Honeybee Memory: Navigation by Associative Grouping and Recall of Visual Stimuli

Studies of navigation in bees and ants are beginning to reveal that foraging insects traveling repeatedly to a food source navigate by using a series of visual images of the environment acquired en route (Collett, 1996; Collett et al., 1993; Judd & Collett, 1998; Wehner et al., 1990, 1996). By comparing the currently viewed scene with the appropriate stored image, the insect is able to ascertain whether or not it is on the correct path and make any necessary corrections. If a bee happens to forage at more than one site, then she needs not only to memorize a separate set of images for each route that she has learned but also to retrieve the set of images that is appropriate to each route. Here we examine the bee's capacity to learn and later retrieve from memory two different sets of visual stimuli. Bees were trained to fly through a compound Y-maze where they were presented alternately with two different sequences of visual stimuli on their route to a food reward. We find that bees can indeed store two different sequences of images simultaneously. Furthermore, the trained bees are able to classify the memorized images into two groups, one pertaining to each three-stimulus set. Exposure to any of the images pertaining to one set triggers recall of all of the other images associated with that set. Associative grouping and recall of visual stimuli, demonstrated here for the first time in honeybees, provide an effective means of retrieving the appropriate navigational information from memory.     

Unchained Memory: Error Patterns Rule out Chaining Models of Immediate Serial Recall

Many models of serial recall assume a chaining mechanism whereby each item associatively evokes the next in sequence. Chaining predicts that, when sequences comprise alternating confusable and non-confusable items, confusable items should increase the probability of errors in recall of following non-confusable items. Two experiments using visual presentation and one using vocalized presentation test this prediction and demonstrate that: (1) more errors occur in recall of confusable than alternated non-confusable items, revealing a 'sawtooth' in serial position curves; (2) the presence of confusable items often has no influence on recall of the non-confusable items; and (3) the confusability of items does not affect the type of errors that follow them. These results are inconsistent with the chaining hypothesis. Further analysis of errors shows that most transpositions occur over short distances (the locality constraint), confusable items tend to interchange (the similarity constraint), and repeated responses are rare and far apart (the repetition constraint). The complete pattern of errors presents problems for most current models of serial recall, whether or not they employ chaining. An alternative model is described that is consistent with these constraints and that simulates the detailed pattern of errors observed.     

记忆中专长效应的理论发展述评

1 引言专家借助专门领域的知识或技能,能快速而有效地记忆该领域的信息,这就是记忆中专长效应(expertise effeets inmemory recall)。对记忆中专长效应的科学研究,最早可追溯到二十世纪初。三位俄罗斯教授(Djakow,Rudik,petrovsky,1925)曾在实验室中研究了8位超一流国际象棋棋手的记忆能力,并得出结论,大师的非凡记忆能力并非在任何材料上都得到体现。这一研究与其它早期探究专家记忆的研究一起,促使研究者开始探讨记忆中专长效应的内在机制或思维     

Working Memory for Temporal and Nontemporal Events in Monkeys

This is the first report that introduces appropriate behavioral tasks for monkeys for investigations of working memory for temporal and nontemporal events. Using several behavioral tests, the study also shows how temporal information is coded during retention intervals in the tasks. Each of three monkeys was trained with two working memory tasks: delayed matching-to-sample of stimulus duration (DMS-D) and delayed matching-to-sample of stimulus color (DMS-C). The two tasks employed an identical apparatus and responses and differed only in the temporal and nontemporal attribute of the stimuli to be retained for correct performance. When a retention interval between the sample and comparison stimuli was prolonged, the monkeys made more incorrect responses to short samples in the DMS-C task, suggesting “trace decay” of memory for short stimuli. However, the same monkeys showed no such increase in incorrect responses to short samples in the DMS-D task, suggesting active coding of temporal information, that is, the length of stimulus duration, during the retention interval. When variable lengths of samples were presented with a fixed retention interval, the monkeys made more incorrect responses when length differences between short and long samples were small in the DMS-D task, but not in the DMS-C task. This suggests that the codes of working memory retained in the DMS-D task were not absolute (analogical) but rather were relative (categorical) and related to differences in the duration of the samples.     

