Assessment of behavioural markers of autonoetic consciousness during episodic autobiographical memory retrieval: a preliminary analysis

There is ongoing theoretical debate regarding episodic memory and how it can be accurately measured, in particular if the focus should be content-based recall of episodic details or something more experiential involving the subjective capacity to mentally travel back in time and "re-live" aspects of the original event. The autonoetic subscale of the Episodic Autobiographical Memory Interview (EAMI) is presented here as a new test instrument that attempts to redress theoretical and methodological shortcomings in autobiographical memory assessment. The EAMI merges a phenomenological detail-based approach with an assessment of autonoetic consciousness, departing considerably from traditional Remember/Know paradigms used within this field. We present findings from an initial pilot study investigating the potential markers of autonoetic consciousness that may accompany episodic retrieval. Key behavioural indices of autonoetic consciousness, notably those of viewer perspective, visual imagery, and emotional re-experiencing, emerged as being inextricably bound with the level of phenomenological detail recalled and the overall re-living judgment. The autonoetic subscale of the EAMI permits conceptually refined assessment of episodic personal memories and the accompanying subjective experience of mental re-living, characteristic of episodic memory.     

Cognitive processes supporting episodic memory formation in childhood: The role of source memory,binding, and executive functioning

Episodic memories contain various forms of contextual detail (e.g., perceptual, emotional, cognitive details) that need to become integrated. Each of these contextual features can be used to attribute a memory episode to its source, or origin of information. Memory for source information is one critical component in the formation of episodic memories. Likewise, the establishment of episodic memories also requires binding, which reflects the process of encoding the relations among stimuli and provides the experience that certain features of a memory episode belong together. The aims of the present review are to explore the roles of (1) cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in source memory and binding and how the development of these cognitive processes relates to episodic memory formation in childhood and (2) other higher-order cognitive processes, namely executive functioning, in early episodic memory development. We conclude by examining the challenges within this field of research, highlighting the role of other cognitive processes (e.g., sense of self, language, use of strategies) that may contribute to episodic memory formation, addressing areas that can be improved with additional research, and exploring directions for future work.     

Episodic memory: what can animals remember about their past?

The question of whether episodic memory, the ability to recall unique, personal experiences, is restricted to humans is a matter of current controversy. Recent work on food-storing jays suggests that several features of episodic memory may not be as exclusive to humans as previously thought. In this review we outline the critical features of episodic memory in humans, its relationship to declarative memory, and recent results revealing that jays can learn to perform a task that depends on certain features of episodic memory and can thus be considered 'episodic-like'. Finally, we compare this avian performance with a contemporary definition of human episodic memory and consider the implications for studies of hippocampal function and animal cognition.     

Language and memory

This paper outlines some of the issues and basic philosophy that have guided my work and that of my students in the last ten years. It describes the progression of conceptual representational theories developed during that time, as well as some of the research models built to implement those theories. The paper concludes with a discussion of my most recent work in the area of modelling memory. It presents a theory of MOPs (Memory Organization Packets), which serve as both processors and organizers of information in memory. This enables effective categorization of experiences in episodic memory, which in turn enables better predictive understanding of new experiences.     

Assessment of Working Memory Capacity in Preschool Children Using the Missing Scan Task

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and validity of a modified version of Buschke's missing scan methodology, the Missing Scan Task (MST), to assess working memory capacity (WMC) and cognitive control processes in preschool children 3–6 years in age. Forty typically developing monolingual English‐speaking children between 36 and 84 months in age participated in the study. The children were tested on measures of WMC (MST), verbal and nonverbal memory (NEPSY Narrative Memory and Memory for Designs subtests), and language skills (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, fourth edition). Children showed increased working memory capacity scores with age, as measured by the MST, with significant differences between 3‐ and 5‐year‐olds and 3‐ and 6‐year‐olds. Significant correlations were also found between the MST and language and verbal and nonverbal memory scores. MST scores still remained significantly correlated with the other measures of memory even after age and global language were accounted for in a regression analysis, demonstrating that the MST captures unique variance related specifically to WMC and cognitive control processes used to retrieve and scan information in short‐term memory (STM). The results of this study demonstrate that the MST is a feasible and valid methodology for assessing WMC in preschool children as young 3 years of age. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bio-inspired cognitive architecture of episodic memory

