The effects of presentation rate and retention interval on memory for items and associations in younger adults: A simulation of older adults’ associative memory deficit

Older adults show an associative deficit in episodic memory compared to younger adults. Previous research suggests both strategic and automatic binding deficits contribute to older adults’ poorer memory performance. Using behavioral manipulations designed to affect strategic and automatic binding of associations, three experiments attempted to simulate an associative deficit in younger adults. In these experiments participants learned face-scene pairs and then were given item and associative recognition memory tests. We manipulated the time allotted at encoding and retrieval to simulate strategic deficits, and the length of the retention interval to simulate automatic deficits. Results indicate that both manipulations separately contribute to a differential decline in associative memory, similar to the one shown by older adults, especially as reflected in the differential increase in false alarm rate in the associative memory test more than in the item memory test. Considerations of possible underlying brain mechanisms are discussed.     

感知觉加工与概念加工对联结记忆中图片优势效应的影响

本研究采用联结再认范式考察联结记忆中感知觉水平和概念加工程度对图片优势效应的影响。实验1通过呈现清晰或模糊的词语或图片对操纵了感知觉水平,结果发现只有在清晰条件下图片优势效应才会出现;实验2则在模糊条件下通过要求被试想象两个项目之间的关系操纵了概念加工程度,结果发现在有概念加工条件下,出现了图片优势效应。研究结果表明：（1）降低的感知觉水平会导致联结记忆中的图片优势效应消失;（2）对模糊项目对进行概念加工会使联结记忆中出现图片优势效应。     

Differential age effects for implicit and explicit conceptual associative memory

Older adults show disproportionate declines in explicit memory for associative relative to item information. However, the source of these declines is still uncertain. One explanation is a generalized impairment in the processing of associative information. A second explanation is a more specialized impairment in the strategic, effortful recollection of associative information, leaving less effortful forms of associative retrieval preserved. Assessing implicit memory of new associations is a way to distinguish between these viewpoints. To date, mixed findings have emerged from studies of associative priming in aging. One factor that may account for the variability is whether the manipulations inadvertently involve strategic, explicit processes. In two experiments we present a novel paradigm of conceptual associative priming in which subjects make speeded associative judgments about unrelated objects. Using a size classification task, Experiment 1 showed equivalent associative priming between young and older adults. Experiment 2 generalized the results of Experiment 1 to an inside/outside classification task, while replicating the typical age-related impairment in associative but not item recognition. Taken together, the findings support the viewpoint that older adults can incidentally encode and retrieve new meaningful associations despite difficulty with the intentional recollection of the same information.     

Familiarity supports associative recognition memory for face stimuli that can be unitised: Evidence from receiver operating characteristics

According to dual-process models, associative recognition memory mainly relies on recollection without benefiting from familiarity. This study investigates the circumstances under which familiarity may support associative recognition judgements by comparing recognition memory for arbitrarily paired items (i.e., pairs of face stimuli depicting two different persons; interitem associations) with recognition memory for pairs of items that are highly overlapping and can be unitised into a coherent whole (i.e., pairs of physically different but very similar face stimuli depicting the same person; intraitem associations). Estimates of familiarity and recollection were derived from receiver operating characteristics. Consistent with the hypothesis that familiarity is able to support associative recognition memory, but only when the to-be-associated stimuli can be unitised, results from two experiments revealed higher familiarity estimates for intra- compared to interitem associations. By contrast, recollection for recombined pairs was higher for inter- compared to intraitem associations. We propose a hypothetical model on how intraitem associations may benefit from familiarity.     

Assessing the associative deficit of older adults in long-term and short-term/working memory

Older adults exhibit a deficit in associative long-term memory relative to younger adults. However, the literature is inconclusive regarding whether this deficit is attenuated in short-term/working memory. To elucidate the issue, three experiments assessed younger and older adults' item and interitem associative memory and the effects of several variables that might potentially contribute to the inconsistent pattern of results in previous studies. In Experiment 1, participants were tested on item and associative recognition memory with both long-term and short-term retention intervals in a single, continuous recognition paradigm. There was an associative deficit for older adults in the short-term and long-term intervals. Using only short-term intervals, Experiment 2 utilized mixed and blocked test designs to examine the effect of test event salience. Blocking the test did not attenuate the age-related associative deficit seen in the mixed test blocks. Finally, an age-related associative deficit was found in Experiment 3, under both sequential and simultaneous presentation conditions. Even while accounting for some methodological issues, the associative deficit of older adults is evident in short-term/working memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

The contribution of familiarity to within- and between-domain associative recognition memory: Use of a modified remember/know procedure

The purpose of the present study was to determine the extent to which familiarity can support associative recognition memory as a function of whether the associations are within- or between-domain. Standard recognition and familiarity only performance were compared in different participants, using a new adaptation of the remember/know procedure. The results indicated that within-domain (face–face) associative recognition was mainly supported by familiarity. In contrast, familiarity provided relatively poor support to between-domain (face–name) associative recognition for which optimal performance required a major recollection contribution. These findings suggest that familiarity can support associative recognition memory, particularly for within-domain associations, and contrast with the widely held view that associative recognition depends largely on recollection.     

