Recall Of Stimuli Research Articles

Differences of biased recall memory for emotional information among children and adolescents of mothers with MDD, children and adolescents with MDD, and normal controls

This study examines explicit memory bias for emotional information in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD). Participants were a convenient sample of 28 children and adolescents of mothers with MDD, 28 children and adolescents with MDD, and 29 healthy controls. Their age range was 11–17 years old. The groups were matched for gender ratio, mean age, and the years of educational level. They were assessed by the Recall Task. Emotional stimuli consisted of three sets of words namely sad, happy, and neutral words. Children and adolescents of mothers with MDD similar to children and adolescents with MDD recalled more sadness stimuli in comparison with the controls. In other words, they showed an explicit memory bias towards sad stimuli. Also, healthy children significantly recalled more happy words than the other two groups. There was no significant difference among the three groups for the recall of neutral stimuli. Current findings support that there is a recall memory bias for emotional information in children with MDD. These children more than healthy children recall sad words. Moreover, healthy children recall happy words more than children with MDD.

Sleep and Social Memory Consolidation

Event Abstract Back to Event Sleep and Social Memory Consolidation Amanda Santamaria1*, Owen Churches2, Alex Chatburn3, Hannah Keage1 and Mark Kohler1 1 University of South Australia, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Australia 2 Flinders University, Brain and Cognition Laboratory, Australia 3 University of South Australia, Centre for Sleep Research, Australia Social memory refers to the learning, consolidation and recall of social information that is crucial to interpersonal interaction. Face recognition is one feature of social interaction that can be investigated in a social memory paradigm. It is commonly recognized that active neurophysiological processes occurring during sleep aid learning and consolidation of information in general, yet little is known about whether sleep is important for learning and consolidation of social memories. The current study examines whether sleep facilitates recall of social stimuli in comparison to an equal period of time awake. Sixteen adults aged 19-29 years (14 female) took part in an experimental repeated measures design, which tested social memory performance immediately after learning and at two different delayed recall time points in both a sleep-first and wake-first condition. Sleep was quantified using polysomnography in both conditions. To test social memory performance, participants were asked to identify a set of learned target faces from a set of distractor faces. Overall memory performance scores decreased after periods of wake (F(1.44,21.58)=21.17, p<.001) but were maintained after immediate or delayed sleep periods (p=.22). As such, sleep was found to serve as a protective function for newly encoded social memories, rather than actively enhancing consolidation. Differences were also found between sleep-first and wake-first groups for correct identification of target faces, where the wake-first group missed more target faces(F(1,15)=6.75, p=.02). Even though sleep was found to be important to the consolidation of social memory and maintenance of social learning, no specific aspects of sleep architecture were associated with social memory performance. The results suggest that sleep acts as a protective factor against memory deterioration for social memories, however the precise neurophysiological characteristics of sleep important for this effect are yet to be determined. Keywords: Polysomnography, Sleep, EEG, faces, Social Memory, memory consolidation Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Memory and Learning Citation: Santamaria A, Churches O, Chatburn A, Keage H and Kohler M (2015). Sleep and Social Memory Consolidation. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00399 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Miss. Amanda Santamaria, University of South Australia, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Adelaide, Australia, amanda.santamaria@mymail.unisa.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Amanda Santamaria Owen Churches Alex Chatburn Hannah Keage Mark Kohler Google Amanda Santamaria Owen Churches Alex Chatburn Hannah Keage Mark Kohler Google Scholar Amanda Santamaria Owen Churches Alex Chatburn Hannah Keage Mark Kohler PubMed Amanda Santamaria Owen Churches Alex Chatburn Hannah Keage Mark Kohler Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Development of the Learning Analytics Dashboard to Support Students' Learning Performance