时序信息和空间信息在工作记忆中的分离存储

采用相对新近性判断范式（judgments of relative recency）,通过三个实验探讨了工作记忆中时序信息和空间信息的存储方式及其关系。实验一比较了有无空间线索两种条件下时序信息的记忆绩效,结果发现,有无空间线索并不影响对时序信．E-的记忆。实验二和实验三通过控制刺激呈现的视野范围和减少呈现位置的不确定性来利化空间线索,结果表明,时序信息的记忆绩效也不受空间线索的影响。由此推论,工作记忆中的时序信息和空间信息是分离编码存储的,加入空间线索并不能提高时序信息的记忆绩效。     

Effects of Temporal Lobe Lesions on Retrograde Memory: A Critical Review

Scientific interest in retrograde memory has grown considerably over the last two decades. Studies have demonstrated that several brain regions, including the temporal lobes, participate in the formation, maintenance and storage of past memories. Different patterns and extents of retrograde memory deficits have been recorded in patients with temporal lobe lesions. It has been argued that the pattern of retrograde memory deficits is determined not only by the side and specific location of lesion within this region, but also by methodology, medical variables (such as etiology or seizure history), and coexisting cognitive deficits. In this paper we will review published case and group studies of patients with temporal lobe lesions to evaluate the impact of these factors on retrograde memory.     

Memory for Related and Unrelated Words: Further Evidence on the Influence of Semantic Factors in Immediate Serial Recall

A number of recent studies have explored the role of long-term memory factors in memory span tasks. The effects of lexicality, frequency, imageability, and word class have been investigated. The work reported in this paper examined the effect of semantic organization on the recall of short lists of words. Specifically, the influence of semantic category on immediate serial recall and the interaction of this variable with articulatory suppression was investigated in three experiments. Experiment 1 compared immediate serial recall performance when lists comprising items from the same semantic category were used (homogeneous condition) with a situation where lists held items from different semantic categories. Experiment 2 examined the same conditions with and without articulatory suppression during item presentation, and Experiment 3 reproduced these conditions with suppression occurring throughout presentation and recall. Results of all three experiments showed a clear advantage for the homogeneous condition. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the homogeneous category advantage did not depend on the articulatory loop. Furthermore, error analysis indicated that this effect was mainly attributable to better item information recall for the homogeneous condition. These results are interpreted as reflecting a long-term memory contribution to the recall stage of immediate serial recall tasks.     

Differential Effects of Ecstasy on Short-Term and Working Memory: A Meta-Analysis

Quantitative analysis of studies examining the effect of ecstasy on short-term and working memory in the verbal and visuo-spatial domain was undertaken. Thirty verbal short-term memory, 22 verbal working memory, 12 visuospatial short-term memory and 9 visuospatial working memory studies met inclusion criteria. Ecstasy users performed significantly worse in all memory domains, both in studies using drug-naïve controls and studies using polydrug controls. These results are consistent with previous meta-analytic findings that ecstasy use is associated with impaired short-term memory function. Lifetime ecstasy consumption predicted effect size in working memory but not in short-term memory. The current meta-analysis adds to the literature by showing that ecstasy use in humans is also associated with impaired working memory, and that this impairment is related to total lifetime ecstasy consumption. These findings highlight the long-term, cumulative behavioral consequences associated with ecstasy use in humans.     

Working Memory Constraints on Linear Reasoning with Spatial and Temporal Contents

The present article reports two experiments testing the use of working memory components during reasoning with temporal and spatial relations in four-term series problems. In the first experiment four groups of subjects performed reasoning tasks with temporal and with spatial contents either without (control) or with a secondary task (articulatory suppression, visuospatial suppression or central executive suppression). The second experiment tested the secondary task effects in a within-subjects design either on problems with a spatial content or on problems with a temporal content, and within each content domain either under conditions of self-paced or of fixed presentation of the premises. Both experiments found effects of all three secondary tasks on reasoning accuracy. This supports the hypothesis that the subjects construct spatial representations of the premise information with the support of visuo-spatial resources of working memory. The second experiment also showed that during premise intake, only visuo-spatial and central executive secondary tasks had an effect. The implications of the data for the working memory requirements of reasoning and for theories of linear reasoning are discussed.     

