Single and Multiple Test Repetition Priming in Implicit Memory

Using a picture naming task, we compared the magnitude of repetition priming after one prior study episode (single test priming) versus multiple prior study presentations (multiple test priming). Pictures were repeated either one, two, or three times, and the interval between tests was either several minutes (blocked test) or one week (spaced test). Priming increased with additional prior presentations (beyond one) in the multiple test format. In addition, single test priming decreased within one hour after initial exposure, with little change from one hour to two weeks. Priming was unaffected by a simultaneous recognition task, suggesting that picture naming is an implicit task relatively immune from explicit memory contamination.     

Auditory Long term Memory: Repetition Priming of Voice Recognition

Two experiments examined repetition priming in the recognition of famous voices. In Experiment 1, reaction times for fame decisions to famous voice samples were shorter than in an unprimed condition, when voices were primed by a different voice sample of the same person having been presented in an earlier phase of the experiment. No effect of voice repetition was observed for non-famous voices. In Experiment 2, it was investigated whether this priming effect is voice-specific or whether it is related to post-perceptual processes in person recognition. Recognizing a famous voice was again primed by having earlier heard a different voice sample of that person. Although an earlier exposure to that person's name did not cause any priming, there was some indication of priming following an earlier exposure to that person's face. Finally, earlier exposure to the identical voice sample (as compared to a different voice sample from the same person) caused a considerable bias towards responding 'famous'-i.e. performance benefits for famous but costs for nonfamous voices. The findings suggestthat (1) repetition priming invoice recognition primarily involves the activation of perceptual representations of voices, and (2) it is important to determine the conditions in which priming causes bias effects that need to be disentangled from performance benefits.     

Spatial Working Memory in Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment: Effects of Task Load and Contextual Cueing

ABSTRACT

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is characterized by episodic memory deficits, while aspects of working memory may also be implicated, but studies into this latter domain are scarce and results are inconclusive. Using a computerized search paradigm, this study compares 25 young adults, 25 typically aging older adults and 15 amnestic MCI patients as to their working-memory capacities for object-location information and potential differential effects of memory load and additional context cues. An age-related deficit in visuospatial working-memory maintenance was found that became more pronounced with increasing task demands. The MCI group additionally showed reduced maintenance of bound information, i.e., object-location associations, again especially at elevated memory load. No effects of contextual cueing were found. The current findings indicate that working memory should be considered when screening patients for suspected MCI and monitoring its progression.     

Working Memory in Children Predicts Performance on a Gambling Task

ABSTRACT. The authors investigated whether working memory (WM) plays a significant role in the development of decision making in children, operationalized by the Children's Gambling Task (CGT). A total of 105 children aged 6–7, 8–9, and 10–11 years old carried out the CGT. Children aged 6–7 years old were found to have a lower performance than older children, which shows that the CGT is sensitive to participant's age. The hypothesis that WM plays a significant role in decision making was then tested following two approaches: (a) an experimental approach, comparing between groups the performance on the CGT in a control condition (the CGT only was administered) to that in a double task condition (participants had to carry out a recall task in addition to the CGT); (b) an interindividual approach, probing the relationship between CGT performance and performance on tasks measuring WM efficiency. The between-groups approach evidenced a better performance in the control group. Moreover, the interindividual approach showed that the higher the participants’ WM efficiency was, the higher their performance in the CGT was. Taken together, these two approaches yield converging results that support the hypothesis that WM plays a significant role in decision making in children.     