Memory and learning are essential functions in human beings as they allow us to acquire and store in the brain representations of thoughts, experiences, and behaviors, which are required for problem-solving in our daily life and mainly for survival. Episodic memory is a type of memory that provides the ability to re-experience events in one’s life, and it is associated with their conscious recollection. Since episodic memory can represent our experiences about the environment, similar to a mental journey, it is desired in systems that attempt to create human-like behavior. Currently, the main problem is that state of the art proposals do not consider neuroscientific evidence like memory dynamics for forgetting or bottom-up inputs, and most of them do not consider episodic memory as a different memory but as part of general declarative memory. We consider these omissions to limit the generation of human-like behavior. In this work, we propose a bio-inspired cognitive architecture of episodic memory. Neuroscientific evidence provides us with the brain structures associated with this type of memory, the connections, and the operations these areas perform. We hypothesize that virtual entities endowed with our episodic memory cognitive architecture will plan and make decisions in a more human-like fashion. To test the capabilities of the proposal, we endowed a virtual creature with a distributed and concurrent implementation of our architecture, and it was given two tasks. The first task validated the functions of the memory independently, and in the second task, the creature used episodic memory to solve a planning problem. From the results of these experiments, we validate our proposal and show that it is possible to create a system that behaves as the human brain does.     

Bridging the gap between brain and behavior: cognitive and neural mechanisms of episodic memory

The notion that non-human animals are capable of episodic memory is highly controversial. Here, we review recent behavioral work from our laboratory showing that the fundamental features of episodic memory can be observed in rats and that, as in humans, this capacity relies on the hippocampus. We also discuss electrophysiological evidence, from our laboratory and that of others, pointing to associative and sequential coding in hippocampal cells as potential neural mechanisms underlying episodic memory.     

The effects of age and cue-action reminders on event-based prospective memory performance in preschoolers

The present study investigated event-based prospective memory in five age groups of preschoolers (i.e., 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds). Applying a laboratory-controlled prospective memory procedure, the data showed that event-based prospective memory performance improves across the preschool years, at least between 3 and 6 years of age. However, our findings do not confirm early speculations that 2-year-olds may have attained reliable skills to carry out future intentions on their own. By contrast, there were first signs of prospective memory abilities among the 3-year-olds. The present study also revealed that children as young as 3 years can use external memory aids in the form of cue-action reminders to improve their event-based prospective remembering. Finally, the findings suggest that parents or caregivers can adequately estimate their preschool children's prospective memory abilities, as revealed by applying a modified version of the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ).     

Autonoetic consciousness: Reconsidering the role of episodic memory in future-oriented self-projection

Following the seminal work of Ingvar (1985. “Memory for the future”: An essay on the temporal organization of conscious awareness. Human Neurobiology, 4, 127–136), Suddendorf (1994. The discovery of the fourth dimension: Mental time travel and human evolution. Master's thesis. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand), and Tulving (1985. Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychology/PsychologieCanadienne, 26, 1–12), exploration of the ability to anticipate and prepare for future contingencies that cannot be known with certainty has grown into a thriving research enterprise. A fundamental tenet of this line of inquiry is that future-oriented mental time travel, in most of its presentations, is underwritten by a property or an extension of episodic recollection. However, a careful conceptual analysis of exactly how episodic memory functions in this capacity has yet to be undertaken. In this paper I conduct such an analysis. Based on conceptual, phenomenological, and empirical considerations, I conclude that the autonoetic component of episodic memory, not episodic memory per se, is the causally determinative factor enabling an individual to project him or herself into a personal future.     

