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Megla E, Rosenthal SR, Bainbridge WA. Drawings reveal changes in object memory, but not spatial memory, across time. Cognition 2024; 254:105988. [PMID: 39476659 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2024] [Revised: 08/09/2024] [Accepted: 10/15/2024] [Indexed: 11/06/2024]
Abstract
Time has an immense influence on our memory. Truncated encoding leads to memory for only the 'gist' of an image, and long delays before recall result in generalized memories with few details. Here, we used crowdsourced scoring of hundreds of drawings made from memory after variable encoding (Experiment 1) and retentions of that memory (Experiment 2) to quantify what features of memory content change across time. We found that whereas some features of memory are highly dependent on time, such as the proportion of objects recalled from a scene and false recall for objects not in the original image, spatial memory was highly accurate and relatively independent of time. We also found that we could predict which objects were recalled across time based on the location, meaning, and saliency of the objects. The differential impact of time on object and spatial memory supports a separation of these memory systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Megla
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| | | | - Wilma A Bainbridge
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Neuroscience Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
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Megla E, Rosenthal SR, Bainbridge WA. Drawings reveal changes in object memory, but not spatial memory, across time. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.26.577281. [PMID: 38352427 PMCID: PMC10862701 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.26.577281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/21/2024]
Abstract
Time has an immense influence on our memory. Truncated encoding leads to memory for only the 'gist' of an image, and long delays before recall result in generalized memories with few details. Here, we used crowdsourced scoring of hundreds of drawings made from memory after variable encoding (Experiment 1) and retentions of that memory (Experiment 2) to quantify what features of memory content change across time. We found that whereas some features of memory are highly dependent on time, such as the proportion of objects recalled from a scene and false recall for objects not in the original image, spatial memory was highly accurate and relatively independent of time. We also found that we could predict which objects were recalled across time based on the location, meaning, and saliency of the objects. The differential impact of time on object and spatial memory supports a separation of these memory systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Megla
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA
| | | | - Wilma A. Bainbridge
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA
- Neuroscience Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA
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Guillory SB, Kaldy Z. Persistence and Accumulation of Visual Memories for Objects in Scenes in 12-Month-Old Infants. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2454. [PMID: 31780984 PMCID: PMC6851165 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2018] [Accepted: 10/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual memory for objects has been studied extensively in infants over the past 20 years, however, little is known about how they are formed when objects are embedded in naturalistic scenes. In adults, memory for objects in a scene show information accumulation over time as well as persistence despite interruptions (Melcher, 2001, 2006). In the present study, eye-tracking was used to investigate these two processes in 12-month-old infants (N = 19) measuring: (1) whether longer encoding time can improve memory performance (accumulation), and (2) whether multiple shorter exposures to a scene are equivalent to a single exposure of the same total duration (persistence). A control group of adults was also tested in a closely matched paradigm (N = 23). We found that increasing exposure time led to gains in memory performance in both groups. Infants were found to be successful in remembering objects with continuous exposures to a scene, but unlike adults, were not able to perform better than chance when interrupted. However, infants' scan patterns showed evidence of memory as they continued the exploration of the scene in a strategic way following the interruption. Our findings provide insight into how infants are able to build representations of their visual environment by accumulating information about objects embedded in scenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sylvia B. Guillory
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States
| | - Zsuzsa Kaldy
- Psychology Department, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, United States
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Buttafuoco A, Pedale T, Buchanan TW, Santangelo V. Only "efficient" emotional stimuli affect the content of working memory during free-recollection from natural scenes. Cogn Process 2017; 19:125-132. [PMID: 29147817 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-017-0846-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2017] [Accepted: 11/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Emotional events are thought to have privileged access to attention and memory, consuming resources needed to encode competing emotionally neutral stimuli. However, it is not clear whether this detrimental effect is automatic or depends on the successful maintenance of the specific emotional object within working memory. Here, participants viewed everyday scenes including an emotional object among other neutral objects followed by a free-recollection task. Results showed that emotional objects-irrespective of their perceptual saliency-were recollected more often than neutral objects. The probability of being recollected increased as a function of the arousal of the emotional objects, specifically for negative objects. Successful recollection of emotional objects (positive or negative) from a scene reduced the overall number of recollected neutral objects from the same scene. This indicates that only emotional stimuli that are efficient in grabbing (and then consuming) available attentional resources play a crucial role during the encoding of competing information, with a subsequent bias in the recollection of neutral representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arianna Buttafuoco
- Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia, Piazza G. Ermini, 1, 06123, Perugia, Italy
| | - Tiziana Pedale
- Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, National Research University - Higher School of Economics, Krivokolenniy sidewalk, 3a, Moscow, Russian Federation, 101000
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, Rome, 00185, Italy
- Neuroimaging Laboratory, Santa Lucia Foundation, Via Ardeatina, 306, Rome, 00179, Italy
| | - Tony W Buchanan
- Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, 3700 Lindell Boulevard, Saint Louis, MO, 63108, USA
| | - Valerio Santangelo
- Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia, Piazza G. Ermini, 1, 06123, Perugia, Italy.
