Memory Slips Research Articles

A Prayer to Horus Praising Edfu

Summary The article publishes a hieratic ostracon from the Ramesside Period, now stored in the magazine of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities at Elkab and probably found in (Hagr) Edfu. The text is a prayer to Horus and belongs to the literary genre known as the ‘praises of cities’. The first lines present a close parallel to Ostracon Nakhtmin 87/173, obverse, ll. 1–2, found in Theban Tomb 87; that ostracon bears a prayer to Amun and dates back to Dynasty 18. A comparison of both versions shows how easily such poems could be adapted and how the texts were passed on to later generations. On the Edfu ostracon, the copying work involved either a memory slip or perhaps a deliberate pun.

Do Bloggers Have Better Mental Health? The Social, Cognitive, and Psychological Benefits of Blogging in Emerging Adulthood.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the longitudinal processes by which blogging-related disclosure is linked to mental health. It was hypothesized that blogging had both social and cognitive benefits, including greater perceived social support and fewer memory slips, which were then associated with better mental health. A total of 194 emerging adults were recruited three times at approximately three months apart. Participants filled out a self-report about their blogging activities and perceived benefits, social support, memory, and mental health at each time point. Path analysis indicated that perceived blogging-related benefits, needs, and traits mediated the relation between frequency of blogging and social support and memory slips, respectively. Moreover, social support marginally predicted greater mental health, whereas memory slips predicted poorer mental health, after controlling for baseline mental health, age, and gender. This study established the longitudinal associations between blogging and its benefits that may be vital for emerging adults' mental health.

Self‐report of seriousness of forgetting predicts objective memory ability in older adults with subjective cognitive decline

AbstractBackgroundPrevious work in subjective cognitive decline (SCD) suggests that subjective memory and other cognitive concerns are more likely to be associated with mood or anxiety, rather than objective memory performance, but the overall literature is inconsistent. In the current study, subjective memory profiles were characterized to examine differences amongst SCD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and cognitively unimpaired (CU) older adults and to determine their association with mood, anxiety, and objective memory in SCD.MethodsParticipants were 33 MCI [17F, age 72.3(SD6.7)], 71 SCD [49F, age 71.1(SD6.3)] and 42 CU [27F, age 70.6(SD6.8)] free of lifetime history of psychiatric illness and neurological conditions. They completed the Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ), a measure of subjective memory according to Frequency of Forgetting (FF), Seriousness of Forgetting (SF), Retrospective Functioning (RF), and Mnemonics Usage (MU), with higher scores indicating better subjective memory; as well as Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI) and NEO Five‐Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI). Multivariate ANOVA was used to examine group differences in MFQ, followed by post hoc comparisons using Dunnett’s test. Relationships between MFQ and mood and anxiety measures within groups were assessed using Pearson’s correlation. Linear regression modelling with subjective memory and mood/anxiety as predictors of performance on the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) was conducted in SCD.ResultsGroups differed in total MFQ, FF, and SF, with total MFQ reduced in MCI and SCD. However, FF and SF were decreased in MCI and SCD respectively. SF was inversely associated with NEO‐FF neuroticism in CN, and with HAI in MCI participants. Within SCD, both SF and FF were inversely associated with NEO‐FFI neuroticism, HAI, STAI‐trait, and GDS. Further, SF, but neither FF nor any mood or anxiety measure, predicted CVLT immediate and long delayed recall in SCD.ConclusionsConsistent with previous research, perception of poorer subjective memory was correlated with greater anxiety and depression symptoms in SCD. Despite these associations, subjective memory, as characterized by perceived seriousness of memory slips, was predictive of objective memory in SCD. These findings highlight the need to better understand the phenomenology of subjective memory in SCD.