工作记忆负荷对注意缺陷多动障碍儿童过滤新异分心刺激能力的影响*

关于启动工作记忆负荷的强度与过滤分心刺激这两种认知资源的关系一直存在争论;并且对ADHD儿童来说,新异的分心刺激是提高了唤醒水平,还是干扰了任务进程也一直存在争论。本研究选取了ADHD儿童32名,正常儿童35名。采用视听跨通道oddball任务,通过操作视觉任务工作记忆负荷的高低,以及分心刺激与目标刺激之间的时间间隔,探讨不同工作记忆负荷对 ADHD 儿童过滤新异分心刺激能力的影响。结果发现：(1)在低工作记忆负荷条件下,分心刺激对两组儿童都起到了唤醒作用;在高工作记忆负荷条件下,分心刺激影响了两组儿童对任务本身的加工过程,使其判断的精确性下降。但是 ADHD 儿童受到的影响更大,表明其过滤分心刺激的能力落后。(2)当分心刺激与目标刺激同时出现时, ADHD儿童受到的干扰最大;但随着二者时间间隔的延长,并没有出现间隔越长干扰效应越小的趋势。在本研究条件下,得出以下结论：(1)两组儿童对跨通道新异分心刺激的过滤受到目标任务的工作记忆负荷强度的影响。(2)适度延长分心刺激与目标刺激之间的时间间隔可能会帮助ADHD的注意回归。     

Spatial Working Memory and Reference Memory of Brown Norway and WAG Rats in a Holeboard Discrimination Task

To determine whether working memory (WM) and reference memory (RM) represent different aspects of spatial memory, albino WAG rats and the pigmented Brown Norway rats were tested in the acquisition, retention, and reversal of spatial orientation tasks in the holeboard, which allows the simultaneous assessment of WM and RM. Putative nonmnemonic factors, such as the speed of visiting the holes or the development of a search strategy (preferred sequence of visiting the baited set of holes) were also evaluated because they might influence WM and RM performance. The WM performance of Brown Norway rats was generally worse than that of the WAG rats. The reverse was true for the RM performance. Correlation analysis supported the notion that these two measures are independent. Differences in the speed of visiting the holes and in the development of a preferred sequence of visiting the baited set of holes could not explain the strain differences in WM and RM performance. Because spatial WM and RM appear to be independent measures in the holeboard, this task could be used to investigate whether different neural substrate(s) underlie these two memory components.     

客体工作记忆任务中大脑皮层活动的记忆负荷效应

利用128导事件相关电位技术,采用延迟匹配任务的实验范式,测查了20名正常被试完成不同负荷客体任务时的皮层慢电位（slow cortical potentials,简称sp成分）,实验发现：背侧前额叶在刺激呈现后的700ms到1400ms出现记忆负荷效应,高负荷任务诱发的sp成分显著负于低负荷任务;低负荷任务诱发的sp成分在左前额区（500~1800ms）、左前额-中央区（700~1800ms）、左中央-顶叶区（1000~1400s和1800~4800ms）、右前额区（1800~4800ms）和右前额-中央区（1400~4800ms）显著负于高负荷任务,出现记忆负荷效应,但这种负荷效应在左右大脑半球所反映的心理意义可能不同     

Cross-domain Repetition Priming in Person Recognition

Three experiments examining repetition priming of personal names are reported. In each experiment, faces are used as prime stimuli and people's names as the test stimuli. Experiment 1 fails to demonstrate priming from faces to names when the same task-a familiar/ unfamiliar judgement-is made in prime and test phases. Experiment 2 shows that priming is observed when the same semantic judgement (British/ American) is made in prime and test phases. Experiment 3 shows that priming is observed when different semantic judgements (dead/ alive, British/ American) are made at prime and test phase. These results suggest that transfer appropriate processing cannot provide the sole account of repetition priming in person recognition. Instead, the results are interpreted in terms of a structural account of priming, embedded within an interactive activation and competition model of person recognition.     

Repeated Repetition Priming in Face Recognition

Prior exposure to an item can facilitate subsequent recognition of that item. This effect, known as repetition priming, has been found for the recognition of many stimuli including faces (Bruce & Young, 1986). Three experiments are reported, which investigated whether repetition priming is limited to the first repetition or whether subsequent repetitions continually act to increase the speed of face processing. Experiment 1 demonstrated that repetition can reduce categorization time for faces after the first exposure, and this effect is independent of practice effects. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the relationship between reaction time and number of repetitions fits a negative power function. Experiment 3 investigated how delay affects this power function. Delay was found to decrease the negative gradient of the power curve. The effects of priming and delay are discussed in terms of the predictions made by Burton's (1994) interactive activation and competition with learning (IACL) model of face recognition and accounts of automaticity.     