Immediate and short memory: Recall of simple auditory stimuli

Experiments were carried out on conditions affecting the successful recall of simple, non-verbalised auditory stimuli. The effectiveness of recall of a given stimulus was measured by the ability to assess the pitch of one stimulus as compared to another stimulus presented after an interval of given length. The results indicate that the storage in memory of a simple auditory stimulus is possible, even in the case of pairs of stimuli separated in time by more than 5 min. In all experiments (stimuli differing by 2 semitones or by one semitone, and equal in intensity, or differing by ± 25 dB) the curve of errors shows a sharp increase when the interval between the two stimuli is 80 sec. It is possible that this sudden deterioration in the effectiveness of recall is connected with same alteration of the mechanism of memory. It is postulated that this alteration is due to a “switch-over” from immediate memory to short-term memory. The analysis of the errors shows that in certain circumstances there is a tendency towards a marked preponderance of errors resulting from underestimation rather than from overestimation of the first stimulus. This preponderance is obtained when we have pairs of equal loudness and it is even more marked when the first stimulus is softer than the second, and it is decreases when the first stimulus is louder than the second. These results suggest that in differentiating pitches of stimuli (in the 700–2000 Hz band) presented one after the other at certain fixed intervals of time, we are to find a phenomenon analogous to the classic time error found in estimations of loudness.     

Sentence Complexity and Working Memory Effects in Ambiguity Resolution

Two self-paced reading experiments using a paraphrase decision task paradigm were performed to investigate how sentence complexity contributed to the relative clause (RC) attachment preferences of speakers of different working memory capacities (WMCs). Experiment 1 (English) showed working memory effects on relative clause processing in both offline RC attachment preferences and in online reading time measures, but no effects of syntactic complexity. In Experiment 2 (Korean), syntactic complexity due to greater distance between integrating heads, as measured by the dependency locality theory (Gibson in Cognition 68:1–76, 1998), significantly increased the proportion of attachment to NP1. However, no effects of working memory were found. The difference in results between English and Korean is proposed to be due to head-directionality effects. The results of our study support the conclusion that working memory-based accounts provide a better explanation than previous language-dependent accounts for differences in RC attachment preferences. We propose that previous language dependent-accounts of cross-linguistic differences in RC processing have overlooked the interaction between individual WMC and a language’s general structure, which is a central factor in RC attachment.     

State-Space Analysis of Working Memory in Schizophrenia: An FBIRN Study

The neural correlates of working memory (WM) in schizophrenia (SZ) have been extensively studied using the multisite fMRI data acquired by the Functional Biomedical Informatics Research Network (fBIRN) consortium. Although univariate and multivariate analysis methods have been variously employed to localize brain responses under differing task conditions, important hypotheses regarding the representation of mental processes in the spatio-temporal patterns of neural recruitment and the differential organization of these mental processes in patients versus controls have not been addressed in this context. This paper uses a multivariate state-space model (SSM) to analyze the differential representation and organization of mental processes of controls and patients performing the Sternberg Item Recognition Paradigm (SIRP) WM task. The SSM is able to not only predict the mental state of the subject from the data, but also yield estimates of the spatial distribution and temporal ordering of neural activity, along with estimates of the hemodynamic response. The dynamical Bayesian modeling approach used in this study was able to find significant differences between the predictability and organization of the working memory processes of SZ patients versus healthy subjects. Prediction of some stimulus types from imaging data in the SZ group was significantly lower than controls, reflecting a greater level of disorganization/heterogeneity of their mental processes. Moreover, the changes in accuracy of predicting the mental state of the subject with respect to parametric modulations, such as memory load and task duration, may have important implications on the neurocognitive models for WM processes in both SZ and healthy adults. Additionally, the SSM was used to compare the spatio-temporal patterns of mental activity across subjects, in a holistic fashion and to derive a low-dimensional representation space for the SIRP task, in which subjects were found to cluster according to their diagnosis.     

Serial Order in Spatial Immediate Memory

Serial order effects in spatial memory are investigated in three experiments. In the first an analysis of errors in recall data suggested that immediate transpositions were the most common error and that order errors over 2 or 3 adjacent items accounted for the majority of errors in recall. The first and last serial positions are less error-prone than is the middle position in sets of six and seven items. A second experiment investigated recognition of transpositions and found that immediate transpositions were hardest to recognize but that a traditional serial position effect was not found. This may be due to the difficulty of maintaining one set of spatial items when another set is presented for comparison. A probe experiment, in which subjects were asked to recognize whether a single item came from a memory set and then to assign it to its position in the set indicated that the first and last positions were remembered more accurately than were central positions. The combination of serial order data in recall and position data suggests that there are similarities between serial order and position effects in the verbal and spatial domains and that serial order in spatial sequences is position-based.     