Real-World Evidence on the Effect of Missing an Oral Contraceptive Dose: Analysis of Internet Search Engine Queries

BackgroundOral contraceptives (OCs) are a unique chronic medication with which a memory slip may result in a threat that could change a person’s life course. Subjective concerns of missed OC doses among women have been addressed infrequently. Anonymized queries to internet search engines provide unique access to concerns and information gaps faced by a large number of internet users.ObjectiveWe aimed to quantitate the frequency of queries by women seeking information in an internet search engine, after missing one or more doses of an OC; their further queries on emergency contraception, abortion, and miscarriage; and their rate of reporting a pregnancy timed to the cycle of missing an OC.MethodsWe extracted all English-language queries submitted to Bing in the United States during 2018, which mentioned a missed OC and subsequent queries of the same users on miscarriage, abortion, emergency contraceptives, and week of pregnancy.ResultsWe identified 26,395 Bing users in the United States who queried about missing OC pills and the fraction that further queried about miscarriage, abortion, emergency contraceptive, and week of pregnancy. Users under the age of 30 years who asked about forgetting an OC dose were more likely to ask about abortion (1.5 times) and emergency contraception (1.7 times) (P<.001 for both), while users at ages of 30-34 years were more likely to query about pregnancy (2.1 times) and miscarriage (5.4 times) (P<.001 for both).ConclusionsOur data indicate that many women missing a dose of OC might not have received sufficient information from their health care providers or chose to obtain it online. Queries about abortion and miscarriage peaking in the subsequent days indicate a common worry of possible pregnancy. These results reinforce the importance of providing comprehensive written information on missed pills when prescribing an OC.

Older adults with lower autobiographical memory abilities report\xa0less age-related decline in everyday cognitive function

BackgroundIndividuals differ in how they remember the past: some richly re-experience specific details of past episodes, whereas others recall only the gist of past events. Little research has examined how such trait mnemonics, or lifelong individual differences in memory capacities, relate to cognitive aging. We specifically examined trait episodic autobiographical memory (AM, the tendency to richly re-experience episodic details of past events) in relation to complaints of everyday cognitive functioning, which are known to increase with age. Although one might predict that individuals reporting higher trait-level episodic AM would be resistant to age-related decline in everyday function, we made the opposite prediction. That is, we predicted that those with lower trait-level episodic AM would be better equipped with compensatory strategies, practiced throughout the lifespan, to cope with age-related memory decline. Those with higher trait-level episodic AM would have enhanced sensitivity to age-related cognitive changes due to their tendency to rely on their perceived above-average memory function.MethodsWe tested these predictions in 959 older adults aged 50–93 using online subjective and objective measures of memory and cognitive function. Our key measures of interest were the Survey of Autobiographical Memory, a measure of autobiographical memory abilities; and the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, a measure of everyday cognitive function.ResultsIn keeping with our prediction, we found that complaints of day-to-day memory slips and errors (normally elevated with age) remained stable or even decreased with age among those reporting lower trait-level episodic AM, whereas those reporting higher trait-level episodic AM reported the expected age-related increase in such errors. This finding was specific to episodic AM and not observed for other autobiographical memory capacities (e.g., semantic, spatial). It was further unaccounted for by response bias or objectively assessed cognitive abilities.ConclusionsCongenitally low trait-level episodic AM may paradoxically confer a functional advantage in aging. This could be due to well-developed non-episodic strategies not present in those with higher abilities, who are more sensitive to age-related memory decline attributable to medial temporal lobe changes. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering individual differences when studying cognitive aging trajectories.

History, Fiction, Autobiography: William Faulkner’s ‘Mississippi’

ABSTRACTThis essay considers issues of history and memory, and autobiography and fiction in William Faulkner’s ‘Mississippi’ and considers Faulkner’s position as a writer and historian of the South. It interrogates the moments in which Faulkner’s representation of his family, his history and his memory slips between the personal and the historical or collective. It further argues that Faulkner’s experience of memory and race as a white Southerner complicates his representation of his family, his identity and particularly, his relationship with his family’s black domestic or Mammy, Caroline Barr, revealing his implication in Southern mythmaking in his fictional and autobiographical writing.

Prospective memory slips are associated with forgetting to take glucose-lowering therapies among adults with diabetes: results from the second Diabetes MILES - Australia (MILES-2) survey.

