Recognition Of Memories Research Articles

Temporal dynamics of negative emotional memory reprocessing during sleep

Memory reprocessing during sleep is a well-established phenomenon in numerous studies. However, it is unclear whether the intensity of memory reprocessing is consistently maintained throughout the night or exhibits dynamic changes. This study investigates the temporal dynamics of negative emotional memory reprocessing during sleep, with a specific focus on slow oscillation (SO)-spindle coupling and its role in memory reprocessing. In the first experiment (N = 40, mean age = 22.5 years), we detected the negative emotional memory reprocessing strength in each sleep cycle, we found that the 2nd sleep cycle after negative emotional memory learning constitute the most sensitive window for memory reprocessing, furthermore, SO-spindle coupling signals in this window plays a role in stabilizing negative emotional memory. To verify the role of SO-spindle coupling in negative emotional memory reprocessing, we utilized transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to disrupt SO-spindle coupling during the 2nd sleep cycle (N = 21, mean age = 19.3 years). Notably, the outcomes of the tACS intervention demonstrated a significant reduction in the recognition of negative emotional memories. These findings offer new insights into the mechanisms that regulate emotional memory consolidation during sleep and may have implications for addressing psychiatric disorders associated with pathological emotional memory.

The Power of Memes in Crisis: the potential for emotional contagion of memes during a crisis

The subject of the research is the study of the influence of memes during crises. Internet memes as a communication tool and new media languages are able to create and spread emotions that can promote social cohesion, as well as increase social confidence, which is considered vital during crises. Given the importance of Internet memes as a powerful tool to strengthen social cohesion and trust in difficult times, it is important to give an idea of how memes and emotional contagion can be used in crisis communication. The aim of the study is to provide a more complete understanding of the role of Internet memes, especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in emotionally affected Iranian social media users. To achieve this goal, the study used a mixed-method approach, content analysis including COVID-19 memes on Iranian social networks and a quantitative survey using a questionnaire developed by the researchers. The statistical sample of the study consisted of 150 Iranian social media users who were randomly selected. The novelty of the research lies in the study of the function of memes in crisis communication and emotional contagion, especially in the context of Iran. The study expands the boundaries and offers new insights into how memes can be an effective tool to strengthen social cohesion and increase trust in difficult times. The focus of the study on the Iranian context also adds to its novelty, as it provides specific information that is not available in the existing literature. The study provides empirical support to politicians, especially Iranians, in tracking public opinion on critical topics, or in managing collective emotions via the Internet and stimulating and mobilizing public action by individuals. Memes can be used for crisis communication and public participation. The results of the study indicate the widespread use and recognition of memories in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of income tax information for expressing feelings and interest. Emotional contagion through memes is moderate and mostly mental, with respondents believing that memes are more effective, fast, and desirable than other types of messages and posts.

Dementia, music, and fields of care

ABSTRACT The number of elderly people is rising in many countries and a marked increase in people susceptible to dementia can be expected. Research in the field of arts and health shows that culture and art can have a positive effect for dementia sufferers. The author takes his starting point in earlier research in this field and shows that systematic use of biographically adapted music and song can have a positive effect for dementia sufferers. Music and song can provide pleasure, activity, merriment, reduced uneasiness, and emotions, which to a certain degree help them to awaken and recognize memories. He examines the relationship between place as fields of care, music, dementia, and memory, and addresses how humanistic geography and awareness of place may contribute to increased understanding of the effect that use of music and song can have for alleviating suffering. The main findings are that biographically adapted music and song can have positive effects in reawakening and recognition of memories for people suffering from dementia, and through memories sufferers can maintain emotional ties to places embodied in their earlier life. The author concludes that a humanistic geographical approach could indicate the importance of place and home for dementia sufferers.

Bilateral eye movements disrupt the involuntary perceptual representation of trauma-related memories

Bilateral eye movement (EM) is a critical component in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the role of bilateral EM in alleviating trauma-related symptoms is unclear. Here we hypothesize that bilateral EM selectively disrupts the perceptual representation of traumatic memories. We used the trauma film paradigm as an analog for trauma experience. Nonclinical participants viewed trauma films followed by a bilateral EM intervention or a static Fixation period as a control. Perceptual and semantic memories for the film were assessed with different measures. Results showed a significant decrease in perceptual memory recognition shortly after the EM intervention and subsequently in the frequency and vividness of film-related memory intrusions across one week, relative to the Fixation condition. The EM intervention did not affect the explicit recognition of semantic memories, suggesting a dissociation between perceptual and semantic memory disruption. Furthermore, the EM intervention effectively reduced psychophysiological affective responses, including the skin conductance response and pupil size, to film scenes and subjective affective ratings of film-related intrusions. Together, bilateral EMs effectively reduce the perceptual representation and affective response of trauma-related memories. Further theoretical developments are needed to elucidate the mechanism of bilateral EMs in trauma treatment.