A Sex Difference on a Novel Spatial Working Memory Task in Humans

Neurophysiological and behavioral evidence suggests that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) may be sexually differentiated in nonhuman primates. The present study examined whether there are sex differences in working memory in humans that might reflect sexual differentiation of human PFC. Male and female undergraduates were administered a novel multitrial spatial working memory task (SPWM) and a verbal working memory task. In three experiments, females committed significantly fewer working memory errors and took significantly less time to reach criterion than males on the SPWM task. The female advantage was not accounted for by differences in general intellectual ability, attention, perceptual speed, incidental memory, or speed of verbal access. In Study 3, a sex difference was also observed on a measure of verbal working memory. The findings suggest that some prefrontal functions may be sexually differentiated in humans.     

工作记忆在归纳推理能力老化中的作用

目的：考查工作记忆系统中与目标保持密切相关的成分——工作记忆容量、转换和抑制功能在归纳推理能力老化中的作用。方法：招募年轻和老年被试共117名,接受图形推理测验、数字工作记忆广度测验、任务转换和Stroop测验。结果：工作记忆容量在归纳推理能力老化中起到显著的中介作用,而转换功能的中介作用则未达到显著。结论：增龄导致了工作记忆容量的衰退,进而造成了归纳推理能力的老化。     

工作记忆年老化研究进展

工作记忆(workingmemory,WM)是由Baddeley和Hitch(1974)在短时记忆基础上提出的一个记忆系统。工作记忆系统包含一个中央执行(centralex-ecutive)控制机制,以及至少两个从属的子系统：负责言语材料暂时存储和处理的语音环路(phonologi-calloop)和负责视觉材料暂时存储和处理的视空间缓冲区(visuo-spatialsketchpad)。WM为复杂的认知任务(如学习、理解和推理等)提供临时的存储空间和加工信息,被心理学家视为认知功能的枢纽。     

The Predictive Utility of a Working Memory Span Task Depends on Processing Demand and the Cognitive Task

The relationship between performance in working memory (WM) span tasks, scholastic skills and fluid intelligence was investigated to determine how WM span is related to higher order cognition. The predictive utility of two WM span tasks differing in the demand of the processing task was studied with controlled presentation times and a broad set of academic criterion tasks. Sixty‐eight adolescents (mean age 16 years) completed two WM span tasks, Raven's Progressive Matrices and several scholastic performance measures. The results showed that the more demanding WM span task predicted fluid intelligence, but did not contribute uniquely in explaining scholastic performance. In contrast, the less demanding WM task predicted scholastic performance. The results suggest that the strength of the relation between WM performance and higher order cognition varies in conjunction with both the demand of the WM span task and the type of higher order cognition measure.Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

启动和重复抑制:启动神经机制的研究述评

启动是经验对当前任务的易化作用.重复抑制是刺激重复导致的皮层神经活动减少.大量研究表明启动与重复抑制密切相关.该文以理论假设对启动研究结果的解释效力为依据,对近期认知领域内有关启动和重复抑制的研究进行梳理,评介三种理论解释启动神经机制的适用性和局限性.指出未来研究可以考虑细化启动成分和重复抑制的具体关系,并尝试在此基础上建立神经元、重复抑制和行为启动的整合理论.这将对启动神经机制的理解具有重要意义.     