- Neuroimaging Laboratory, Santa Lucia Foundation, Via Ardeatina, 306, Rome, 00179, Italy.
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Heise N, Ansorge U. The roles of scene priming and location priming in object-scene consistency effects. Front Psychol 2014; 5:520. [PMID: 24910628 PMCID: PMC4039012 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2014] [Accepted: 05/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Presenting consistent objects in scenes facilitates object recognition as compared to inconsistent objects. Yet the mechanisms by which scenes influence object recognition are still not understood. According to one theory, consistent scenes facilitate visual search for objects at expected places. Here, we investigated two predictions following from this theory: If visual search is responsible for consistency effects, consistency effects could be weaker (1) with better-primed than less-primed object locations, and (2) with less-primed than better-primed scenes. In Experiments 1 and 2, locations of objects were varied within a scene to a different degree (one, two, or four possible locations). In addition, object-scene consistency was studied as a function of progressive numbers of repetitions of the backgrounds. Because repeating locations and backgrounds could facilitate visual search for objects, these repetitions might alter the object-scene consistency effect by lowering of location uncertainty. Although we find evidence for a significant consistency effect, we find no clear support for impacts of scene priming or location priming on the size of the consistency effect. Additionally, we find evidence that the consistency effect is dependent on the eccentricity of the target objects. These results point to only small influences of priming to object-scene consistency effects but all-in-all the findings can be reconciled with a visual-search explanation of the consistency effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nils Heise
- Faculty of Psychology, Institut für Psychologische Grundlagenforschung und Forschungsmethoden, Universität Wien Wien, Austria
| | - Ulrich Ansorge
- Faculty of Psychology, Institut für Psychologische Grundlagenforschung und Forschungsmethoden, Universität Wien Wien, Austria
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Saive AL, Royet JP, Ravel N, Thévenet M, Garcia S, Plailly J. A unique memory process modulated by emotion underpins successful odor recognition and episodic retrieval in humans. Front Behav Neurosci 2014; 8:203. [PMID: 24936176 PMCID: PMC4047821 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2014] [Accepted: 05/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
We behaviorally explore the link between olfaction, emotion and memory by testing the hypothesis that the emotion carried by odors facilitates the memory of specific unique events. To investigate this idea, we used a novel behavioral approach inspired by a paradigm developed by our team to study episodic memory in a controlled and as ecological as possible way in humans. The participants freely explored three unique and rich laboratory episodes; each episode consisted of three unfamiliar odors (What) positioned at three specific locations (Where) within a visual context (Which context). During the retrieval test, which occurred 24–72 h after the encoding, odors were used to trigger the retrieval of the complex episodes. The participants were proficient in recognizing the target odors among distractors and retrieving the visuospatial context in which they were encountered. The episodic nature of the task generated high and stable memory performances, which were accompanied by faster responses and slower and deeper breathing. Successful odor recognition and episodic memory were not related to differences in odor investigation at encoding. However, memory performances were influenced by the emotional content of the odors, regardless of odor valence, with both pleasant and unpleasant odors generating higher recognition and episodic retrieval than neutral odors. Finally, the present study also suggested that when the binding between the odors and the spatio-contextual features of the episode was successful, the odor recognition and the episodic retrieval collapsed into a unique memory process that began as soon as the participants smelled the odors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne-Lise Saive
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS UMR 5292 - INSERM U1028 - University Lyon1 Lyon, France
| | - Jean-Pierre Royet
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS UMR 5292 - INSERM U1028 - University Lyon1 Lyon, France
| | - Nadine Ravel
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS UMR 5292 - INSERM U1028 - University Lyon1 Lyon, France
| | - Marc Thévenet
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS UMR 5292 - INSERM U1028 - University Lyon1 Lyon, France
| | - Samuel Garcia
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS UMR 5292 - INSERM U1028 - University Lyon1 Lyon, France
| | - Jane Plailly
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS UMR 5292 - INSERM U1028 - University Lyon1 Lyon, France
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Melcher D, Murphy B. The role of semantic interference in limiting memory for the details of visual scenes. Front Psychol 2011; 2:262. [PMID: 22016743 PMCID: PMC3192955 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2011] [Accepted: 09/21/2011] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Many studies suggest a large capacity memory for briefly presented pictures of whole scenes. At the same time, visual working memory (WM) of scene elements is limited to only a few items. We examined the role of retroactive interference in limiting memory for visual details. Participants viewed a scene for 5 s and then, after a short delay containing either a blank screen or 10 distracter scenes, answered questions about the location, color, and identity of objects in the scene. We found that the influence of the distracters depended on whether they were from a similar semantic domain, such as “kitchen” or “airport.” Increasing the number of similar scenes reduced, and eventually eliminated, memory for scene details. Although scene memory was firmly established over the initial study period, this memory was fragile and susceptible to interference. This may help to explain the discrepancy in the literature between studies showing limited visual WM and those showing a large capacity memory for scenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Melcher
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento Trento, Italy
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