What are the neural correlates of dissociative amnesia? A systematic review of the functional neuroimaging literature.

Dissociative amnesia is an emblematic psychiatric condition in which patients experience massive memory loss ranging from focal to global amnesia. This condition remains poorly understood and this review aims to investigate the neuroanatomical feature of this disease. We conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature available on PubMed, up to December 1, 2022, using a combination of keywords referring to dissociative amnesia. We included every scientific report involving patients undergoing a functional imaging procedure. Twenty-two studies met our inclusion criteria (gathering 49 patients). Only one was a controlled study with a large sample. The other 21 were case reports and case series. In resting state, neuroimaging studies mostly showed a hypo-activated right inferolateral prefrontal cortex, associated with limbic hypoactivity and lesser activation of the hippocampal and para-hippocampal structures. The patients also presented abnormal patterns of cerebral activation when performing memory tasks. When testing recognition of memories from the amnestic period, patients showed increased activation across temporal areas (hippocampal and para-hippocampal gyri) and the limbic network. When trying to recollect memories from an amnestic period compared to a non-amnestic period, patients failed to activate these structures efficiently. Most of these patterns tended to return to normal when symptoms resolved. This review identified a paucity of controlled studies in the field of dissociative amnesia neuroimaging, which restricts the extrapolation of results. Patients with dissociative amnesia present a broad prefronto-temporo-limbic network dysfunction. Some of the brain areas implicated in this network might represent potential targets for innovative treatments.

Anosmia in COVID-19 could be associated with long-term deficits in the consolidation of procedural and verbal declarative memories.

Long-COVID describes the long-term effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In long-COVID patients, neuropsychological alterations are frequently reported symptoms. Research points to medial temporal lobe dysfunction and its association with anosmia in long-COVID patients. This study aims to investigate the acquisition and consolidation of declarative and procedural memory in long-COVID patients and to explore whether anosmia is related to these dissociated memory functions. Forty-two long-COVID participants and 30 controls (C) were recruited. The sample of long-COVID patients was divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of anosmia, group A and group NA, respectively. Objective performance in verbal declarative memory (Paired-Associate Learning, PAL), procedural memory (Mirror Tracing Test, MTT), general cognitive function (Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale), psychomotor speed, and incidental learning (Digit Symbol Substitution Test) were assessed and compared among the A, NA, and C groups. Long-term retention of PAL and MTT were assessed 24 h after acquisition. Lower scores in general cognition, psychomotor speed, and sustained attention were found in A and NA compared with C. However, incidental learning, both cue-guided and free-recalled, was diminished in group A compared with C, with no differences with group NA. General cognition and incidental learning were related to declarative memory function exclusively in long-COVID groups. Long-COVID groups presented lower long-term retention of verbal declarative memory than controls in recall tests but no differences in recognition tests. No group differences were found in the acquisition of procedural memory. However, long-term retention of this memory was worse in group A as compared to the NA and C groups, respectively, when errors and time of execution were considered. Findings support that consolidation of both procedural and declarative memories is more affected than the acquisition of these memories in long-COVID patients, who are also more vulnerable to deficits in delayed recall than in recognition of declarative memories. Deficits in the consolidation of procedural memory and immediate recall of declarative information are especially relevant in long-COVID participants with anosmia. This indicates that anosmia in COVID-19 could be associated with a long-term dysfunction of the limbic system.

Counter-majoritarian mechanisms in local self-government: a view from Russia

Through a documentary methodology, the article analyzes the main theoretical, practical, and problematic legal issues related to the functioning of the counter-majority mechanisms existing in the Russian local self-government system. The study proposes a set of legal measures aimed at improving the content of existing counter-majoritarian legal structures and seeks at the same time to introduce new ones to bring Russian municipal legislation into place to bring Russian municipal legislation into place. It is concluded that the thesis of the system of tyranny of the majority (majority democracy) at the local level cannot be recognized as a democratic and stable legal structure for the application of local self-government. Around the world, there is a fairly long process of replacing the concept of majority democracy with the concept of participatory democracy that involves the interaction of all population groups and the search for compromises between different social communities, through a balance of respect and recognition of memories of all kinds.

