Routes to the past: neural substrates of direct and generative autobiographical memory retrieval (original) (raw)
Related papers
Cue generation and memory construction in direct and generative autobiographical memory retrieval
Consciousness and Cognition, 2015
Theories of autobiographical memory emphasise effortful, generative search processes in memory retrieval. However recent research suggests that memories are often retrieved directly, without effortful search. We investigated whether direct and generative retrieval differed in the characteristics of memories recalled, or only in terms of retrieval latency. Participants recalled autobiographical memories in response to cue words. For each memory, they reported whether it was retrieved directly or generatively, rated its visuo-spatial perspective, and judged its accompanying recollective experience. Our results indicated that direct retrieval was commonly reported and was faster than generative retrieval, replicating recent findings. The characteristics of directly retrieved memories differed from generatively retrieved memories: directly retrieved memories had higher field perspective ratings and lower observer perspective ratings. However, retrieval mode did not influence recollective experience. We discuss our findings in terms of cue generation and content construction, and the implication for reconstructive models of autobiographical memory.
Common and unique neural activations in autobiographical, episodic, and semantic retrieval
2007
& This study sought to explore the neural correlates that underlie autobiographical, episodic, and semantic memory. Autobiographical memory was defined as the conscious recollection of personally relevant events, episodic memory as the recall of stimuli presented in the laboratory, and semantic memory as the retrieval of factual information and general knowledge about the world. Our objective was to delineate common neural activations, reflecting a functional overlap, and unique neural activations, reflecting functional dissociation of these memory processes. We conducted an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study in which we utilized the same pictorial stimuli but manipulated retrieval demands to extract autobiographical, episodic, or semantic memories. The results show a functional overlap of the three types of memory retrieval in the inferior frontal gyrus, the middle frontal gyrus, the caudate nucleus, the thalamus, and the lingual gyrus. All memory conditions yielded activation of the left medialtemporal lobe; however, we found a functional dissociation within this region. The anterior and superior areas were active in episodic and semantic retrieval, whereas more posterior and inferior areas were active in autobiographical retrieval. Unique activations for each memory type were also delineated, including medial frontal increases for autobiographical, right middle frontal increases for episodic, and right inferior temporal increases for semantic retrieval. These findings suggest a common neural network underlying all declarative memory retrieval, as well as unique neural contributions reflecting the specific properties of retrieved memories. & D
Theories of autobiographical memory emphasise effortful, generative search processes in memory retrieval. However recent research suggests that memories are often retrieved directly, without effortful search. We investigated whether direct and generative retrieval differed in the characteristics of memories recalled, or only in terms of retrieval latency. Participants recalled autobiographical memories in response to cue words. For each memory, they reported whether it was retrieved directly or generatively, rated its visuo-spatial perspective, and judged its accompanying recollective experience. Our results indicated that direct retrieval was commonly reported and was faster than generative retrieval, replicating recent findings. The characteristics of directly retrieved memories differed from generatively retrieved memories: directly retrieved memories had higher field perspective ratings and lower observer perspective ratings. However, retrieval mode did not influence recollective experience. We discuss our findings in terms of cue generation and content construction, and the implication for reconstructive models of autobiographical memory.
2022
Autobiographical memory—memory for our personal past—is a multifaceted mnemonic activity that evolves throughout the lifespan and interacts with numerous other cognitive functions. Retrieving personal past events engages processes of cue specification, search, and elaboration of details within the specified event. The retrieved content varies from specific episodes unique in time and place to more general representations of autobiographical facts (personal semantics). As expected given this complexity, autobiographical memory is mediated by distributed brain networks, with key regions in the medial temporal lobes and their connections to both anterior and posterior cortical regions supporting different levels of specificity in memory retrieval. These patterns only partially overlap with those evoked by laboratory-based episodic memory paradigms. While most empirical work on autobiographical memory focuses on the recall of particular past events, more recent research concerns individ...
A common functional brain network for autobiographical, episodic, and semantic memory retrieval
2010
The objective of this study was to delineate a common functional network that underlies autobiographical, episodic, and semantic memory retrieval. We conducted an event-related fMRI study in which we utilized the same pictorial stimuli, but manipulated retrieval demands to extract autobiographical, episodic, or semantic memories. To assess this common network, we first examined the functional connectivity of regions identified by a previous analysis of task-related activity that were active across all three tasks. Three of these regions (left hippocampus, left lingual gyrus, and right caudate nucleus) appeared to share a common pattern of connectivity. This was confirmed in a subsequent functional connectivity analysis using these three regions as seeds. The results of this analysis showed that there was a pattern of functional connectivity that characterized all three seeds and that was common across the three retrieval conditions. Activity in inferior frontal and middle temporal cortex bilaterally, left temporoparietal junction, and anterior and posterior cingulate gyri was positively correlated with the seeds, whereas activity in posterior occipitotemporo-parietal regions was negatively correlated. These findings support the idea that a common neural network underlies the retrieval of declarative memories regardless of memory content. This proposed network consists of increased activity in regions that represent internal processes of memory retrieval and decreased activity in regions that mediate attention to external stimuli.
Neural correlates of autobiographical memory retrieval in children and adults
Autobiographical memory (AM) is a critically important form of memory for life events that undergoes substantial developmental changes from childhood to adulthood. Relatively little is known regarding the functional neural correlates of AM retrieval in children as assessed with fMRI, and how they may differ from adults. We investigated this question with 14 children ages 8-11 years and 14 adults ages 19-30 years, contrasting AM retrieval with semantic memory (SM) retrieval. During scanning, participants were cued by verbal prompts to retrieve previously selected recent AMs or to verify semantic properties of words. As predicted, both groups showed AM retrieval-related increased activation in regions implicated in prior studies, including bilateral hippocampus, and prefrontal, posterior cingulate, and parietal cortices. Adults showed greater activation in the hippocampal/ parahippocampal region as well as prefrontal and parietal cortex, relative to children; agerelated differences were most prominent in the first 8 sec versus the second 8 sec of AM retrieval and when AM retrieval was contrasted with semantic retrieval. This study is the first to characterise similarities and differences during AM retrieval in children and adults using fMRI.
Cerebral Representation of One's Own Past: Neural Networks Involved in Autobiographical Memory
1996
We studied the functional anatomy of affect-laden autobiographical memory in normal volunteers. Using H 2 15 O positron emission tomography (PET), we measured changes in relative regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). Four rCBF measurements were obtained during three conditions: REST, i.e., subjects lay at rest (for control); IMPERSONAL, i.e., subjects listened to sentences containing episodic information taken from an autobiography of a person they did not know, but which had been presented to them before PET scanning (nonautobiographical episodic memory ecphory); and PERSONAL, i.e., subjects listened to sentences containing information taken from their own past (autobiographical episodic memory ecphory).
Differential retrieval of past and future autobiographical experiences
Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 2015
Selective retrieval can both impair and enhance memory. In this study we analysed the effects of retrieval practice in the recall of past and future experiences. The participants generated past autobiographical experiences or imagined future experiences using recall cues of typical autobiographical experiences obtained in a previous study. The experiences were presented either in chronological or random order. Regardless of presentation order, retrieval practice produced facilitation in the free recall of practised past and future experiences. No retrieval-induced forgetting was observed for past experiences in the ordered presentation, showing that the temporal organisation of autobiographical experiences prevents the activation of inhibitory processes. Conversely, inhibition was significant in the free recall of future experiences presented in chronological order, possibly because future experiences present less welldefined temporal organisation, impairing the integration that suppresses inhibitory processes. Thus, retrieval-induced forgetting was evident in the random presentation of past and future autobiographical experiences.