老年人情景记忆更新的改变：竞争记忆的回溯性干扰

记忆更新是获取新知识的一种重要能力。大量研究显示老年人情景记忆受损,但鲜有研究探讨老年人情景记忆更新模式的改变。研究在匹配了老年人和年轻人编码程度的前提下,探讨情景记忆更新的老化效应及其潜在的认知机制。我们对AB-AC记忆更新范式进行了创新,同时考察了在项目改变和位置改变条件下的老化效应,并在测试阶段纳入诱饵选项,进一步排除编码程度带来的影响。研究结果显示年轻人能对A-B和A-C记忆分离存储,而老年人更多地受到回溯性记忆干扰,即在A-B测试中出现C的闯入,并且该干扰效应显著地大于诱饵刺激带来的影响。研究结果表明,在年轻人和老年人编码程度匹配的情况下,年轻人的记忆更新通过记忆分化来实现,而老年人更多地受到竞争记忆的回溯性干扰。     

Higher body mass index is associated with episodic memory deficits in young adults

Obesity has become an international health crisis. There is accumulating evidence that excess bodyweight is associated with changes to the structure and function of the brain and with a number of cognitive deficits. In particular, research suggests that obesity is associated with hippocampal and frontal lobe dysfunction, which would be predicted to impact memory. However, evidence for such memory impairment is currently limited. We hypothesised that higher body mass index (BMI) would be associated with reduced performance on a test of episodic memory that assesses not only content, but also context and feature integration. A total of 50 participants aged 18–35 years, with BMIs ranging from 18 to 51, were tested on a novel what–where–when style episodic memory test: the “Treasure-Hunt Task”. This test requires recollection of object, location, and temporal order information within the same paradigm, as well as testing the ability to integrate these features into a single event recollection. Higher BMI was associated with significantly lower performance on the what–where–when (WWW) memory task and all individual elements: object identification, location memory, and temporal order memory. After controlling for age, sex, and years in education, the effect of BMI on the individual what, where, and when tasks remained, while the WWW dropped below significance. This finding of episodic memory deficits in obesity is of concern given the emerging evidence for a role for episodic cognition in appetite regulation.     

心理时间旅行与自我:发展中关系模式的转换

该研究分别考察了儿童中晚期(9~12岁)、少年期(13~15岁)和青年早期(17岁、19岁、21岁)个体心理时间旅行的发展模式,并进一步探讨了不同年龄阶段,情景记忆和自我对情景预见作用模式的转换。研究采用访谈法评估心理时间旅行,以自我描述(儿童期和少年期)或自我连续性(青年早期)作为评估自我的指标。研究发现:(1)儿童中晚期,想象未来情景细节的数量随年龄增长而增加,少年期和青年早期的情景预见能力则趋于平稳,与情景记忆的发展趋势一致;(2)无论在哪个年龄段,情景记忆对情景预见都是有效的预测源;(3)自我描述在少年期才开始对情景预见产生预测作用;(4)青年早期,情景记忆以自我连续性为中介变量作用于情景预见。     

Context effects in episodic studies of verbal and facial memory: A review

Memory research has in the last fifteen years been marked by a considerable interest in context effects. This review begins by examining experimental manipulations of verbal and environmental context in verbal memory. This is followed by a more extensive review of episodic studies of face recognition that have examined the effects of varying the background in which a face is portrayed, the room of testing, and the presence of guided instructions. The relevance of these findings to eyewitness memory is also considered. Discrepancies in the literature are pinpointed with theoretical discussion centering around encoding specificity theory (Tulving & Thomson, 1973) and Baddeley and Woodhead’s (1982) distinction between “independent” (extrinsic) and “interactive” (intrinsic) context effects. The review ends with an evaluation of some recent models of memory and face recognition in an attempt to provide a framework within which to interpret the context effects in the literature.     

When does prior knowledge disproportionately benefit older adults’ memory?

Material consistent with knowledge/experience is generally more memorable than material inconsistent with knowledge/experience – an effect that can be more extreme in older adults. Four experiments investigated knowledge effects on memory with young and older adults. Memory for familiar and unfamiliar proverbs (Experiment 1) and for common and uncommon scenes (Experiment 2) showed similar knowledge effects across age groups. Memory for person-consistent and person-neutral actions (Experiment 3) showed a greater benefit of prior knowledge in older adults. For cued recall of related and unrelated word pairs (Experiment 4), older adults benefited more from prior knowledge only when it provided uniquely useful additional information beyond the episodic association itself. The current data and literature suggest that prior knowledge has the age-dissociable mnemonic properties of (1) improving memory for the episodes themselves (age invariant), and (2) providing conceptual information about the tasks/stimuli extrinsically to the actual episodic memory (particularly aiding older adults).     

