Proactive interference in working memory is related to adult age and cognitive factors: cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from the Betula study

ABSTRACT

In working memory (WM), successful maintenance of information is affected by interference. Older adults may be especially susceptible to the effects of interference, which may cause age-related cognitive impairments. A relative score of IC was derived from cross-sectional (n = 869) and longitudinal (n = 443) data to investigate (1) if IC is reduced in normal aging, (2) if individual differences in IC related to individual performance in other cognitive domains, and (3) if 5-year change in IC is related to change in general cognition. Older age was associated with reduced IC, but no decline in IC occurred over 5 years. Also, the ability to control interference in WM was related to performance in episodic memory, verbal fluency, and block design. We also found that IC mediates the relationship between age and cognition, suggesting that age-related cognitive decline is linked to IC. Finally, we demonstrate that change in IC was related to decline in episodic memory.     

局部注意干扰效应中的眼动特征

采用眼动追踪范式,本研究通过两个实验探讨局部注意干扰效应（LAI）的注意分配特点和机制。实验一采用搜索时间有限的范式,目标呈现70毫秒后消失,在行为和眼动指标上均发现LAI效应：当两个目标距离较近时,反应时增加,正确率降低,总注视时长增长、注视点增加和眼跳速度加快。实验二增加目标呈现时间至1500毫秒以鼓励搜索,产生了比实验一更强烈的LAI效应,且眼跳速度的模式也有不同,说明增加搜索时间并不利于减轻LAI,从而推断LAI的竞争发生在判断阶段,而非搜索和识别目标阶段。     

The (lack of) effect of dynamic visual noise on the concreteness effect in short-term memory

It has been suggested that the concreteness effect in short-term memory (STM) is a consequence of concrete words having more distinctive and richer semantic representations. The generation and storage of visual codes in STM could also play a crucial role on the effect because concrete words are more imaginable than abstract words. If this were the case, the introduction of a visual interference task would be expected to disrupt recall of concrete words. A Dynamic Visual Noise (DVN) display, which has been proven to eliminate the concreteness effect on long-term memory (LTM), was presented along encoding of concrete and abstract words in a STM serial recall task. Results showed a main effect of word type, with more item errors in abstract words, a main effect of DVN, which impaired global performance due to more order errors, but no interaction, suggesting that DVN did not have any impact on the concreteness effect. These findings are discussed in terms of LTM participation through redintegration processes and in terms of the language-based models of verbal STM.     

Remembering – but not knowing – disturbs the relational bindings newly established in short-term/working memory: an age-group comparison

The aim of this study was to highlight that episodic memory and working memory compete for the same resource, which would be diminished in aging. Using the remember/know paradigm, we compared the interference related to the retrieval of words on the parallel processing of preestablished relational bindings (Shifting condition) or newly established relational bindings (Updating condition). Within each age-group, participants had comparable performances in remembering across recognition conditions. However, the results showed that only updating activity was impaired after a remember response was given in the younger group. This specific interaction between updating and remembering – but not knowing – tends to indicate that both working memory and episodic memory rely on the ability to establish contextualized representations. In the older group, the performance in updating activity was impaired regardless of the kind of the competing retrieval. Limitations in terms of interference hypothesis and limited resource hypothesis are discussed.     

Susceptibility to retroactive interference: The effect of context as a function of age and cognition

Previous studies have shown that contextual cues improve memory performance and reduce interference in younger adults. However, it is not clear whether middle-aged and older adults can also benefit from contextual cues, or if this ability diminishes with ageing and cognitive decline. In order to test this question, we tested 69 middle-aged adults (aged 30–50 years) and 65 older adults (aged 65–85). Participants completed a retroactive interference paradigm with or without contextual cues. Cognitive functioning of older adults was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is a sensitive and highly validated tool to detect cognitive decline in older age. The results showed that while middle-aged adults were able to benefit from context to improve recognition and reduce interference, older adults were not able to benefit from it. However, when we compared older adults with lower (<26) and higher (≥26) scores on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, we found that older adults with high cognitive functioning could benefit from context advantage at retrieval to improve recognition compared to those with lower cognitive functioning. Yet, similar to older adults with lower cognitive functioning, they could not benefit from context advantage at encoding and hence were still susceptible to interference.     