The Learning Analytics Dashboard (LAD) is an application to show students' online behavior patterns in a virtual learning environment. This supporting tool works by tracking students' log-files, mining massive amounts of data to find meaning, and visualizing the results so they can be comprehended at a glance. This paper reviews previously developed applications to analyze their features. Based on the implications from the review of previous studies as well as a preliminary investigation on the need for such tools, an early version of the LAD was designed and developed. Also, in order to improve the LAD, a usability test incorporating a stimulus recall interview was conducted with 38 college students in two blended learning classes. Evaluation of this tool was performed in an experimental research setting with a control group and additional surveys were conducted asking students' about perceived usefulness, conformity, level of understanding of graphs, and their behavioral changes. The results indicated that this newly developed learning analytics tool did not significantly impact on their learning achievement. However, lessons learned from the usability and pilot tests support that visualized information impacts on students' understanding level; and the overall satisfaction with dashboard plays as a covariant that impacts on both the degree of understanding and students' perceived change of behavior. Taking in the results of the tests and students' open- ended responses, a scaffolding strategy to help them understand the meaning of the information displayed was included in each sub section of the dashboard. Finally, this paper discusses future directions in regard to improving LAD so that it better supports students' learning performance, which might be helpful for those who develop learning analytics applications for students.

Epilepsia de ausencia juvenil. Evaluación neuropsicológica de dos casos

Introducción: Las epilepsias constituyen trastornos de la función neuronal expresados en crisis de episodios limitados causadas por descargas anormales de grupos de neuronas. La epilepsia de ausencia juvenil inicia entre los 10 y 17 años, con ausencias típicas y en ocasiones crisis tónico-clónicas. Ambos sexos son igualmente afectados. El electroencefalograma (EEG) intercrítico presenta descargas de punta-onda de 3 Hz con buena respuesta al medicamento. Las evaluaciones neuropsicológicas permiten determinar la presencia de cambios cognoscitivos y comportamentales. Material y métodos: Estudio observacional, descriptivo, transversal, prospectivo. Se evaluaron dos estudiantes de la Licenciatura en Psicología (casos A y B), de 19 años de edad, de lateralidad diestra, sexo femenino. En ambos casos se reportaron crisis de ausencia con inicio en la adolescencia; el caso B presentaba además crisis tónico-clónicas. Ambas se encontraban tomando medicamento en el momento de la evaluación. En forma individual, en un cubículo bien iluminado, libre de distractores, se aplicaron en dos sesiones de 45 minutos en promedio la evaluación neuropsicológica breve en español (NEUROPSI), el test de clasificación de Wisconsin versión computarizada (WISCONPC) y la escala de somnolencia Epworth. Resultados: En NEUROPSI, el caso A, obtuvo puntaje total de 118 (normal alto) y el caso B, 106 (normal) con dificultades en atención, evocación de estímulos verbales y comprensión lectora. En WISCONPC, el caso A completó seis categorías, mientras que el B completó dos, presentando incapacidad para mantener la organización. En la escala Epworth, el caso B reportó no dormir suficiente. Discusión y conclusiones: Las evaluaciones neuropsicológicas nos permitieron conocer el estado actual de los procesos cognoscitivos de los casos evaluados e indicar estrategias de corrección en los procesos observados con dificultades.

Selective deficit of spatial short-term memory: Role of storage and rehearsal mechanisms

We report the neuropsychological and MRI investigation of a patient (GP) who developed a selective impairment of spatial short-term memory (STM) following damage to the dorso-mesial areas of the right frontal lobe. We assessed in this patient spatial STM with an experimental procedure that evaluated immediate and 5–20 s delayed recall of verbal, visual and spatial stimuli. The patient scored significantly worse than normal controls on tests that required delayed recall of spatial data. This could not be ascribed to a deficit of spatial episodic long-term memory because amnesic patients performed normally on these tests. Conversely, the patient scored in the normal range on tests of immediate recall of verbal, visual and spatial data and tests of delayed recall of verbal and visual data. Comparison with a previously described patient who had a selective deficit in immediate spatial recall and an ischemic lesion that affected frontal and parietal dorso-mesial areas in the right hemisphere (Carlesimo GA, Perri R, Turriziani P, Tomaiuolo F, Caltagirone C. Remembering what but not where: independence of spatial and visual working memory in the human brain. Cortex. 2001 Sep; 37(4):519–34) suggests that the right parietal areas are involved in the short-term storage of spatial information and that the dorso-mesial regions of the right frontal underlie mechanisms for the delayed maintenance of the same data.