Act-In: An integrated view of memory mechanisms

The present article proposes a new memory model called Act-In (Activation-Integration). Act-In extends the multiple trace memory models by placing them within the situated cognition perspective. Act-In considers that the activation and integration mechanisms play a key role in memory processes. These mechanisms are involved in both the construction of memory traces and the emergence of knowledge. The model is based on four main assumptions: (1) Memory traces reflect all the components of past experiences and, in particular, their sensory properties, actions performed on the objects in the environment and the emotional states of individuals. Memory traces are therefore distributed across multiple neuronal systems which code the multiple components of the experiences. (2) Knowledge is emergent and is the product of the coupling of the present experience with past experiences. (3) The brain is a categorisation system which develops by accumulating experiences and which, by default, produces categorical knowledge. (4) The emergence of specific knowledge (memories or episodic knowledge) requires very simple mechanisms which occur during learning and/or during retrieval. These assumptions are defended and discussed in the light of the work reported in the literature.     

Memory deficits for non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment

Non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment (naMCI) is one of the clinical subtypes of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, the characteristics of memory deficits in naMCI as assessed by clinical neuropsychological evaluations are not clear. In this study, a battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to 122 cognitively normal controls (NC), 133 amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients, and 72 naMCI patients. The results showed that in individuals with naMCI, episodic memory, and other cognitive domains were impaired. The Prospective Memory Test (PMT) event-based prospective memory (EBPM), the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) Accidental Memory, Stick test (ST) visuoconstructional memory, and ST Working Memory were impaired, yet did not reach the level of aMCI. Semantic memory was affected to a degree comparable with aMCI. Some functions like Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) recognition, and Judgment of Confidence (JOC) were maintained, as well as PMT Time-Based Prospective Memory (TBPM). This study verified that memory impairment among individuals with naMCI was mainly in memory functions mediated by the frontotemporal cortex.     

Context Memory in Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Memory for contextual information and target-context integration are crucial for successful episodic memory formation and are impaired in patients with Korsakoff's syndrome. In this paper we review the evidence for the notion that a context memory deficit makes an important contribution to the amnesia in these patients. First, we focus on anterograde memory for contextual (spatial and temporal) information. Next, the use of contextual cues in memory retrieval is examined and their role in retrograde amnesia and confabulation. Evidence on the role of contextual cues and associations in working memory is discussed in relation to the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms and their dissociation from long-term encoding. Finally, we focus on implicit learning of contextual information in Korsakoff patients. It can be concluded that Korsakoff patients are impaired in the explicit processing of contextual information and in target-context binding, both in long-term (retrograde and anterograde) memory and in working memory. These results extend the context memory deficit hypothesis. In contrast, implicit contextual learning is relatively preserved in these patients. These findings are discussed in relation to evidence of dysfunction of the extended diencephalic-hippocampal memory circuit in Korsakoff's syndrome.     

The Generalized Quantum Episodic Memory Model

Recent evidence suggests that experienced events are often mapped to too many episodic states, including those that are logically or experimentally incompatible with one another. For example, episodic over‐distribution patterns show that the probability of accepting an item under different mutually exclusive conditions violates the disjunction rule. A related example, called subadditivity, occurs when the probability of accepting an item under mutually exclusive and exhaustive instruction conditions sums to a number >1. Both the over‐distribution effect and subadditivity have been widely observed in item and source‐memory paradigms. These phenomena are difficult to explain using standard memory frameworks, such as signal‐detection theory. A dual‐trace model called the over‐distribution (OD) model (Brainerd & Reyna, 2008) can explain the episodic over‐distribution effect, but not subadditivity. Our goal is to develop a model that can explain both effects. In this paper, we propose the Generalized Quantum Episodic Memory (GQEM) model, which extends the Quantum Episodic Memory (QEM) model developed by Brainerd, Wang, and Reyna (2013). We test GQEM by comparing it to the OD model using data from a novel item‐memory experiment and a previously published source‐memory experiment (Kellen, Singmann, & Klauer, 2014) examining the over‐distribution effect. Using the best‐fit parameters from the over‐distribution experiments, we conclude by showing that the GQEM model can also account for subadditivity. Overall these results add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that quantum probability theory is a valuable tool in modeling recognition memory.