Neurophysiology of sustained attention in early infancy: Investigating longitudinal relations with recognition memory outcomes

The ability to sustain attention is a critical cognitive domain that emerges in infancy and is predictive of a multitude of cognitive processes. Here, we used a heart rate (HR) defined measure of sustained attention to assess corresponding changes in frontal electroencephalography (EEG) power at 3 months of age. Second, we examined how the neural underpinnings of HR-defined sustained attention were associated with sustained attention engagement. Third, we evaluated if neural or behavioral sustained attention measures at 3-months predicted subsequent recognition memory scores at 9 months of age. Seventy-five infants were included at 3 months of age and provided usable attention and EEG data and 25 infants returned to the lab at 9 months and provided usable recognition memory data. The current study focuses on oscillatory power in the theta (4–6 Hz) frequency band during phases of HR-defined sustained attention and inattention phases. Results revealed that theta power was significantly higher during phases of sustained attention. Second, higher theta power during sustained attention was positively associated with proportion of time in sustained attention. Third, longitudinal analyses indicated a significant positive association between theta power during sustained attention on 9-month visual paired comparison scores such that higher theta power predicted higher visual paired comparison scores at 9-months. These results highlight the interrelation of the attention and arousal systems which have longitudinal implications for subsequent recognition memory processes.     

Opening a conceptual space for metamemory experience

The experiences associated with remembering, including metamemory feelings about the act of remembering and attempts at remembering, are not often integrated into general accounts of memory. For example, David Rubin (2022) proposes a unified, three-dimensional conceptual space for mapping memory states, a map that does not systematically specify metamemory feelings. Drawing on Rubin's model, we define a distinct role for metamemory in relation to first-order memory content. We propose a fourth dimension for the model and support the proposal with conceptual, neurocognitive, and clinical lines of reasoning. We use the modified model to illustrate several cases, and show how it helps to conceptualize a new category of memory state: autonoetic knowing, exemplified by déjà vu. We also caution not to assume that memory experience is directly correlated with or caused by memory content, an assumption Tulving (1989) labeled the doctrine of concordance.     

The relationship between the Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised (WMS-R) Attention index and putative measures of Attention

Although the Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised (WMS-R; Wechsler, 1987) is one of the more frequently used measures of memory and attention, its Attention/Concentration Index (ACI) has been minimally researched. If the ACI is to be used as a measure of attention, the need exists to determine if it is related to other measures theoretically argued to be sensitive to attention deficits. The present study evaluated the relationship between the WMS-R ACI and other putative measures of attention by comparing individuals labeled as Attention Impaired [ACI at least 15 points < General Memory Index (GMI)] versus those labeled as Memory Impaired (GMI at least 15 points < ACI). Contrary to expectations, the Attention Impaired group scored equal to the Memory Impaired group on all measures theorized to be sensitive to attention deficits (Trails A and B time, Trails B errors, Rey AVLT interference list), except for statistically weaker performance on Trails A errors. In contrast but as expected, the Memory Impaired group scored statistically worse on all memory tests (Rey AVLT, all TPT variables). The groups also did not differ on tests argued not to be differentially affected by either attention or memory (WAIS-R FIQ, Category Test). It is concluded that the WMS-R Attention Index is not related to deficits on other measures sensitive to attention, further emphasizing the need to identify more clearly specific attention constructs.     

Multiple spatial learning strategies in goldfish (Carassius auratus)

There is a considerable amount of evidence that mammals and birds can use different spatial learning strategies based on multiple learning and memory systems. Unfortunately, only a few studies have investigated spatial learning and memory mechanisms in other vertebrates. This study aimed to identify the strategies used by goldfish to solve two different spatial tasks in a series of three experiments. In experiment 1, two groups of goldfish (Carassius auratus) were trained either in a spatial constancy task (SC), in which visual cues signalled the goal indirectly, or in a directly cued task (DC) in which similar cues signalled the goal directly. Transfer tests were conducted to study the effects of discrete cue deletion on the performance in both tasks. In these transfer tests the performance of the animals trained in the DC task dropped to chance level when the cue that signalled the goal directly was removed. In contrast, the removal of any single cue did not disrupt SC performance. In experiment 2, fish trained in the SC or the DC task were trained with the goal reversed. Goldfish in the SC group needed fewer sessions to master the reversal task than DC animals. Finally, experiment 3 investigated the effects of a substantial modification of the geometrical features of the apparatus on the performance of animals trained in the SC or in the DC condition. The performance of DC goldfish was not affected, whereas the same change disrupted performance in the SC animals despite the presence of the visual cues. These results suggest that there are separate spatial learning and memory systems in fish. Whereas the DC animals used a typical guidance strategy, relying only on the cue that signalled the goal directly, SC fish relied on a strategy with the properties of an actual spatial mapping system. Thus, the comparative approach points to the generality of these learning strategies among vertebrates. Received: 10 October 1998 / Accepted after revision: 16 April 1999     

