90-min nap opportunity or period of wakefulness, and were retested afterward. We found that age-related changes in sleep spindles and slow waves were differentially related to gray matter intensity in young and older adults in brain regions that support sleep-dependent memory consolidation for problem-solving skills. Specifically, we found that spindles were related to gray matter in neocortical areas (e.g., somatosensory and parietal cortex), and slow waves were related to gray matter in the anterior cingulate, hippocampus, and caudate, all areas known to support problem-solving skills. These results suggest that both sleep spindles and slow waves may serve as biological markers of age-related neurodegeneration of gray matter and the associated reduced benefit of sleep for memory consolidation in older adults.

The era of our lives: The memory of Korsakoff patients for the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in the Netherlands

Memories for worldwide and emotional events (such as 9/11) are more vividly relived and recalled than memories for everyday events. Previous studies have shown that flashbulb memories of a single event enhanced the memory strength in severe amnesia. It is currently unknown whether macro-events that stretch out over longer periods of time (weeks, months) strengthen memory even further. Our aim was therefore to investigate to what extent patients with severe amnesia, due to Korsakoff’s syndrome (KS), were able to relive the first Covid-19 lockdown in the Netherlands, and whether experienced emotions enhanced reliving of the participants. We included 22 KS patients and 24 age-, education-, and gender-matched healthy controls. Covid-19 related memories were assessed by measures of autobiographical memory specificity, phenomenological reliving, emotional intensity and semantic-and episodic knowledge about the first lockdown in March 2020 – May 2020 in the Netherlands. Although amnesia patients remembered significantly fewer autobiographical details regarding the Covid-19 lockdown than healthy controls, one fourth of the KS patients recalled specific events. Amnesia patients reported levels of emotional intensity equivalent to those in the control group. Stronger autobiographical reliving was associated with higher emotional intensity. Both amnesia patients and healthy controls had higher recall of episodic than semantic lockdown related information. In conclusion, results demonstrate that information for macro-events can still be memorized and relived, most specifically when emotional valence is high, even by highly amnestic patients.

Longitudinal stability in working memory and frontal activity in relation to general brain maintenance

Cognitive functions are well-preserved for some older individuals, but the underlying brain mechanisms remain disputed. Here, 5-year longitudinal 3-back in-scanner and offline data classified individuals in a healthy older sample (baseline age = 64–68 years) into having stable or declining working-memory (WM). Consistent with a vital role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), WM stability or decline was related to maintained or reduced longitudinal PFC functional responses. Subsequent analyses of imaging markers of general brain maintenance revealed higher levels in the stable WM group on measures of neurotransmission and vascular health. Also, categorical and continuous analyses showed that rate of WM decline was related to global (ventricles) and local (hippocampus) measures of neuronal integrity. Thus, our findings support a role of the PFC as well as general brain maintenance in explaining heterogeneity in longitudinal WM trajectories in aging.

Exploring the sociodemographic, clinical and neuropsychological factors associated with relational memory in schizophrenia

ABSTRACT Introduction The Transverse Patterning (TP) task has been used to measure episodic relational memory (RM) deficits in clinical populations. Individuals with schizophrenia often fail to learn TP with standard, and sometimes extensive training. Identifying the differences between TP learners and non-learners can improve our understanding of successful TP performance and its underlying mechanisms, which may help improve interventions aimed at ameliorating RM performance. We investigated sociodemographic, clinical and neuropsychological factors associated with TP performance in schizophrenia. Methods Sixty-six participants with schizophrenia completed a semantically rich and a relational-binding dependent version of the TP task and reported on their task awareness and strategy use. Results Twenty-six participants failed to learn the task rules after extensive training. Learners had superior verbal, visual and working memory, executive functions and overall cognitive functioning compared to non-learners. Learners also had superior awareness of task rules and pairs relationships and used elaborated cognitive strategies more often. Conclusions Our results support previous findings that some individuals with schizophrenia show RM impairment even with extensive TP training. We shed light on neuropsychological and metacognitive factors associated with TP performance. This knowledge could enhance interventions targeted to improve relational memory in schizophrenia when extensive training fails.

Measuring brain activity associated with subsequent relational memory in typically developing periadolescent children: preliminary data from the PRANK study

AbstractBackgroundThe developing brain undergoes significant structural and functional changes that are associated with substantial cognitive changes, and this maturational trajectory continues during the periadolescent epoch. One such change is improvement in relational memory (RM) abilities. Normal RM requires the hippocampus, as demonstrated by the distinct memory deficits of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) associated with AD‐related hippocampal pathology. Lifelong risk factors for late onset AD may affect childhood brain development in ways that affect vulnerability to AD and other memory deficits later in life. This possibility motivates investigation into the brain’s developmental trajectory and correlations with AD‐vulnerable cognitive abilities, especially memory.MethodOur ongoing NIA‐funded study, the Polygenic Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease in Nebraska Kids (PRANK) study, measures brain structure, function, and cognitive abilities in periadolescent children (age 8–13 years). Here, we report preliminary data using task‐based fMRI and a subsequent memory (SM) paradigm to measure hippocampal‐dependent RM. A periadolescent sample from the PRANK study provided data for the current project (N = 90). MRI data were collected using protocols adapted from the Human Connectome Project. Hippocampal‐dependent RM was tested using a subsequent memory task where participants were asked to study pairs of common objects while fMRI‐BOLD data were collected. A memory test was completed for the studied materials where participants were presented two types of stimuli (studied match pairs or mismatched pairs of studied items).ResultSuccessful SM was associated with increased activity consistent with the frontoparietal networks in the lateral prefrontal and lateral parietal regions, increased activity in the dorsal attention network, and decreased activity in the so‐called memory retrieval network. There was evidence of increased anterior hippocampal activity associated with successful SM.ConclusionUsing task‐based fMRI to study brains of periadolescent children while they studied pairs of items, we observed SM effects that implicated anterior hippocampus and large‐scale functional brain networks (frontoparietal, dorsal attention, and memory retrieval). Findings from this preliminary analysis are novel in this task and in this population but concordant with previous studies of older and younger individuals. Future work will test whether there is an association in the magnitude of SM effects with polygenic risk for AD among PRANK participants.

