Forgetting of specific and gist visual associative episodic memory representations across time

Greene, Nathaniel R.; Naveh–Benjamin, Moshe

doi:10.3758/s13423-023-02256-8

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…sensitivity) by a Bayesian design analysis for detecting a medium-sized age-related effect (d 0.70) in the associative specificity paradigm in prior work and is consistent with the typical sample sizes used in this paradigm (Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2020, 2022a, 2022b, 2022d, 2023b, 2023c. However, 46 older adults participated in Experiment 1, so the final sample size, collapsed across the two experiments, was 80 younger adults and 86 older adults.…”

Section: Participantssupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Many factors could explain why an individual remembers the gist but not the specifics of an episode, including how old the individual is (Abadie et al, 2021; Brainerd & Reyna, 2015; Craik, 2002a; Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2020, 2023a; Koutstaal & Schacter, 1997; Schacter et al, 1997; Tun et al, 1998), how attentionally demanding it is to encode or retrieve specific versus gist representations (Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2022b, 2022d, 2023b; Luo & Craik, 2009; Odegard & Lampinen, 2005; Rabinowitz et al, 1982), and how much time has elapsed between encoding and subsequent retrieval (Andermane & Bowers, 2015; Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2022a, 2022b, 2023c; Sachs, 1967; Sekeres et al, 2016; Thorndyke, 1977). One critical mechanism that may mediate these other factors is the amount of time required to encode the gist versus the specifics of an episode (Ahmad et al, 2017; Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2023e; Navon, 1977; Tatler et al, 2003).…”

Section: Competing Theoretical Positions On the Rate Of Encoding Spec...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, attempting to estimate this recollection rejection process in our MPT model resulted in unsatisfactory fit to older adults' data. Previous studies have also reported low estimates of recollection rejection in item (Brainerd et al, 2022) and associative (Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2020, 2022a, 2022b, 2022d, 2023b, 2023c conjoint recognition tasks, which have often been found to be indistinguishable from 0 among older adults in tests of long-term memory (e.g., Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2022a). We thus constrained the V r parameter of our MPT model to 0 in both groups.…”

Section: The Retrieval Context Matters Even When Older Adults Suffici...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The time course of encoding specific and gist episodic memory representations among young and older adults.

Greene,

Naveh-Benjamin

2024

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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How rapidly can we encode the specifics versus the gist of episodic memories? Competing theories have opposing answers, but empirical tests are based primarily on tasks of item memory. Few studies have addressed this question with tasks measuring the binding of event components (e.g., a person and a location), which forms the core of episodic memory. None of these prior studies included older adults, whose episodic memories are less specific in nature. We addressed this critical gap by presenting face-scene pairs (e.g., an old man with a park) at various encoding presentation rates to 80 young (M = 21.83 years) and 86 older (M = 68.62 years) adults. Participants completed associative recognition tests featuring old/intact (e.g., the old man with the same park), similar (e.g., the old man with a different park), and unrelated (e.g., the old man with a kitchen) pairs. Multinomial-processing-tree model analyses revealed that young and older adults encoded each pair's gist representation more rapidly than its specific representation, supporting fuzzy-trace theory. No age-related differences in gist representations were obtained at any presentation rate, but older adults required more time to encode specific representations commensurate with those of younger adults. However, older adults' abilities to retrieve these representations were cue-dependent, as they were more susceptible than younger adults to experiencing vivid false memories of similar lures. These phantom recollections were remediated with further increases in encoding time. Thus, slower speed of encoding partially underlies age-related declines in episodic memory specificity, but retrieval mechanisms also play a role. Public Significance StatementThe present study provides novel insights into the speed with which specific (detailed) and gist (meaningbased) representations of episodic memories can be encoded among young and older adults. These insights constrain leading theories of information processing and have implications for understanding why older adults are less likely to remember the specific details of past episodes. Providing older adults with more time to learn new information may be one solution for fostering stronger and longer-lasting memories that are rich in specific details.

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Section: Participantssupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Competing Theoretical Positions On the Rate Of Encoding Spec...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Retrieval Context Matters Even When Older Adults Suffici...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The time course of encoding specific and gist episodic memory representations among young and older adults.

Greene,

Naveh-Benjamin

2024

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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“…We often forget the specific details of prior episodes (e.g., perceptual characteristics like the color of an object or the font in which a word appeared), as specific representations are vulnerable to interference and temporal decay (Brainerd & Reyna, 1990, eroding rapidly after encoding (Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2022aSachs, 1967;Thorndyke, 1977). In contrast, we tend to preserve the gist of past episodes (i.e., the core essence or meaning, such as semantic/conceptual characteristics like remembering having seen a type of fruit) for much longer (Murphy & Shapiro, 1994;Sachs, 1967;Sekeres et al, 2016;Thorndyke, 1977), as gist representations erode slowly over time (Flegal & Reuter-Lorenz, 2014;Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2022a, 2023c; but see Andermane & Bowers, 2015). Yet it remains unknown whether initial capacity constraints during encoding in WM only impacts our ability to later access from LTM specific representations of previously encountered information or if these capacity constraints extend also to the gist of past events.…”

Section: Specific and Gist Levels Of Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working Memory Limitations Constrain Visual Episodic Long-Term Memory at Both Specific and Gist Levels of Representation

Greene,

Guitard,

Forsberg

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Limitations in one’s capacity to encode information in working memory (WM) constrain later access to that information in long-term memory (LTM). The present study examined whether these WM constraints on episodic LTM are limited to specific representations of past episodes or extend also to gist representations. Across three experiments, young adult participants (n = 40 per experiment) studied objects in set sizes of two or six items, either sequentially (Experiments 1a and 1b) or simultaneously (Experiment 2). They then completed old/new recognition tests immediately after each sequence (WM tests). After a long study phase, participants completed LTM conjoint recognition tests, featuring old but untested items from the WM phase, lures that were similar to studied items at gist but not specific levels of representation, and new items unrelated to studied items at both specific and gist levels of representation. Results showed that LTM estimates of specific and gist memory representations from a multinomial-processing-tree model were reduced for items encoded under supra-capacity set sizes (six items) relative to within-capacity set sizes (two items). These results suggest that WM encoding capacity limitations constrain episodic LTM at both specific and gist levels of representation, at least for visual objects. The ability to retrieve from LTM each type of representation for a visual item is contingent on the degree to which the item could be encoded in WM.

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“…An expansive literature similarly exists for how our memories worsen as time elapses between encoding and recall (e.g., N. R. Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2023; Talamini & Gorree, 2012), including Ebbinghaus’ famous forgetting curve quantifying the rapid rate of verbal forgetting over a century ago (Ebbinghaus, 1885). As our memories age, they are thought to become more generalized (Harvey, 1986; Posner & Keele, 1970; Sweegers & Talamini, 2014; Zeng et al, 2021), leading to the insertion of semantically-related information that was not in the original experience (i.e., false memories ; Lampinen et al, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drawings reveal changes in object memory, but not spatial memory, across time

Megla,

Rosenthal,

Bainbridge

2024

Preprint

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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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Forgetting of specific and gist visual associative episodic memory representations across time

Cited by 4 publications

References 69 publications

The time course of encoding specific and gist episodic memory representations among young and older adults.

The time course of encoding specific and gist episodic memory representations among young and older adults.

Working Memory Limitations Constrain Visual Episodic Long-Term Memory at Both Specific and Gist Levels of Representation

Drawings reveal changes in object memory, but not spatial memory, across time

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