分心对记忆影响的年龄差异研究

本文研究了分心对老年人和青年人的记忆影响的年龄差异。分心条件是在判断简单算术题正误的同时,识记指向记忆和故事。结果:1.在上述分心条件下,老年组记忆作业受损比青年人更为严重;分心扩大了记忆的年龄差异。2.相对分心消耗值显然受刺激条件的影响,属片断记忆的故事分节分,分心消耗最大,类似语义记忆的故事意义分,分心消耗最小,介乎两者之间的指向记忆分,分心消耗居中。3.分心对上述记忆的影响有适应现象,两组的第二次分心测试成绩均较第一次进步。     

The role of age on reactivity and memory for emotional pictures

The purpose of this study was to investigate subjects' reactivity to emotional pictures and their recollection of these pictures, and to examine these two factors as they relate to age. Adolescents and young adults were shown emotionally arousing scenic pictures for long (4-s) and very brief (50-ms) durations. Recognition of the pictures and recall and recognition of words presented along with the pictures were assessed both immediately after the presentation and six weeks later. The results showed that very negative pictures are retained better than neutral or even positive pictures, and that very negative pictures reduce memory for associated information. It was also found that adolescents show a somewhat lower reactivity to very negative pictures and a higher degree of retention of these pictures than adults. The results are discussed in relation to (a) habituation effects, (b) strategies that subjects might develop to block emotional involvement, and (c) the notion that watching violence might serve as a powerful prime to socially undesirable behaviour.     

The synergy of memory, affects and metaphor

Recently, the concept of metaphor has been revitalized as a result of the convergence of interest in this subject from a variety of disciplines including neurobiology, linguistics and cognitive science. Metaphor is now viewed as an emergent property of mind. Metaphor is rooted in the body in two senses: metaphor is used to organize bodily sensation cognitively, especially affects, and secondly, metaphor is rooted in the body as it rests on the border between mind and brain. Metaphor is therefore viewed as a developmentally early, primitive mental function related to synesthesia. There is a significant distinction between frozen or foreclosed metaphors and open and generative metaphors. The foreclosed metaphor will dominate the perception of others in cases of trauma and can be understood as an explanation of transference repetition. Clinical examples of foreclosed metaphors are illustrated by vignettes of patients who have suffered traumas. Examples taken from two artists are used to illustrate instances in which the artist's own unassimilated experiences appear as generative metaphors.     

Amnestic disorders and their role in cognitive theory

Amnesia refers to a disorder of memory, and classical amnesia with continuous problems in aquiring new information is the most studied type of amnesia. The integration into a memory systems model of clinical studies of classical amnesia, cognitive theory, and studies with neuroimaging methods is one of the prime success stories in modern cognitive neuroscience. The clinical spectrum of amnesia encompasses a wide range of disorders ranging from specific encoding deficits for language or visuospatial information to psychogenic amnesia with confusion and loss of memory for personal identity. Two cases are reviewed, one with selective verbal amnesia and the other with focal retrograde amnesia, presenting some puzzles and challenges to current modular thinking about memory that may lead to theoretical advances. An interactive model emphasizing the communication between brain codes and regions in memory may have promise.     

The effect of strategies and contexts on memory for movement patterns

Two experiments on memory for movement patterns examined possible motor aspects of this memory type. None of the experiments found any evidence for motor effects. The first experiment showed lower memory with induced motor strategies than with any of the other induced strategies. The second experiment demonstrated stronger context effects under retrieval than under encoding conditions. The results are discussed in terms of functional and structural conceptions of episodic short-term memory of motor information.     

Sleep facilitates anticipation training of a handball goalkeeping task in novices

Sleep facilitates perceptual, cognitive and motor learning; however, the role of sleep for perceptual learning in sports is yet unclear. Here, we tested the impact of sleep on novices' visual anticipation training using a handball goalkeeping task. To this end, 30 novices were divided randomly in two groups and asked to predict the directional outcome of handball penalties presented as videos. One group did the pre-test and a single session of training in the morning, post-test in the evening on the same day, and the retention test in the next morning again. Conversely, the second group started and finished in the evening. Analyses of prediction accuracy revealed that the group starting in the evening improved largest between pre- and post-test (sleep in-between), while the greatest improvement for the group starting in the morning was found between post- and retention-test (sleep in-between). Overall, our results provide first insight into the potential relevance of sleep for effective anticipation training in sports.