Using interpretative phenomenological analysis in a mixed methods research design to explore music in the lives of mature age amateur keyboard players

This article discusses the use of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in a mixed methods research design with reference to five recent publications about music in the lives of mature age amateur keyboard players. It explores the links between IPA and the data-gathering methods of ‘Rivers of Musical Experience’, conversation-based repertory grids and audio stimulus recall, together with the use of IPA to construct emergent theory. Using IPA in a mixed methods research design allows researchers to take advantage of its flexibility and potential for creativity when exploring individual perceptions of music learning, and encourages readers to reflect on their own experience of music learning and teaching. The article ends with advice for student researchers and educators on how to achieve quality and validity when using IPA together with other data-gathering methods.

Errorful and errorless learning: The impact of cue–target constraint in learning from errors

The benefits of testing on learning are well described, and attention has recently turned to what happens when errors are elicited during learning: Is testing nonetheless beneficial, or can errors hinder learning? Whilst recent findings have indicated that tests boost learning even if errors are made on every trial, other reports, emphasizing the benefits of errorless learning, have indicated that errors lead to poorer later memory performance. The possibility that this discrepancy is a function of the materials that must be learned-in particular, the relationship between the cues and targets-was addressed here. Cued recall after either a study-only errorless condition or an errorful learning condition was contrasted across cue-target associations, for which the extent to which the target was constrained by the cue was either high or low. Experiment 1 showed that whereas errorful learning led to greater recall for low-constraint stimuli, it led to a significant decrease in recall for high-constraint stimuli. This interaction is thought to reflect the extent to which retrieval is constrained by the cue-target association, as well as by the presence of preexisting semantic associations. The advantage of errorful retrieval for low-constraint stimuli was replicated in Experiment 2, and the interaction with stimulus type was replicated in Experiment 3, even when guesses were randomly designated as being either correct or incorrect. This pattern provides support for inferences derived from reports in which participants made errors on all learning trials, whilst highlighting the impact of material characteristics on the benefits and disadvantages that accrue from errorful learning in episodic memory.

Music, feelings, and the human brain.

Researchers interested in the brain's processing of music agree that music evokes a wide range of feelings (Sloboda, O'Neill, & Ivaldi, 2001) and have, understandably, devoted considerable effort to the investigation of music-related affect (for a comprehensive review see Music and Emotion, Theory, Research, Applications edited by Patrick Juslin & John Sloboda, 2010). In most treatments of music-related affect, however, feelings (along with emotions, the phenomena that are commonly and unfortunately taken as their equivalent) are only considered from psychological or sociocultural perspectives, without consideration of the fact that feelings are also neurobiological phenomena and play a central role in life regulation, that is, in homeostasis. There is no doubt that music needs to be investigated from psychological and sociocultural perspectives. Still to address the underpinnings of music experience comprehensively and because feelings are so central to that experience, we believe that the research effort also requires the inclusion of a neurobiological perspective. To that end, in the pages ahead, we introduce a general neurobiological framework; we explain why feelings and emotions should be regarded as distinct phenomena; we relate music to the neurobiological perspective; and we review relevant findings concerning the neural counterparts of music-evoked affects.Neurobiological FrameworkThe mammalian central nervous system (CNS) continuously monitors the body's interior and exterior environments. Changes in the interior environment (such as the mechanical or chemical conditions that lead to pain or the chemical imbalances behind thirst and hunger) are sensed by the interoceptive system (Craig, 2002), and signaled to sensory regions of the CNS dedicated to the governance of body functions. The signals are then displayed as neural maps of the body, within specific sensory regions whose integrity is required for the mental experience of feelings of the body state to occur (Damasio, 2001). Changes in the external environment are sensed by the exteroceptive systems (hearing, taste, smell, touch, and sight) and are displayed in separate sensory regions as neural maps of the external world. Their integrity is also required for the mental experience of signals from the external world (Kandel, Schwartz, Jessell, Siegelbaum, & Hudspeth, 2012; Kobatake & Tanaka, 1994; Udin & Fawcett, 1988). These two distinct systems, inwardly and outwardly oriented, operate interactively. Certain perceptual configurations, as displayed in neural maps of either the interior or the exterior, can trigger innate physiological action programs, which include drives and emotions (see Glossary). The trigger points are in a variety of regions largely located below the cerebral cortex. Drives are aimed at satisfying basic instinctual physiological needs and correcting the detected imbalances relative to basic body states. They include hunger, thirst, libido, the avoidance of pain, exploration and play, care of offspring, and attachment to mates (Berridge, 2004; Panksepp, 1998). Emotions, on the other hand, are largely triggered by the perception or recall of exteroceptive stimuli and include not only basic responses such as disgust, fear, anger, sadness, joy, but also socially complex responses such as shame, jealousy, compassion, admiration, and awe. The engagement of the latter emotions has a major effect on social regulation (Ekman & Friesen, 1971; Immordino-Yang, McColl, Damasio, & Damasio, 2009; LeDoux, 1996). Clearly all these action programs are ultimately aimed at maintaining or restoring homeostatic balance, not only at individual level-the principal task of drives and basic emotions- but, importantly, also at social levels, where social emotions play a major role by reducing the impact of negative conditions (e.g., compassion) or enhancing positive effects (e.g., admiration) (Damasio, 2001, 2011; Sanabria, 2006; Wright, 2010). …