Prospective memory has been long considered a fundamental cognitive ability for optimal medication taking, but the role of prospective memory errors (termed 'slips') in diabetes self-care is unclear. Our aim was to examine associations between prospective memory and medication taking in adults with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Some 901 adults with Type 1 diabetes and 927 with Type 2 diabetes completed a cross-sectional survey focused on the psychological and behavioural aspects of living with diabetes. Respondents reported whether they had forgotten to take their diabetes medication over the previous 14 days. Twenty-four percent (n=220) of adults with Type 1 diabetes and 23% (n=211) with Type 2 diabetes reported that they had forgotten their medication at least once over the previous 14 days. This was associated with more prospective memory slips in adults with Type 1 diabetes [odds ratio (OR) 1.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05 to 1.13; P<0.001] and Type 2 diabetes (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.15; P<0.001); and with younger age (both groups), insulin pump use (Type 1 diabetes), insulin treatment (Type 2 diabetes), less frequent blood glucose checks (Type 1 diabetes) and higher HbA1c (Type 1 diabetes). These findings suggest that forgetting medication is relatively common among adults with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, and provide preliminary evidence for its relationship with self-reported prospective memory slips.

Memory Slip: Stage Fright and Performing Musicians

This paper discusses stage fright as seen primarily in classical music performers. A confluence of narcissistic sensitivities, developmental issues, shame dynamics, physical injury and pain, and terrors pertaining to both psychic and bodily disintegration can fuel anxiety reactions in many people but hold particular relevance for the performing musician. Two classical music performers who struggled with stage fright are discussed: one was in treatment with the author; the other is the author herself, reflecting on her own performance anxiety as revealed through her analysis and her countertransference to her patient.

Randomized control trial of computer-based training targeting alertness in older adults: the ALERT trial protocol

BackgroundHealthy aging is associated with a decline in multiple functional domains including perception, attention, short and long-term memory, reasoning, decision-making, as well as cognitive and motor control functions; all of which are significantly modulated by an individual’s level of alertness. The control of alertness also significantly declines with age and contributes to increased lapses of attention in everyday life, ranging from minor memory slips to a lack of vigilance and increased risk of falls or motor-vehicle accidents. Several experimental behavioral therapies designed to remediate age-related cognitive decline have been developed, but differ widely in content, method and dose. Preliminary studies demonstrate that Tonic and Phasic Alertness Training (TAPAT) can improve executive functions in older adults and may be a useful adjunct treatment to enhance benefits gained in other clinically validated treatments. The purpose of the current trial (referred to as the Attention training for Learning Enhancement and Resilience Trial or ALERT) is to compare TAPAT to an active control training condition, include a larger sample of patients, and assess both cognitive and functional outcomes.Methods/designWe will employ a multi-site, longitudinal, blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT) design with a target sample of 120 patients with age-related cognitive decline. Patients will be asked to complete 36 training sessions remotely (30 min/day, 5 days a week, over 3 months) of either the experimental TAPAT training program or an active control computer games condition. Patients will be assessed on a battery of cognitive and functional outcomes at four time points, including: a) immediately before training, b) halfway through training, c) within forty-eight hours post completion of total training, and d) after a three-month no-contact period post completion of total training, to assess the longevity of potential training effects.DiscussionThe strengths of this protocol are that it tests an innovative, in-home administered treatment that targets a fundamental deficit in adults with age-related cognitive decline; employs highly sensitive computer-based assessments of cognition as well as functional abilities, and incorporates a large sample size in an RCT design.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02416401.

Recent Progress on Modeling Slip Deformation in Shape Memory Alloys

This paper presents an overview of slip deformation in shape memory alloys. The performance of shape memory alloys depends on their slip resistance often quantified through the Critical Resolved Shear Stress (CRSS) or the flow stress. We highlight previous studies that identify the active slip systems and then proceed to show how non-Schmid effects can be dominant in shape memory slip behavior. The work is mostly derived from our recent studies while we highlight key earlier works on slip deformation. We finally discuss the implications of understanding the role of slip on curtailing the transformation strains and also the temperature range over which superelasticity prevails.