On the optimal degree of fluctuations in practice for motor learning

In human movement science, it is widely accepted that random practice generally enhances complex motor-skill learning compared to repetitive practice. In two experiments, a particular variability-related concept is put to empirical test, namely the concept of differencial learning (DL), which assumes (i) that learners should not be distracted from task-space exploration by corrections, and (ii) that learning is facilitated by large inter-trial fluctuations. In both experiments, the advantage of DL over repetitive learning was not statistically significant. Moreover, learning was more pronounced when participants either received corrections in addition to DL (Exp. 1) or practiced in an order in which differences between consecutive trials were relatively small (Exp. 2). These findings suggest that the positive DL effects reported in literature cannot be attributed to the reduction of feedback or to the increase of inter-trial fluctuations. These results are discussed in the light of the structural-learning approach and the two-state model of motor learning in which structure-related learning effects are distinguished from the capability to adapt to current changes.     

The impact of balance‐focused attitudes on job stress: Gender differences evidenced in American and Chinese samples

Based on gender role expectations model, we examined how balance‐focused attitudes would affect job stress by influencing individuals' perceptions of family interference with work (FIW), and investigated whether a gender difference would exist in the relationships among balance‐focused attitudes, FIW and job stress. Using two independent samples from the United States and China, we found support for the indirect influence of balance‐focused attitudes on job stress, through FIW. Participants with balance‐focused attitudes experienced lower levels of job stress as they perceived less interference from family to work. As expected, such indirect effect was more pronounce among male participants, meaning that the male participants benefited more from having balance‐focused attitudes. Discussion, theoretical and practical implications are provided.     

地震经历对插入空白间隔的汉字知觉干扰效应的影响

以插入空白间隔的汉字知觉干扰效应为实验范式, 探讨了不同长短的空白间隔对地震相关字和无关字的影响。结果发现：(1)在实验组中, 与地震无关字相比, 被试对地震相关字有更高的识别率; 而在对照组中, 被试对地震相关字和无关字的识别率差异不显著。(2) 450 ms的间隔能导致地震无关字干扰效应的消失, 却不会对地震相关字的识别造成干扰。本研究支持竞争激活假说, 并为情绪驱动知觉加工的观点提供证据。     

时空干扰效应：基于贝叶斯模型的解释

时空干扰效应是指时间知觉受空间信息干扰或空间知觉受时间信息干扰而出现错觉的现象。部分研究认为时空干扰是不对称的,空间对时间的干扰总是更大;还有研究认为时间和空间相互干扰的强度受实验因素影响,一般来说,空间对时间的干扰更大,但时间也能对空间产生同等程度甚至更大的干扰。在回顾隐喻理论和量值理论的主要观点之后,重点分析贝叶斯模型对时空干扰效应的解释,最后提出未来研究应关注的三个问题,即拓展贝叶斯模型对时空干扰效应的解释范围,探明基于贝叶斯推断的时空干扰神经机制和探索时空干扰的调控方法。     

Dissociation of short- and long-term face memory: evidence from long-term recency effects in temporal lobe epilepsy

We tested whether memory deficits in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are better described by a single- or dual-store memory model. To this aim, we analyzed the influence of TLE and proactive interference (PI) on immediate and 24-h long-term recency effects during face recognition in 16 healthy participants and 18 right and 21 left non-surgical TLE patients. PI in healthy participants or TLE erased the long-term recency effect, but left the immediate recency effect unaffected. Although the immediate recency effect was still visible in right TLE patients, the number of detected recency items during immediate recognition was decreased in right TLE compared to left TLE. Right TLE was also related to decreased detection of pre-recency items during delayed recognition compared to left TLE, and decreased detection of pre-recency items during immediate recognition under PI. The results show that the temporal lobes are necessary for the long-term recency effect, but not for the immediate recency effect, and thus speak for a dissociation of short- and long-term memory for faces. Right TLE is related to more severe long-term memory deficits than left TLE and is also related to additional short-term memory deficits for faces.