The role of the human medial temporal lobe in object recognition and object discrimination.

This paper reviews evidence from neuropsychological patient studies relevant to two questions concerning the functions of the medial temporal lobe in humans. The first is whether the hippocampus and the adjacent perirhinal cortex make different contributions to memory. Data are discussed from two patients with adult-onset bilateral hippocampal damage who show a sparing of item recognition relative to recall and certain types of associative recognition. It is argued that these data are consistent with Aggleton and Brown's (1999) proposal that familiarity-based recognition memory is not dependent on the hippocampus but is mediated by the perirhinal cortex and dorso-medial thalamic nucleus. The second question is whether the recognition memory deficit observed in medial temporal lobe amnesia can be explained by a deficit in perceptual processing and representation of objects rather than a deficit in memory per se. The finding that amnesics were impaired at recognizing, after short delays, patterns that they could successfully discriminate suggests that their memory impairment did not result from an object-processing deficit. The possibility remains, however, that the human perirhinal cortex plays a role in object processing, as well as in recognition memory, and data are presented that support this possibility.     

Acquired equivalence in human discrimination learning: the role of propositional knowledge

The current study investigated the role of propositional knowledge in human acquired equivalence effects. Across 5 experiments, human adults were trained to associate different visual stimuli. Subsequent procedures presented training that was either consistent or inconsistent with the previous associations. More accurate responding in the consistent versus inconsistent condition reflected an acquired equivalence effect. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that a previously reported divergence between verbal and associative processes was likely due to instructional control. Experiments 2-5 further examined the role of verbal processes and demonstrated that acquired equivalence may be produced with verbal instructions alone and critically through a combination of instructions and actual stimulus pairings. The current data not only challenge a purely associative account but actively support an interaction between verbal and associative processes in producing the acquired equivalence effect in humans.     

The role of the human medial temporal lobe in object recognition and object discrimination

This paper reviews evidence from neuropsychological patient studies relevant to two questions concerning the functions of the medial temporal lobe in humans. The first is whether the hippocampus and the adjacent perirhinal cortex make different contributions to memory. Data are discussed from two patients with adult-onset bilateral hippocampal damage who show a sparing of item recognition relative to recall and certain types of associative recognition. It is argued that these data are consistent with Aggleton and Brown's (1999) proposal that familiarity-based recognition memory is not dependent on the hippocampus but is mediated by the perirhinal cortex and dorso-medial thalamic nucleus. The second question is whether the recognition memory deficit observed in medial temporal lobe amnesia can be explained by a deficit in perceptual processing and representation of objects rather than a deficit in memory per se. The finding that amnesics were impaired at recognizing, after short delays, patterns that they could successfully discriminate suggests that their memory impairment did not result from an object-processing deficit. The possibility remains, however, that the human perirhinal cortex plays a role in object processing, as well as in recognition memory, and data are presented that support this possibility.     

Age-related differences in associative memory depend on the types of associations that are formed

Building on well-established findings of age-related decline in associative memory, we examined whether the magnitude of age differences depends on the types of associations that are formed. Specifically, because of predominant age-related changes in the hippocampus, we expected to find larger age differences in recognition of between-domain than within-domain associations. Twenty younger and 20 older healthy adults were given two associative recognition tests, using face-name and word-word pairs, that were matched for difficulty level. As hypothesized, a three-way interaction indicated that, relative to item recognition, age differences in associative recognition were greater for between-domain face-name associations than for within-domain word-word associations. This dissociation is consistent with the idea that the hippocampus plays a prominent role in binding information received from distal neocortical regions. The discussion focuses on the roles of recollection and familiarity in supporting associative memory as well as implications for the remediation of age-related memory decline.     