Probability Theory Predicts That Chunking into Groups of Three or Four Items Increases the Short-Term Memory Capacity

Short-term memory allows individuals to recall stimuli, such as numbers or words, for several seconds to several minutes without rehearsal. Although the capacity of short-term memory is considered to be 7 &#177 2 items, this can be increased through a process called chunking. For example, in Japan, 11-digit cellular phone numbers and 10-digit toll free numbers are chunked into three groups of three or four digits: 090-XXXX-XXXX and 0120-XXX-XXX, respectively. We use probability theory to predict that the most effective chunking involves groups of three or four items, such as in phone numbers. However, a 16-digit credit card number exceeds the capacity of short-term memory, even when chunked into groups of four digits, such as XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. Based on these data, 16-digit credit card numbers should be sufficient for security purposes.

Age Differences in Information Processing Biases in Spider Fear

This study investigated biases in interpretation (e.g., evaluation of the dangerousness of spiders) and memory (preferential recall of spider stimuli) in spider fearful and non-fearful children (n = 59; ages 9–11) and young adults (n = 61; ages 18–21). Of interest were: (a) whether biases are present in high fear persons, and (b) whether biases can predict subjective distress and avoidance in response to a feared stimulus. Results showed that spider specific interpretation and memory biases are present in high fear adults, but not in high fear children. Only the spider specific interpretation bias significantly predicted anxious responding on its own, and did so in adults only. Findings are discussed in terms of cognitive models of anxiety, as well as developmental and methodological considerations that may have made it difficult to observe biased processing in the child sample.

Dictionaries vs concordancers: actual practice of the two different tools in EFL writing

A number of studies have suggested the possible benefits of using concordancers in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing. To date, however, there is still limited understanding of how EFL writers may make use of such tools along with dictionaries when engaging in a writing task. To better understand the question, this study investigated a class of non-English-major college students (N = 14) over a semester. Four online corpus tools, including monolingual and bilingual concordancers and collocation retrieval systems, were provided, along with two online dictionaries. After two tool-training sessions, students performed three timed-writing tasks online during three consecutive months and received individual stimulus recall interviews after each writing task. The recall interviews served as the main source of data; other data included the video clips of the writing process, student writing samples, and the researchers’ notes. The result showed that students used corpus tools and the bilingual dictionary for different purposes. They tended to use a bilingual dictionary when information on word form and word meaning was needed. When searching for information related to word usage, collocation information, and grammar patterns, they chose corpus tools more often than a bilingual dictionary. However, they also turned to corpus tools for meaning and form when the bilingual dictionary failed to provide clear word meanings, when they needed to search for word strings, and when they needed to just confirm an intuition regarding either word form or word meaning. This study provides empirical data that help to better understand how corpus tools contribute to EFL writing.