Transcranial direct current stimulation over the left anterior temporal lobe during memory retrieval differentially affects true and false recognition in the DRM task.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of non-invasive brain stimulation that has been used to modulate human brain activity and cognition. One area which has not yet been extensively explored using tDCS is the generation of false memories. In this study, we combined the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) task with stimulation of the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) during retrieval. This area has been shown to be involved in semantic processing in general and retrieval of false memories in the DRM paradigm in particular. During stimulation, 0.7mA were applied via a 9cm² electrode over the left ATL, with the 35cm² return electrode placed over the left deltoid. We contrasted the effects of cathodal, anodal, and sham stimulation, which were applied in the recognition phase of the experiment on a sample of 78 volunteers. Results showed impaired recognition of true memories after both anodal and cathodal stimulation in comparison to sham stimulation, suggesting a reduced signal-to-noise ratio. In addition, the results revealed enhanced false recognition of concept lure items during cathodal stimulation compared to anodal stimulation, indicating a polarity-dependent impact of tDCS on false memories in the DRM task. The pathway by which tDCS modulated false recognition remains unclear: stimulation may have changed the activation of irrelevant lures or affected the weighting and monitoring of lure activations. Nevertheless, these results are a first step towards using brain stimulation to decrease false memories. Practical implications of the findings for real-life settings, for example, in the courtroom, need to be addressed in future work.

Sleep differentially impacts involuntary intrusions and voluntary recognitions of lab-analogue traumatic memories.

Despite the critical role of sleep in memory and emotion processing, large remains unknown regarding how sleep influences trauma-related symptoms arising from maladaptive memory/emotional processes, such as those among patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. Employing a trauma film paradigm, we investigated how post-trauma sleep versus sleep deprivation influenced involuntary intrusions and voluntary recognition of traumatic memories. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to sleep or total sleep deprivation group following experimental trauma induction. Participants were assessed with: (a) lab-based and 7-day diary-based involuntary intrusions; (b) voluntary recognitions of traumatic memories 12-hr and 7-day post-trauma induction; and (c) post-traumatic stress disorder-like symptoms measured by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. We found that compared with sleep deprivation, slept participants experienced fewer traumatic intrusions across 7 days, reported lower emotional hyperarousal, and showed more accurate recognition of trauma-related stimuli. Moreover, higher subjective sleep quality was associated with fewer intrusions only in the sleep group, while a reversed pattern emerged in the sleep deprivation group. These results provide novel evidence supporting the therapeutic benefits of sleep in protecting mental well-being from trauma exposure. To the extent that sleep modulates trauma-related symptoms, sleep can be conceived as the potential target for early interventions among trauma victims.

O movimento argentino pelos direitos humanos: um estado da questão (1985-2019)

Resumo: O objetivo do nosso artigo é traçar um estado da questão dos estudos sobre o movimento argentino pelos direitos humanos para compreender de que maneira se produziu uma narrativa histórica que vincula a luta em defesa dos direitos humanos e a resistência durante os anos da mais recente ditadura civil-militar na Argentina (1976-1983). Essa narrativa histórica surgiu ainda nos anos 1980, em análises que buscavam delimitar quais atores faziam parte do chamado movimento de direitos humanos. No final dos anos 1990, a incorporação da memória como tema de investigação iniciou um processo de questionamento sobre os imaginários, práticas e discursos que constituíram a luta pelos direitos humanos. Nos últimos anos, fruto sobretudo do acesso a acervos documentais e à utilização da metodologia da História Oral, notamos o reconhecimento de outras memórias, histórias e perspectivas que ampliaram o nosso entendimento sobre a configuração da luta dos direitos humanos na Argentina.
 Palavras chave: Argentina; história recente; movimentos sociais; direitos humanos.

Memorias, olvidos y silencios en las propuestas museográficas en el espacio de memoria “La Perla”

El artículo analiza el proceso de selección y consagración de memorias en un caso particular: el del Espacio para la Memoria que funciona en lo que durante la última dictadura en Argentina (1976-1983) fue el Centro Clandestino de Detención (CCD) conocido como “La Perla” en la provincia de Córdoba, Argentina. El mismo analiza las funciones que fue asumiendo el lugar: CCD, cuartel militar, espacio de memorias, y los valores que diferentes grupos y el estado le adjudicaron a lo largo de su historia. A partir de allí, aborda las propuestas elaboradas para su institucionalización como espacio de memoria, la elaboración del guion del museo de sitio y las muestras exhibidas, profundizando en el juego de memorias, olvidos y silencios que configuran un relato sobre el pasado reciente. A partir de la microescala del caso específico, el artículo busca contribuir a pensar problemas más generales relacionados con la encrucijada entre estos espacios, las memorias que proponen y sus modos de representación cuando se anclan en materialidades.