Speaking of pain in Greek: Implications for the cognitive permeation of emotions

ABSTRACT

Although item-memory for emotional information is enhanced, memory for associations between items is often impaired for negative, emotionally arousing compared to neutral information. We tested two possible mechanisms underlying this impairment, using picture pairs: 1) higher confidence in one’s own ability to memorise negative information may cause participants to under-study negative pairs; 2) better interactive imagery for neutral pairs could facilitate associative memory for neutral pairs more than for negative pairs. Tested with associative recognition, we replicated the impairment of associative memory for negative pairs. We also replicated the result that confidence in future memory (judgments of learning) was higher for negative than neutral pairs. Inflated confidence could not explain the impairment of associative recognition memory: Judgements of learning were positively correlated with associative memory success for both negative and neutral pairs. However, neutral pairs were rated higher in their conduciveness to interactive imagery than negative pairs, and this difference in interactive imagery showed a robust relationship to the associative memory difference. Thus, associative memory reductions for negative information are not due to differences in encoding effort. Instead, interactive imagery may be less effective for encoding of negative than neutral pairs.     

Working memory capacity and the spacing effect in cued recall

Spacing repetitions typically improves memory (the spacing effect). In three cued recall experiments, we explored the relationship between working memory capacity and the spacing effect. People with higher working memory capacity are more accurate on memory tasks that require retrieval relative to people with lower working memory capacity. The experiments used different retention intervals and lags between repetitions, but were otherwise similar. Working memory capacity and spacing of repetitions both improved memory in most of conditions, but they did not interact, suggesting additive effects. The results are consistent with the ACT-R model’s predictions, and with a study-phase recognition process underpinning the spacing effect in cued recall.     

Recognition Memory in Pigeons for Stimuli Presented Repeatedly: Perceptual Learning or Reduced Associative Interference?

Todd and Mackintosh (1990) found that recognition memory of pigeons for pictures was better when the same pictures were used each session (a recency task) than when different slides were used (a novelty task); they attributed the superior performance on the recency task to perceptual learning. Three experiments explored two alternative accounts. One was that their use of a within-subject design could have allowed the strategy adopted in the recency task to influence adversely the strategy used in the novelty task. This possibility was ruled out by Experiment 1, which showed superior performance in the recency task when a between-subject design was used. A second account proposes that slide-reward associations formed (in both tasks) during first presentations of slides interfere with appropriate performance during second presentations (associative interference); in the recency task, however, the high long-term associative strength of the slides restricts the consequence of a single slide-reward pairing to a short-term effect, and associative interference occurs at short retention intervals only. This account was explored in Experiment 2, which found no evidence that increases in retention interval resulted in reduction of associative interference in the recency task, and in Experiment 3, where associative interference was shown to occur but was of comparable magnitude in the recency and novelty tasks. By elimination, the results support a perceptual learning interpretation.     

Context-dependent impairment of recollection in list-method directed forgetting

In list-method directed forgetting, people's ability to forget one of the sets of learned material is examined. Research shows that memory for to-be-forgotten items is impaired when assessed by a recall test and by recognition tests reliant on recollective processes. Retrieval inhibition and context-change mechanisms have been proposed to account for the directed forgetting effects and both of them account for the results obtained with recognition tests. However, the context change account makes a specific prediction that recollection is impaired by directed forgetting only if it makes use of contextual associations. In the present study, directed forgetting was examined with two types of recollection-based tasks making use of different types of associations, namely a list discrimination task utilising contextual associations and an associative recognition task utilising interitem associations. Consistent with the context change account, the costs of directed forgetting were observed in a list discrimination task and were not observed in an associative recognition task. The results indicate that impairment in recollection due to directed forgetting is not general and provide converging evidence to support the context-change account.     

Age-related differences in associative memory depend on the types of associations that are formed

ABSTRACT

Building on well-established findings of age-related decline in associative memory, we examined whether the magnitude of age differences depends on the types of associations that are formed. Specifically, because of predominant age-related changes in the hippocampus, we expected to find larger age differences in recognition of between-domain than within-domain associations. Twenty younger and 20 older healthy adults were given two associative recognition tests, using face–name and word–word pairs, that were matched for difficulty level. As hypothesized, a three-way interaction indicated that, relative to item recognition, age differences in associative recognition were greater for between-domain face–name associations than for within-domain word–word associations. This dissociation is consistent with the idea that the hippocampus plays a prominent role in binding information received from distal neocortical regions. The discussion focuses on the roles of recollection and familiarity in supporting associative memory as well as implications for the remediation of age-related memory decline.     