The role of controlled attention on recall in major depression

Information processing biases are hallmark features of major depressive disorder (MDD). Depressed individuals display biased memory and attention for negative material. Given that memory is highly dependent on attention for initial encoding, understanding the interplay of these processes may provide important insight into mechanisms that produce memory biases in depression. In particular, attentional control—the ability to selectively attend to task-relevant information by both inhibiting the processing of irrelevant information and disengaging attention from irrelevant material—may be one area of impairment in MDD. In the current study, clinically depressed (MDD: n = 15) and never depressed (non-MDD: n = 22) participants' line of visual gaze was assessed while participants viewed positive and negative word pairs. For each word pair, participants were instructed to attend to one word (target) and ignore one word (distracter). Free recall of study stimuli was then assessed. Depressed individuals displayed greater recall of negatively valenced target words following the task. Although there were no group differences in attentional control in the context of negative words, attention to negative targets mediated the relationship between depression status and recall of negative words. Results suggest a stronger link between attention and memory for negative material in MDD.

Task Difficulty Differentially Affects Two Measures of Processing Load: The Pupil Response During Sentence Processing and Delayed Cued Recall of the Sentences

In this study, the authors assessed the influence of masking level (29% or 71% sentence perception) and test modality on the processing load during language perception as reflected by the pupil response. In addition, the authors administered a delayed cued stimulus recall test to examine whether processing load affected the encoding of the stimuli in memory. Participants performed speech and text reception threshold tests, during which the pupil response was measured. In the cued recall test, the first half of correctly perceived sentences was presented, and participants were asked to complete the sentences. Reading and listening span tests of working memory capacity were presented as well. Regardless of test modality, the pupil response indicated higher processing load in the 29% condition than in the 71% correct condition. Cued recall was better for the 29% condition. The consistent effect of masking level on the pupil response during listening and reading support the validity of the pupil response as a measure of processing load during language perception. The absent relation between pupil response and cued recall may suggest that cued recall is not directly related to processing load, as reflected by the pupil response.

Individual Differences in Susceptibility to False Memories for Neutral and Trauma-Related Words

People with a known propensity towards false memories may be considered less credible eyewitnesses. It is therefore important to investigate individual factors related to susceptibility to false memory development. The Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) procedure involves participants remembering lists of related words. The tendency to produce critical lures – words not originally presented, but strongly related to the studied words – is considered a measure of susceptibility to false memories. Participants completed the DRM using neutral and trauma-related words along with measures of dissociation, post-traumatic cognitions and the looming cognitive style. Analyses indicated that dissociation was related to false recall for traumatic stimuli; higher levels of post-traumatic cognitions were associated with a decrease in false recognition; and looming cognitive style was related to an increase in confabulations but a decrease in false recognition. The implications of this research are discussed.

Reduced directed forgetting for negative words suggests schizophrenia-related disinhibition of emotional cues

Several psychological and neurobiological models imply that patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) are more inclined to utilize emotional cues as response determinants to the detriment of more task-appropriate cognitive or contextual cues. However, there is a lack of behavioural data from human clinical studies to support this assertion. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the performance of persons with SCZ using tasks designed to index the resolution between competing emotional and cognitive determinants of goal-directed behaviour. The current study employed a list-method, emotional directed-forgetting (DF) paradigm designed to invoke inhibitory mechanisms necessary to override emotional memory enhancement for successful task completion. Four psycholinguistically matched lists were constructed that were comprised of five negative, five positive, and five neutral words. Compared with healthy controls, individuals with SCZ showed a reduced DF effect overall. When broken down according to valence, this effect was only observed for negative words, which, in turn, resulted from reduced forgetting of list 1 words following the forget cue. These results indicate that individuals with SCZ were less able to engage strategic inhibitory mechanisms for the purpose of overriding recall of negative stimuli when tasks demand call for such action. Thus, our data support the theoretical assertion that SCZ patients have difficulty utilizing cognitive or contextual cues as determinants of goal-directed behaviour in the face of countermanding emotional cues.