Role of Post-Learning Sleep in the Recognition Memory for Faces and Scenes

Research suggests that post-learning sleep benefits recognition of declarative memories when compared with partial sleep deprivation. The deprivation of sleep hinders with the transfer of hippocampal memories to the neocortex while sleep promotes this transfer. The present study tries to evaluate whether recognition memory for faces and scenes are benefitted by post-learning sleep over sleep deprivation. Additionally, we were interested in testing the effects of stimuli (face, scene) valence (positive, negative, neutral) on recognition memory. The present study used a repeated measure design where each subject was tested across nights of sleep and sleep deprivation. Twelve males categorized pictures of faces and scenes as valence or neutral at learning that was followed by eight hours of sleep or sleep deprivation. Thirty-six hours later, following a night of recovery sleep, subjects returned for a retrieval session where they made old/new judgments for face and scene stimuli. The result of the experiment suggests that post learning sleep improves recognition memory for test stimuli and that faces significantly better recognized than scenes. Additionally, results from the present experiment suggest that valence of stimuli (face, scene) does not play a decisive role in the recognition of faces and scenes at retrieval.

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories.

Associated word list procedures can elicit false memories in predictable ways by inducing associative processing, thus making it harder to monitor the accuracy of memories. The purpose of the method presented here was to induce false memories using lists of either semantically or phonologically related words and to assess the effects of imagery instructions on the recall and recognition of those false memories. To do this, we used a modified version of the Deese Roediger McDermott (DRM) paradigm. We adapted word lists from previous DRM studies to suit imagery procedures and created an automated presentation to present the word lists in classroom settings. We then recruited undergraduate classes and instructed some of the classes to create mental images of the list words as they were being presented, while instructing the other classes to simply remember the words. The automated presentation presented word lists to participants, one word at a time, alternating between phonologically and semantically related lists. Participants used paper-pencil recall packets to immediately recall list items, complete a distractor activity, and take a subsequent final recognition test. Often, participants immediately recalled and later recognized words that were related to the list items but were not actually presented; these are known as critical lures and indicate a false memory. The protocol detailed here describes a four-step procedure - list presentation, immediate recall, distractor phase, and final recognition - that can assess the effects of list type and imagery instruction within the DRM paradigm on memory. The automated nature of the list presentation provides the ability to systematically vary variables of interest, and the paper and pencil method of data collection affords an easily accessible method for collecting data in classroom settings. The protocol also offers options to modify the procedure to a more traditional DRM paradigm without imagery and/or list type manipulations. The use of this protocol can provide results relevant to both classroom learning and cognitive science principles.

Integration of Semantic and Episodic Memories.

This paper describes the integration of semantic and episodic memory (EM) models and the benefits of such integration. Semantic memory (SM) is used as a foundation of knowledge and concept learning, and is needed for the operation of any cognitive system. EM retains personal experiences stored based on their significance-it is supported by the SM, and in return, it supports SM operations. Integrated declarative memories are critical for cognitive system development, yet very little research has been done to develop their computational models. We considered structural self-organization of both semantic and episodic memories with a symbolic representation of input events. Sequences of events are stored in EM and are used to build associations in SM. We demonstrated that integration of semantic and episodic memories improves the native operation of both types of memories. Experimental results are presented to illustrate how the two memories complement each other by improving recognition, prediction, and context-based generalization of individual memories.

Retrieved emotional context influences hippocampal involvement during recognition of neutral memories

It is well documented that emotionally arousing experiences are better remembered than mundane events. This is thought to occur through hippocampus-amygdala crosstalk during encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. Here we investigated whether emotional events (context) also cause a memory benefit for simultaneously encoded non-arousing contents and whether this effect persists after a delay via recruitment of a similar hippocampus-amygdala network. Participants studied neutral pictures (content) encoded together with either an arousing or a neutral sound (that served as context) in two study sessions three days apart. Memory was tested in a functional magnetic resonance scanner directly after the second study session. Pictures recognised with high confidence were more often thought to have been associated with an arousing than with a neutral context, irrespective of the veridical source memory. If the retrieved context was arousing, an area in the hippocampus adjacent to the amygdala exhibited heightened activation and this area increased functional connectivity with the parahippocampal gyrus, an area known to process pictures of scenes. These findings suggest that memories can be shaped by the retrieval act. Memory structures may be recruited to a higher degree when an arousing context is retrieved, and this may give rise to confident judgments of recognition for neutral pictures even after a delay.