Sites of Memory and Time Slips: Narratives of the “Good Master” and the History of Brazilian Slavery

Oral histories about slavery and the postemancipation period in Brazil and other regions of the Americas often contain descriptions of masters who were kind and humane to their slaves. This article takes one such testimony as a point of departure to analyze why descendants of slaves depicted former masters in a positive light. It argues that, instead of indicating forms of false consciousness and naiveté, narratives of good masters often reflect two operations taking place in the oral memories of Afro-Brazilians: the creation of sites of memory and the occurrence of time slips. As identified by Pierre Nora, sites of memory are entities that condense a community’s symbolic heritage. Time slips, a concept borrowed from science-fiction literature, are a type of anachronism that applies to specific individuals. While these two concepts probably do not exhaust the whole range of explanations for the good-master narrative, they do contribute to depicting Afro-descendants as historical actors capable of discussing their own experiences in a nuanced and multi-faceted way.

Psychometric properties of the Actual Week test: a naturalistic prospective memory task

Objective: Prospective memory is the ability to ‘remember to remember’ and a facet of memory important to everyday functioning. For older adults, prospective memory slips are a common concern. In the present study, we conducted an initial validation of a paper-and-pencil adaptation of the Actual Week test, and reported on internal consistency, inter-rater and test-retest reliability, convergent and divergent validity, as well as veridicality of the task. Method: Fifty-eight healthy, community-dwelling older adults were recruited from a larger randomized controlled trial and tested at baseline. The Actual Week test was a naturalistic five-day prospective memory task where participants were assigned eight hypothetical tasks to remember per day for five days. Tasks were either time-cued or event-cued and regular (i.e. occurring daily) or irregular (i.e. varied each day). The proportion of tasks that were recorded as on time and accurate was used as the primary measure of performance. Results: The Actual Week test had good internal consistency (Kuder–Richardson: r > .8), intra-test (intraclass correlation: α > .9) and test-retest reliability (r = .76). There was also evidence for convergent and divergent validity. Task performance was associated with age, but not years of education or sex. Conclusion: The Actual Week test demonstrated strong psychometric qualities and promising evidence for validity as a performance-based measure of everyday prospective memory in older adults. Avenues for future studies include extending the evidence for convergent validity and evaluating feasibility and utility with other clinical populations.

Effect of Cognitive Style on Prospective-Retrospective Memory Slips

Abstract. We examined the effect of cognitive style on prospective and retrospective memory slips using the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ). A group of 233 undergraduate students (55% women) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, whose mean age was 19.66 years (SD = 3.02), participated in this study. Using bivariate linear regression to analyze the data, we found that cognitive style accounted for 7% of the variation in prospective memory slips and 21% of the variation in retrospective memory slips. The findings demonstrated that cognitive style significantly negatively predicted prospective and retrospective memory slips: As field independence increased, prospective and retrospective memory slips decreased.

Effect of field-dependent versus field-independent cognitive styles on prospective and retrospective memory slips

This article describes a study with two major objectives: first, to investigate whether prospective memory functioning is dissociated from retrospective memory functioning and, second, to examine whether field-independent cognitive style will differ significantly from field-dependent cognitive style in prospective and retrospective memory functioning. A total of 76 undergraduate students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (41 men, 35 women; mean age: 19.66 years; standard deviation = 2.02) completed the Group Embedded Figures Test and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire. Omnibus statistic showed that prospective and retrospective memory was not dissociated ( p &lt; .001) and the field-dependent versus field-independent cognitive styles differed significantly on prospective ( p &lt; .001) and retrospective memory ( p &lt; .001). The results were viewed as tentative; the study maintains that future studies are required to provide converging evidence. Authors concluded with some suggestions for further research.

Playing a new tune.