Assessing the relationship between relational memory and segregation of intrinsic functional brain networks vulnerable to Alzheimer’s Disease during periadolescent development: preliminary findings from the PRANK study

AbstractBackgroundAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is an insidious disease process that is frequently diagnosed following complaints of memory loss. The AD‐related decline in memory abilities has been attributed to functional and pathological changes in the hippocampus and distributed functional networks supporting hippocampal‐dependent memory. Although AD manifests in late life, lifelong risk factors for AD may be influenced by childhood brain development. The default mode network (DMN) is one functional network associated with the hippocampus and has been well‐characterized in adulthood. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the connection between DMN network properties and relational memory abilities in childhood. Here we report preliminary findings from our ongoing study (Polygenic Risk of Alzheimer’s disease in Nebraska Kids, PRANK). The PRANK study collects functional MRI, cognitive measures, and AD polygenic risk scores from periadolescent children in Nebraska (age 8‐13 years). Here, we report the current findings measuring the relationship between brain network measures and cognitive outcomes from the PRANK study.MethodTo assess the relationship between intrinsic functional networks of the brain and hippocampal‐dependent memory, we applied brain and cognitive measures from a preliminary sample of periadolescent children (N=90) from the PRANK study. Cognitive assessments measured hippocampal‐dependent memory and other cognitive domains. Brain measures included both structural and resting‐state functional MRI data. Two properties of brain networks were measured, modularity and participation coefficient. These measures were derived from resting‐state MRI data with help of the Human Connectome Project’s Connectome Workbench tool. For comparison, brain and cognitive measures were also collected from a separate dataset of healthy young adults.ResultOur analysis observed differences between the PRANK and young adult datasets. The observed between‐group differences included graph theoretic measures of network architecture, particularly modularity. The relationship between relational memory performance and the network properties PRANK participants was also assessed.ConclusionThe ongoing PRANK study seeks to determine the association of brain measures and cognitive performance. Here, our preliminary analysis measured the relationship between brain and cognitive measures in periadolescent children with a focus on brain network properties and relational memory.

Assessing periadolescent memory ability and characterizing the development of a functional brain network vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease

AbstractBackgroundIn typically presenting Alzheimer’s disease (AD), pathological changes to the hippocampus (Hc) and its associated functional brain networks result in impaired declarative/relational memory. While it is known that risk factors for AD (genetic, environmental, etc.) can impact hippocampal resting‐state functional connectivity (RSFC) later in life, the development of the hippocampus and its connections to other brain regions may also be influenced by such risk factors. The goal the current study was to characterize the neurodevelopmental changes in this hippocampal network during the periadolescent epoch and determine whether the observed changes were associated with declarative/relational memory ability. Therefore, we utilized a cross‐sectional approach to test whether individual differences in hippocampal RSFC covary with outcomes on a test of relational memory ability in periadolescent children.MethodData were drawn from an ongoing NIA‐funded project: the Polygenic Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease in Nebraska Kids (PRANK) study. Our analysis was carried out using data from healthy periadolescent participants (N=90; age 8‐13 years). We assessed declarative/relational memory with Cambridge Cognition’s Paired Associates Learning (PAL) task. To conduct the resting‐state functional MRI analyses, we used a seed‐based approach with the bilateral hippocampus as the seed region of interest. We then analyzed the hippocampal RSFC data to and assessed covariance of individual patterns of hippocampal RSFC with memory performance measured with the PAL task.ResultOur preliminary findings, largely consistent with previous work, demonstrate patterns of hippocampal RSFC sharing territory with the ventral and lateral portions of the default mode network (DMN). In addition, we observed evidence of regional covariance between hippocampal RSFC and PAL task performance.ConclusionThe preliminary findings of the ongoing PRANK study indicate that hippocampal RSFC covaries regionally with hippocampal‐dependent memory ability in periadolescent children. Future work from the PRANK study aims to understand whether genetic and polygenic risk factors for AD influence this hippocampal network development. To do so, we will utilize participants’ AD polygenic risk scores, and determine whether those scores are related to individual differences in hippocampal RSFC.

Memory, counter-memory and denialism: How search engines circulate information about the Holodomor-related memory wars

Search engines, such as Google or Yandex, shape social reality by informing their users about current and historical phenomena. However, there is little research on how search engines deal with contested memories, which are subjected to ontological conflicts known as memory wars. In this article, we investigate how search engines circulate information about memory wars related to the Holodomor, a mass famine caused by Soviet repressive politics in Ukraine in 1932–1933. For this aim, we conduct an agent-based audit of four search engines—Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google, and Yandex—and examine how their top search results represent the Holodomor and related memory wars. Our findings demonstrate that search engines prioritize interpretations of the Holodomor aligning with specific sides in the memory wars, thus becoming memory warriors themselves.