Working Memory Effects of Gap-Predictions in Normal Adults: An Event-Related Potentials Study

The current study examined the relationship between verbal memory span and the latency with which a filler-gap dependency is constructed. A previous behavioral study found that low span listeners did not exhibit antecedent reactivation at gap sites in relative clauses, in comparison to high verbal memory span subjects (Roberts et?al. in J Psycholinguist Res 36(2):175-188, 2007), which suggests that low span subjects are delayed at gap filling. This possibility was examined in the current study. Using an event-related potentials paradigm, it was found that low span subjects have an onset latency delay of about 200?ms in brain responses to violations of syntactic expectancies after the gap site, thus providing a time course measure of the delay hypothesized by previous literature.     

Working Memory in Pediatric Epilepsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Neuropsychology Review - Working memory is a multicomponent system that is supported by overlapping specialized networks in the brain. Baddeley’s working memory model includes four...     

Geographic Memory Bubbles: Recall of the Fifty United States

The participants (N?=?180) in this study resided in two different states (i.e., North Dakota (ND) and Georgia (GA)). Each participant completed two tasks in a counterbalanced order: 1) free recall of the fifty United States and 2) recall of the fifty United States using a numbered map of the United States where they matched the state name to the actual state on the map. There were significant differences in recall by task. Also, there were significant chi-square values and a significant interaction for the states recalled by ND participants and GA participants. Participants demonstrated high recall (70 % or higher) for the 5–7 states surrounding their state of residence (e.g., primary geographic memory bubble). All participants had high recall for the states of WA, CA, NV, TX, FL, ME, AK and HI (e.g., secondary geographic memory bubble). The implications of these results relating to geographic illiteracy, instruction, and memory are discussed.     

Total Recall: Treating Chronic Mental Illness as a Memory

The ideas outlined in this paper developed from three separate strands of my work as a therapist treating older people. Firstly, I was concerned with reducing the number of patients not benefiting from therapy. In keeping with Pinquart et al.'s (Am J Psychiatry 163:1493–1501, 2006) recent meta-analytic survey concerning the use of psychotherapy and medication, 50% of the depressed patients treated by my team failed to respond adequately. Secondly, the ideas grew out of my attempts to determine why different therapies with older people have often been shown to have equivocal beneficial impacts (Davies and Collerton, J Ment Health 6:335–344, 1997). Thirdly, I was interested in integrating the relevant neuropsychological features, particularly memory, into my therapeutic work. These three strands have led me to propose a pan-theoretical model of distress based on memory functioning and existing information processing perspectives (Teasdale and Barnard, Affect, cognition and change: Remodelling depressive thought, 1993; Power and Dalgleish, Behav Cogn Psychother, 27:129–142, 1996).     

Effects of Age and Intentionality on Content Memory and Temporal Memory for Performed Activities

Seventy-two young (18–28), 72 young-old (ages 57–70), and 72 old-old (71–93) adults completed 10 different laboratory activities. Intention to learn the content of the activities and their temporal order was varied within each age group by manipulating type of encoding instruction given to the participant (i.e., either incidental, intentional for content, or intentional for both content and temporal order). Participants' recall, recognition, and temporal memory proficiency for the activities was then evaluated. The results revealed that both content memory and temporal order memory for the performed activities were enhanced by intentional encoding strategies. Young adults performed better on the temporal ordering task than young-old adults, with temporal memory proficiency continuing to show further decline in the old-old group. In contrast, content recall and recognition abilities were impaired only in the old-old group. The results suggest that strategic encoding processes can enhance memory for performed activities, and that age-related deficits in temporal order efficiency may occur earlier than those involved in memory for the content of performed activities.     

Effects of Predator-Induced Stress and Age on Working Memory in Rats

The Psychological Record - The effects of age and predator-induced stress, by exposing rats to a cat, were examined during subsequent testing of spatial working memory. Male rats (3 months and 20...     

Interference in Visual Working Memory

This paper uses the theoretical distinction that has recently developed between the passive visual store and the active spatial rehearsal mechanism of the visuo-spatial component of working memory (VSSP). It examines the circumstances under which visual fields gain functional access to the passive visual store and seeks to cast light on the circumstances under which irrelevant visual fields interfere with concurrent visual processing. Experiment 1 contrasts a dynamic visual noise field with a static noise field and shows that the static field, in contrast to the dynamic noise field, causes no interference when presented concurrently with a visual task. Experiment 2 investigates the reason for this contrast and concludes that the static field is susceptible to decay and so fails to cause interference. Experiment 3 investigates further the circumstances under which dynamic visual noise causes interference and shows that manipulation of the number of changes within the noise field is also of importance in causing interference. The results allow further consideration of the characteristics of the VSSP.