The kinds of information that support novel associative object priming and how these differ from those that support item priming

We investigated how the information that supports novel associative and item object priming differs under identical study/test conditions. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants rated the meaningfulness of sentences linking two object pictures at study. At test, they performed either a size judgement or an associative recognition memory task on intact, recombined and novel picture (Experiment 1) or word (Experiment 2) associations. Associative priming was modulated by subjective meaningfulness of the encoded links, and depended on study/test perceptual overlap. In contrast, item priming was neither affected by the meaningfulness of the sentences nor by study/test changes in the stimulus presentation format. Associative priming and recognition were behaviourally dissociated, and associative recognition was probably too slow to have seriously contaminated associative priming. In Experiment 3, participants performed a perceptually oriented task during both experimental phases, and both associative and item priming were observed. These results suggest that associative priming depends on stored associative semantic and perceptual information when the test task requires flexible retrieval of associative information. Under the same conditions, item priming may only require activation of items' semantic properties. When both study and test tasks stress perceptual processing, retrieval of perceptual information is sufficient to support both kinds of priming.     

The impact of aging on associative memory for preexisting unitized associations

Aging is accompanied by a decline in associative memory that can, however, be attenuated when associations are unitized at encoding, that is, when they form an integrated entity. Unitization is thought to promote familiarity-based recognition memory, which is preserved in aging. We examined whether preexperimentally unitized associations (compound words (CWs)) do indeed reduce age differences in memory, and whether preexperimental unitization promotes familiarity. In Experiment 1, we assessed the memory of 20 young and 20 older participants for compound versus unrelated word pairs using a yes/no recognition test with Remember/Know/Guess judgments. In Experiment 2, we tested 20 young and 20 older participants using the same procedure, except for the use of a two-alternative forced-choice recognition paradigm, which is thought to enhance the contribution of familiarity. The results of both experiments corroborated the greater contribution of familiarity to recognition of unitized associations. In Experiment 1, however, the use of CWs did not attenuate the age-related associative decline. We suggest that preexisting knowledge associated with recombined compounds induced high absolute familiarity and illusory recollection, leading to high false-recognition rates for the older adults. By contrast, the two groups performed similarly across both conditions in Experiment 2. Thus, the forced-choice procedure facilitates the use of familiarity in such a way that it improves older adults’ associative memory to the level of young participants. These results suggest that the modulation of associative memory in aging by preexisting unitization varies according to methodological parameters, such as the nature of the lures and the test format.     

Effects of emotional arousal on multiple memory systems: evidence from declarative and procedural learning

Extensive evidence documents emotional modulation of hippocampus-dependent declarative memory in humans. However, little is known about the emotional modulation of striatum-dependent procedural memory. To address how emotional arousal influences declarative and procedural memory, the current study utilized (1) a picture recognition and (2) a weather prediction (WP) task (a probabilistic classification learning task), which have been shown to rely on hippocampal- and striatum-based memory systems, respectively. Observers viewed arousing or neutral pictures after (Experiment 1) or during (Experiment 2) WP training trials. A 1-wk delayed picture recognition memory test revealed enhanced declarative memory for arousing compared with neutral pictures. Arousal during encoding impaired initial WP acquisition but did not influence retention when tested after a 1-wk delay. Data from a subsequent 3-mo delayed test, however, suggested that arousal during acquisition may enhance remote WP retention. These results suggest a potential dissociation between how readily emotional arousal influences hippocampus-dependent and striatum-dependent memory systems in humans.     

Paying attention to binding: Further studies assessing the role of reduced attentional resources in the associative deficit of older adults

The present experiments investigated whether the observed associative deficit in older adults' episodic memory is mediated by a reduction of attentional resources. Using a dual-task procedure, younger and older participants studied lists of word pairs either under full attention or while performing a concurrent task. Both experiments showed that dividing attention did not cause a greater impairment to memory for associations than to memory for items in either age group. Furthermore, an analysis of concurrent task performance revealed that older adults' attentional costs for both learning and binding items were not larger than for learning items alone, relative to younger adults. These data provide support for a multicausal interpretation of older adults' memory deficits in which common, depleted attentional resources may be a mechanism that reduces memory for components of an episode in both older and younger adults under divided attention at encoding. In addition, older adults have a unique deficit in memory for the associations between the components, which does not seem to be resource dependent.     

Is associative recognition more impaired than item recognition memory in Schizophrenia? A meta-analysis

Item recognition memory judgment can be based on two processes: item familiarity and/or the conscious recollection of the initial event. On the other hand, associative recognition relies preferably on conscious recollection. Since evidence points to a specific deficit of conscious recollection in schizophrenia, these patients could show greater impairment during associative recognition tasks relative to item recognition tasks. A meta-analysis of 23 studies of recognition memory in schizophrenia was conducted to test this hypothesis. The impairment is indeed 20% greater (p=0.04) for associative recognition relative to item recognition. This study supports the hypothesis of a specific conscious recollection deficit underlying episodic memory impairment in schizophrenia.