Age-Related Influences on Repetition Priming in the Verb Generation Task: Examining the Role of Response Competition

ABSTRACT

The identification-production framework suggests that aging is associated with a decline in production forms of repetition priming, particularly under test conditions that maximize response competition. The present study examined this prediction by testing young and healthy older adults in a single-encoding version of the verb generation task in which some items had one dominant verb response (low competition) or had no such dominant response (high competition). Further analyses examined whether priming and error rates were related to performance on neuropsychological tests purported to measure frontal lobe functioning. Priming was invariant across age groups and was not related to frontal lobe status in older adults, but frontal lobe status did predict task performance: low-frontal older adults made more errors than high-frontal older adults, particularly for high-competition items and items with high association strength. These results are not consistent with the identification-production framework, but are consistent with the conclusions that (a) aging is associated with invariance in the processes that support repetition priming in the verb generation task and (b) frontal lobe status in aging is related to verb generation performance.     

工作记忆中央执行功能的老化研究

采用注意焦点、任务转换、强制刷新三种任务范式分别测量了60岁以上老年人和20岁左右年轻人的注意焦点功能、内容调控功能、任务管理功能.分析三种工作记忆中央执行功能的年龄差异.结果发现:1.注意焦点没有表现出明显的年龄差异;任务转换和强制刷新成绩在青年和老年被试之间差异显著.2.注意焦点成绩与任务转换成绩.强制刷新成绩之间无显著相关,任务转换成绩与强制刷新成绩呈现中度相关.研究结果表明,工作记忆的执行功能是一个包括多种相对独立子成分的系统,不同执行功能老化轨迹不尽相同.     

Production and Identification Repetition Priming in AmnesticMild Cognitive Impairment

ABSTRACT

The experiment reported here examined implicit memory function, as measured through repetition priming, in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to examine whether impairments exist in this aspect of memory function. Young adults, healthy older controls, Alzheimer's disease patients, and MCI participants were asked to perform two types of implicit memory tests (word stem completion and threshold identification repetition priming tasks), as well as a recognition test for studied items. As expected, young adults performed better than the other participants on the recognition test and the word stem completion task; there was equivalent priming across groups on the word identification task. While both the older control and MCI participants showed lower levels of priming on the word stem completion task relative to the young adults, the magnitude of priming was equivalent for these two groups, and reliably greater than that of the dementia participants. These results suggest that not all aspects of memory function are impaired in MCI relative to healthy aging.     

类皮亚杰数量守恒任务中的负启动效应

采用负启动研究范式,考察九岁儿童在类皮亚杰数量守恒任务中的负启动效应。实验一重复了Houdé等人的实验过程,发现我国儿童在解决类皮亚杰数量守恒任务中也存在负启动效应,负启动量为310.9ms;实验二改进了Houdé等人研究的实验材料,排除实验材料形状的干扰,发现依然存在负启动效应,负启动量为200.04ms。实验结果表明,成功完成类皮亚杰数量守恒任务需要认知抑制过程的参与。     

Reading Comprehension in Aging: The Role of Working Memory and Metacomprehension

This study examines age-related differences in reading comprehension analyzing the role of working memory and metacomprehension components in a sample of young (18–30 years), young-old (65–74 years), and old-old (75–85 years) participants. Text comprehension abilities were measured by a standardized test, including two texts: a narrative and an expository text. The elderly's reading comprehension performance, when compared to the norm, emerged to be adequate. More specifically, the young-old showed an equivalent level of comprehension as the young adults for the narrative text. However, a clear age-related decline was found in the case of the expository text. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that working memory capacity, as well as different metacomprehension components but not age, are the key aspects in explaining the different patterns of changes in the comprehension of narrative and expository texts.     

任务切换中的反应重复效应

在任务重复试次中反应的重复对反应有促进作用,而在任务切换试次中反应的重复对反应有阻碍作用,此现象即为反应重复效应（response repetition effects, RRE）。RRE普遍存在不同任务切换范式中,是一种抽象反应编码重复效应,受刺激效价和一致性、反应编码重复度和准备时间等因素影响。其理论解释主要有重构论、启动-抑制论、以及情境检索说。现有研究初步表明前额叶皮层是RRE的关键脑区,但RRE的认知神经机制及理论解释还有待进一步探讨。