Russian-born pianist Igor Lovchinsky attended the Juilliard School in New York City and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He has won several competitions and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall. Time Out voted his debut album one of the top five classical recordings of 2008, making comparisons to Walter Gieseking and Martha Argerich. But now he is changing course: Lovchinsky is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in physics at Harvard University. We caught up with him after a performance at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston, Maine. This interview has been edited. ![Figure][1] “I hope to keep playing, at least until they stop paying me!” ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER > Q: Which came first, piano or physics? > A: I started off as a pianist; in fact, I didn't even like physics until I was in my mid-20s! I grew up in a musical bubble, where everyone I knew was a musician, and the thought of doing anything else really never even entered my head. I spent all my time practicing: preparing for performances, competitions, etc. But several years ago, I got interested in science and started reading some books on my own. One thing led to another, and now I'm a graduate student at Harvard, working with Professor Mikhail Lukin. > Q: What are you working on? > A: I'm working on using solid-state defects in diamonds as magnetic field sensors, with the goal of using them as little nanoscale MRI machines that can study the structure and dynamics of single biological molecules (e.g., proteins). > Q: Do you think of your move into physics as a career transition? > A: I never planned to give up the piano, and I hope to keep playing, at least until they stop paying me! A truly successful career as a musician takes a full-time effort, and that's simply not realistic when I spend most of my time in the laboratory, but I've learned to be much more efficient in my practicing and have adopted a more scientific approach to problem-solving in the practice room. > Q: Do you have any insights to offer readers making their own career transitions? > A: This transition certainly wasn't easy. There were obvious difficulties in learning a new field and having to catch up to people who have been doing it all their lives. But the harder part was the social pressure from people who said I was crazy for giving up a promising career in music to start from scratch in science. I didn't care, since I was determined to do it no matter what anyone said. I found it helpful to set realistic expectations and to realize that it will not be easy, and that I will fail many times along the way. It'fs also important to find people in your new field who are supportive but also not afraid to be honest with you. > Q: Does your experience performing music help your science? > A: Public speaking is a type of performance, and the quality of the delivery (or lack thereof ) is almost as important as the content. It's also true that performing on stage is a great way to get used to being under pressure. But there are important differences. If you have a memory slip in the middle of a performance, you can usually just put down the pedal and improvise your way out of it before most people realize anything happened. Unfortunately, there isn't an equivalent to “pedaling-through” for a physics talk. Every professional musician frequently finds himself in a situation in which he has to learn a new piece or prepare for a performance on short notice and has to practice 10-plus hours per day. Concentrating for that long, with no recourse to Facebook or YouTube, does not come naturally to people, but doing this for many years taught me to shut off all distractions and focus on my work. In addition to work ethic, learning to play an instrument on a serious level trains your memory, coordination, and abstract reasoning—all useful skills that can be applied elsewhere. [1]: pending:yes

Memory slips associated with dementia risk

Memory slips associated with dementia risk

Perseverations in Alzheimer's disease: Memory slips?

Previous studies of verbal fluency tasks reported higher rates of repeated responses in Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to elderly controls. The present investigation aimed at determining if perseverations are caused by word retrieval deficits or working memory deficits, both of which are commonly observed in AD. Based on current theories of lexical processing and working memory, we derived specific predictions concerning the lag between the first occurrence of a word and its repetition. With word retrieval deficits, repetitions are expected to be progressively less frequent at greater lags; conversely, with working memory deficits, repetitions should occur especially after long lags. These predictions were tested analyzing the performance of 392 AD individuals in verbal fluency tasks. The finding of lags that were significantly longer than would be expected by chance is consistent with the hypothesis that perseverations are primarily caused by working memory deficits. Specifically, we propose that perseverations stem from an impairment affecting the working memory mechanisms that control response monitoring. We also investigated the relationship between perseverations and other cognitive deficits observed in AD. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding the nature of perseverations, the effects of working memory deficits in AD, and the neural correlates of working memory components.

Habit and recollection in healthy aging, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's disease.

