Varieties of graded forgetting

Forgetting is typically viewed as counterproductive in everyday life. However, it may mainly be harmful when it is complete, that is, all-encompassing and permanent, and not when it is graded, that is, partial and fluctuating. I propose that forgetting is in fact mostly graded, and that this is an essential reason that it is often helpful. I delineate three ways in which forgetting may be graded. First, it may occur with respect to one, but not another, part of a memory. Second, it may occur in one context, but not in another. Third, forgetting may be present at one point in time, but not at another. Also, I propose that different levels of forgetting are possible, based on whether an engram or a context is unavailable, silent, restricted, latent, or potent. Overall, I hypothesize that forgetting is often helpful because it can be flexible and tailored to the circumstances.     

Increased pupil dilation during tip-of-the-tongue states

Tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) are feelings of impending word retrieval success during a current failure to retrieve a target word. Though much is known and understood about TOT states from decades of research, research on potential psychophysiological correlates of the TOT state is still in its infancy, and existing studies point toward the involvement of neural processes that are associated with enhanced attention, motivation, and information-seeking. In the present study, we demonstrate that, during instances of target retrieval failure, TOT states are associated with greater pupillary dilation (i.e., autonomic arousal) in 91% of our sample. This is the first study to demonstrate a pupillometric correlate of the TOT experience, and this finding provides an important step toward understanding emotional attributes associated with TOT states. Mean pupil dilation also increased such that instances of target identification failure that were unaccompanied by TOT states < instances in which TOTs occurred < instances of target identification success. It is possible that TOTs reflect an intermediary state between complete target retrieval failure and full target retrieval.     

Determinants of memory development in childhood and adolescence

Research on the development of memory has a long history and constitutes one of the most active research areas in the field of cognitive development. In this article, we first describe major historical developments in the literature on children's memory, focusing on systematic research that began in the late 1960s. We then examine new developments in the field, describing four important lines of inquiry: (a) the development of implicit memory, (b) short‐ and long‐term memory development in infancy, (c) longitudinal research on memory strategies and metamemory, and (d) developmental cognitive neuroscience of memory. Finally, promising lines of future research on memory development are briefly discussed.     

Dispositional mindfulness attenuates the emotional attentional blink

Emotional stimuli have been shown to automatically hijack attention, hindering the detection of forthcoming targets. Mindfulness is defined as a present moment non-judgemental attentional stance that can be cultivated by meditation practices, but that may present interindividual variability in the general population. The mechanisms underlying modification in emotional reactivity linked to mindfulness are still a matter of debate. In particular, it is not clear whether mindfulness is associated with a diminished emotional response, or with faster recovery. We presented participants with target pictures embedded in a rapid visual presentation stream. The targets could be preceded by negative, neutral or scrambled critical distractors. We showed that dispositional mindfulness, in particular the Non-reacting facet, was related to faster disengagement of attention from emotional stimuli. These results could have implications for mood disorders characterised by an exaggerated attentional bias toward emotional stimuli, such as anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders.     

The effect of presentation format and encoding strategy on associative memory distortion

IntroductionPrevious studies using semantically related words revealed more accurate memory when the items were encoded visually rather than auditorily and when mental images were created during encoding. However, how the level of memory distortion is affected by the creation of different mental imagery formats or by techniques that should suppress generation of mental images has rarely been investigated.ObjectiveThe aim of the present studies was to investigate the ways in which the encoding strategy affects the accuracy of memory reports for two presentation formats of semantically related words: verbal and pictorial.MethodIn experiment 1, the participants were asked to memorize either pictures or their verbal equivalents (words) from the same category, using one of two encoding strategies: uttering the words or counting backwards. In experiment 2, pictorially or auditory presented material was encoded together with the creation of either visual or auditory mental images of the items. The results of the experimental groups were compared to control groups that received no specific instruction.ResultsHigher levels of false recognition, together with lower rates of correct recognition, were observed for words, presented either visually or auditory, relative to pictures. Moreover, self-generation of additional code during the processing of information favored the reduction of false recognitions.ConclusionEncoding strategies that engaged dual coding reduced false recognition. The results are discussed within the distinctiveness heuristic phenomenon.     

Same face,same place,different memory: manner of presentation modulates the associative deficit in older adults

One of the more severe and consequential memory impairments experienced by older adults is the loss of the ability to form and remember associations. Although the associative deficit is often assumed to be unitary, memory episodes may contain different types of associations (e.g., item–item, item–context). Research in younger adults suggests that these different association types may involve different neural mechanisms. This raises the possibility that different association types are not equally affected by aging. In order to investigate this, the current study directly compared memory across item–item and item–context associations in younger and older adults by manipulating the manner of presentation of the associations. Results indicate that the associative deficit in aging is not uniform and that aging has a greater impact on item–context compared to item–item associations. The results have implications for theories of associative memory, age-related cognitive decline, and the functional organization of the medial temporal lobe in aging.