Differential Effects of Aging on Autobiographical Memory Tasks

This study examined the role of aging in the recall and recognition of autobiographical memories. Young and older adults submitted personal events during a period of 3 months to an Internet diary. After this period, they performed a cued-recall test based on what, who, and where retrieval cues. Three months later, participants completed a recognition test in which the descriptions of half the entries were altered. The results indicated no age differences on the cued-recall task, but several age differences on the recognition task. Older adults were more susceptible to accept altered entries as authentic, particularly when these changes had been subtle. However, despite their lower performance, older adults were more confident with the accuracy of their decisions. The results suggest that different mechanisms underlie the recall and recognition of autobiographical memories, and that only tasks that subtly tap into source monitoring abilities are affected by cognitive aging processes.

Mindfulness and False-Memories: The Impact of Mindfulness Practice on the DRM Paradigm

ABSTRACTMindfulness practice is the cultivation of awareness to the present moment and has been shown in recent years to have beneficial effects on cognition. However, to date, the data regarding the impact of mindfulness on memory—and specifically on memory distortions—is scarce and incomplete. The present study was aimed to examine whether mindfulness practice would have an effect on true and false memories. To this end, the effect of mindfulness meditation practice on memory performance was examined in two experiments in which false memories were provoked using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm (Roediger & McDermott, 1995). In Experiment 1, college students were randomly divided into either a 5-week mindfulness-practice group (n = 29) or a waitlist control group (n = 22). In Experiment 2, college students were randomly divided into either a brief mindfulness session (n = 21) or a mind-wandering control group (n = 19). The results indicated that mindfulness increased the recognition of true memories with no effect on spontaneous false-memories, yet increased the rate of provoked false-memories. These findings are discussed in terms of memory sensitivity and response bias, and it is argued that mindfulness may have a lesser effect on encoding processes than previously suggested.

フランスによるアルジェリアに関連する記憶の承認

フランスによるアルジェリアに関連する記憶の承認

Effects of a daytime nap on the recognition of neutral and emotional memories

Background: Memory can be facilitated by the emotional strength of encoded information. Offline consolidation during sleep (post-learning sleep, even as little as a nap,) also modulates declarative memory processing. Previous studies have investigated the influence of sleep, especially rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, on emotional memory facilitation in humans. However, the interaction between emotional valence asymmetry and nap-dependent memory consolidation is poorly understood. Objective: To investigate the effects of post-learning nap on the recognition of neutral and emotional memories. Method: Ten healthy male participants completed a study session involving 240 emotional (negative and positive stimuli with different arousal magnitudes) and neutral pictures of people, animals, objects, and landscapes. Participants were then immediately tested on the visual recognition performance, in which they need to make recognition judgments on a subset of previously seen (old) pictures and intermixed unseen (new) pictures containing similar emotional and semantic contents. Three hours after this initial baseline test, one-half of the participants obtained a 90-minute nap opportunity, recorded with electroencephalography (EEG), whereas the others remained awake. Participants were again tested on the remaining old and new pictures at 6 hours after learning session. Results: The results revealed a beneficial effect of delayed post-learning nap on the recognition of neutral declarative memory. The extent of neutral memory facilitation was negatively correlated with the amount of stages-2 NREM. Unlike previous studies, the recognition performance for negative emotional items with high arousal condition in the Nap group deteriorated across an offline time rich in stage-2 NREM sleep. However, both groups showed similar decrease in recognition accuracy for positive stimuli. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that declarative memories containing distinct emotional valence and arousal are consolidated differentially during wakefulness and sleep. Under certain conditions, a daytime nap rich in stage-2 NREM sleep may play an important role on these performance differences. Keywords: EEG, emotion, nap, NREM, recognition memory

The very same thing: Extending the object token concept to incorporate causal constraints on individual identity.

The contributions of feature recognition, object categorization, and recollection of episodic memories to the re-identification of a perceived object as the very same thing encountered in a previous perceptual episode are well understood in terms of both cognitive-behavioral phenomenology and neurofunctional implementation. Human beings do not, however, rely solely on features and context to re-identify individuals; in the presence of featural change and similarly-featured distractors, people routinely employ causal constraints to establish object identities. Based on available cognitive and neurofunctional data, the standard object-token based model of individual re-identification is extended to incorporate the construction of unobserved and hence fictive causal histories (FCHs) of observed objects by the pre-motor action planning system. It is suggested that functional deficits in the construction of FCHs are associated with clinical outcomes in both autism spectrum disorders and later-stage stage Alzheimer’s disease.