Characteristics of Evoked Potential of Light and Electrical Stimulus and Comparison EEG of Recalled Stimulus with Received Stimulus

Implementing a recall paradigm without hypnosis, we use a self-made electroencephalograph to explore the differences between received and recalled stimulus. However, in recalling stimulus experiment, when EEG is ensemble averaged, evoked potential, EP at the time of the recalling may decrease because subject oneself try to recall stimulus according to same timing as received stimulus. In this research, we have confirmed that there is linearity in all places of the international 10-20 electrodes system and have solved the above problem. In addition, we report the results of measuring the EEG during recall stimulus. In recent years, Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) which operates the machine with the potential change of the brain, have been actively developed. There are two main ways to work BMI. One is passive way using evoked potential, the other is active way using motor imagery. Many researches of BMI have been studied in order to support the function of body in a various ways. Therefore, many types of way are possible to expand the possibilities of research of BMI. Therefore, for people who cannot be used in a conventional method, we focused on whether it can be used recall of evoked potential as a new method. Recent investigations about recall have explored the overlap and differences between neural representations of physical and recalled pain [1]. In this paper, authors use functional MRI (fMRI) to explore and compare nociceptive and centrally-driven pain experiences. However, they did not explore EEG of recalled stimulus. And, there is no literature about the EEG of recalled without hypnosis. In the present study, we investigate EEG during recall stimulus. However, in recalling stimulus experiment, when EEG is ensemble averaged, evoked potential (EP) at the time of the recalling may decrease because subject oneself try to recall stimulus according to same timing as stimulus interval. If EP can be used as a trigger to recall stimulus, ensemble average is expected to be applied to attract EP by recalling [2]. Therefore, at first, we investigated that there is linearity in all places of the international 10-20 electrodes system between somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) and visual evoked Koki Nakamura is with Graduate School of Engineering and Science, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan (corresponding author to provide tell & fax: +81-3-5859-8321; e-mail: ma12076@ shibaura-it.ac.jp). Akihiro Tsureishi is with Graduate School of Engineering and Science, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan (e-mail: ma12070@shibaura-it.ac.jp). Takakazu Kobayashi is with Department of Electronic Engineering, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan (e-mail: kobataka@shibaura-it.ac.jp). potential (VEP). Next, we measured the EEG during recall stimulus with result of first experiment. EEG which we used by this experiment is 20 channels and was made by us. Characteristics of the EEG is gain: 80dB, cut off frequency of low-pass, high-pass filter: 0.5Hz and 30Hz respectively. In addition, the notch filter was set to 50Hz. These characteristics are designed to be easy to measure evoked potential. A. Calculation method of linearity Three healthy male are subjects. Their age is 22-24 years old. At first we measure each evoked potential and perform addition average 500 times to find a linearity between SEP and VEP. Next, we measure evoked potential when we gave two stimulus at the same time. We assume it S-VEP. We compare the wave pattern of S-VEP and result of having added SEP and VEP by computer. We calculated a coefficient of correlation for the index of the comparison. If the coefficient of correlation is almost 1, there is linearity between two evoked potentials. In this research, we have 0.85-0.9 coefficient values, therefore we confirmed that there is linearity in all places of the international 10-20 electrodes system . B. Recall experiments At first, we give subjects the stimulus. This stimulus is that subjects recall in this experiment and we measure EEG at the same time. Next, the subjects recall the target stimulus and similarly we measure EEG. In addition, we acquire subjective evaluate of recalled intensity. Using a visual analogue scale (VAS), subjects are then instructed to evaluate the recalled intensity, measuring how close to reality it felt. We study about EEG during recall stimulus by comparing to EEG of recalling and of receiving stimulus. On the other hand we examine the effect of the difference in VAS on EEG of recall stimulus.

An Evaluation of Modality Preference Using a “Morse Code” Recall Task

Advocates of modality preference posit that individuals have a dominant sense and that when new material is presented in this preferred modality, learning is enhanced. Despite the widespread belief in this position, there is little supporting evidence. In the present study, the authors implemented a Morse code–like recall task to examine whether visual and auditory recall is moderated by modality preference. When the perceptual discriminability of visual and auditory stimuli was controlled for, there was no significant relation between (a) modality preference and (b) visual and auditory recall. The nature of the task did however effect performance. When a temporal discrimination between stimuli was required, recall for auditory stimuli was superior to recall of visual stimuli. In contrast, when the task involved a spatial discrimination, the opposite effect was observed. It is not surprising that in each recall task, sequences with a discernible pattern were recalled more accurately than were sequences that lacked any obvious pattern. The authors concluded that the ability to recall simple material is determined more by the type of stimulus than by the preferences of the individual.