This study aimed to create a new French version of the Hay and Jacoby habit-training procedure (1996; 1999) and apply it to novel populations to determine the degree to which habit and recollection were affected. 36 young, 32 middle-aged, and 37 older adults participated in Experiment 1. 17 controls, 17 patients with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (a-MCI), and 17 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) were involved in Experiment 2. Participants were assessed across a variety of demographic, neuropsychological and psychopathological variables (e.g., depressive affects, subjective experience of cognitive failures, interference sensitivity). The habit-training process-dissociation was used to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying memory slips to separate the contribution of habit and recollection to memory performance. The data show a very clear pattern of decreased recollection with age, F(2, 102) = 25.12, p < .001, η²(p) = .197, and age-related neurological impairment, F(2, 48) = 39.22, p < .001, η²(p) = .62, with intact use of habit-based memory. Additional evidence for the validity of the process estimates is provided by theoretically meaningful correlations between the process estimates and measures of attentional control (Stroop test: r = -0.40) and subjective memory complaint (r = -0.45). Although likely not the same as familiarity, the data add to a growing literature suggesting that controlled forms of memory decline with age and in age-related neurological conditions (MCI and AD) whereas more automatic forms of memory (habit) remain intact. This research should improve understanding of memory complaints, preclinical and clinical dementia, and help target processes for rehabilitation.

Balanced cortical microcircuitry for maintaining short-term memory

Persistent patterns of neural activity that last long after the offset of a stimulus are thought to be the neural substrate for short-term memory. Because the observed decay of persistent activity in memory circuits is much slower than the typical decay time constants associated with synaptic or intrinsic neuronal dynamics, it has been suggested that network interactions must be used to prolong the duration of persistent activity. Most often, these network interactions have been assumed to mediate positive feedback between neurons that supports a long-lasting reverberation of activity. However, most positive feedback models do not naturally fit the architecture of working memory-storing structures in neocortex that have been suggested to exhibit a close balance between excitation and inhibition. Furthermore, positive feedback models of analog memory storage are highly non-robust against commonly studied perturbations in network connectivity. Here, we suggest a complementary mechanism for generating persistent activity based on the principle of corrective negative-feedback: an error-correcting signal of the form of a time-derivative of activity reduces memory slip when it occurs. Using analytic calculations, we show that neocortical circuit models with the observed balance in strength, but with different kinetics, between excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs, produce a negative-derivative feedback signal that counteracts drifts in persistent activity. The networks maintain a continuum of stable firing rates even in the presence of intrinsic input-output nonlinearity, while still remaining responsive to external memory inputs. More generally, the networks act as temporal integrators of their inputs, for example converting step-like input into linearly ramping activity. Memory networks operating in this balanced regime are robust against many commonly studied perturbations to synaptic weights that grossly disrupt the performance of persistent activity circuits based on positive feedback. Specifically, in response to uniform changes in synaptic excitation, synaptic inhibition, intrinsic neuronal gains or loss of a fraction of excitatory or inhibitory neurons, there is minimal decay or instability in persistent firing. Furthermore, spiking network models implementing derivative feedback generate persistent firing with Poisson-like statistics, as has been observed experimentally. This observed highly irregular activity occurs across a graded range of firing rates, and arises because the close balance between excitation and inhibition results in spikes being triggered primarily by fluctuations in, rather than means levels of, synaptic inputs. To generate experimental predictions that distinguish among different mechanisms for short-term memory, we compared the correlation structure of excitatory and inhibitory inputs in the negative-derivative feedback models to that of typical analog memory models based on positive feedback. Negative-derivative feedback models exhibit a strong positive correlation between inhibitory and excitatory synaptic inputs, as suggested by recent experiments. By contrast, similarly responding neurons in positive feedback models either exhibited anti-correlations or weak correlations between their excitatory and inhibitory inputs. Altogether, this work suggests a new paradigm for short-term memory storage based upon a balanced network with cortical-like architecture. Stabilization of responses through negative feedback is a common principle in engineering control systems. Our work suggests that a similar principle might be inherent to the circuitry of working memory systems.

Memory, Health Locus of Control and Adherence in Type II Diabetic Patients in Iran - Tabriz

This study aimed to find out the relationship between memory, health locus of control, and adherence. One hundred twenty patients with type II diabetes were selected. The findings showed that there was a significant negative relation between memory slips with adherence, also there was a significant positive correlation between internal, external health locus of control (other-powerful), with adherence. The result showed that the type II Diabetic patients who did have less memory slips, and know powerful individuals like physician responsible for their health and then they believe in own roles to control their health, display more adherence.