Memory in autistic spectrum disorder.

Behavioral evidence concerning memory in forms of high-functioning autism (HFA) and in moderately low-functioning autism (M-LFA) is reviewed and compared. Findings on M-LFA are sparse. However, it is provisionally concluded that memory profiles in HFA and M-LFA (relative to ability-matched controls) are similar but that declarative memory impairments are more extensive in M-LFA than in HFA. Specifically, both groups have diminished memory for emotion- or person-related stimuli. Regarding memory for nonsocial stimuli, both groups probably have mental-age-appropriate nondeclarative memory, and within declarative memory, both groups have mental-age-appropriate immediate free recall of within-span or supraspan lists of unrelated items, as well as cued recall and paired associate learning. By contrast, recognition is largely unimpaired in HFA but moderately impaired in M-LFA, and free recall of meaningful or structured stimuli is moderately impaired in HFA but more severely impaired in M-LFA. Theoretical explanations of data on declarative memory in HFA identify problems in the integrative processing, or the consolidation and storage, of complex stimuli or a specific problem of recollection. Proposed neural substrates include the following: disconnectivity of primary sensory and association areas; dysfunctions of medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, or posterior parietal lobe; or combinations of these associated with neural disconnectivity. Hypothetically, perirhinal dysfunction might explain the more extensive declarative memory impairments in M-LFA. Foreseeable consequences of uneven memory abilities in HFA and M-LFA are outlined, including possible effects on language and learning in M-LFA. Finally, priorities for future research are identified, highlighting the urgent need for research on memory in lower functioning individuals.

Cued Recall and Other Cognitive Tasks to Facilitate Dementia Recognition in Primary Care

To compare the accuracy of commonly used tasks with that of the Visual Association Test (VAT), a conceptually different test involving cued recall of pictorial stimuli, in the recognition of dementia within primary care. A cross-sectional diagnostic study of concurrent validity. Twenty-nine German primary care practices. Four hundred twenty-three individuals in primary care participating in a longitudinal cohort study. Participants underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological interview. The validated clinical dementia diagnosis was used as reference standard. Index tests comprised the VAT, Mini-Cog, clock drawing, verbal fluency, episodic memory, and subjective complaints. Validity parameters were calculated; possible confounders of test performance (age, sex, education, comorbidity, depression, language) were evaluated. Twenty-one participants (5%) had dementia according to the reference standard. The VAT distinguished dementia from nondementia with a sensitivity of 95.2% (95% confidence interval (CI)=86.1-100.0), a specificity of 96.0% (95% CI=94.1-97.9), a positive predictive value (PPV) of 55.6% (95% CI=39.3-71.8), and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 99.7% (95% CI=99.2-100.0). The next-most-accurate tasks were the Mini-Cog and immediate and delayed recall. Their sensitivity and NPV are similar to those of the VAT, but their PPV and specificity were significantly lower than those of the VAT. Age and depression affected all test scores. The VAT (cued recall of pictorial material) is superior to other tasks for the recognition of dementia in terms of higher specificity and PPV. Age-specific cutoff scores may improve the validity of all tests.

Memory for emotional experiences in the context of attachment and social interaction style

Important dimensions of emotional experiences include the level of arousal elicited and the source of that arousal, yet memory for events differing on these constructs is often compared within and across studies. One important factor for emotional memory is attachment security, which predicts how parents and children relate to each other and to the world around them. The present study investigated differences in 8- to 12-year olds’ recall of emotional stimuli varied in relevance to attachment themes of separation and reunion. Moreover, memory was examined as predicted by children's attachment security, parents’ attachment avoidance and anxiety, and parental elaboration during an interaction about the laboratory experience. Results revealed that recall was best for stimuli involving separation. Moreover, recall for separation stimuli was positively predicted by children's attachment security and parental avoidance, and negatively predicted by parental anxiety and elaborative interaction style. These findings highlight the importance of considering the effect of multiple dimensions of emotional events on children's memory and how contextual factors may differentially predict those memories.