True directed forgetting in pigeons may occur only when alternative working memory is required on forget-cue trials

Roper, Karen L.; Kaiser, Daren H.; Zentall, Thomas R.

doi:10.3758/bf03198924

Cited by 19 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In the case of the DMS tasks used in most studies of directed forgetting in pigeons, however, there is only one cue to remember (or forget). Increasing the list of items to remember may place a sufficient burden on memory to encourage the animals to utilize the remember and forget cues for their intended purpose [30]. Such studies are currently underway.…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustained activation and executive control in the avian prefrontal cortex

Milmine

Rose

Colombo

2008

Brain Research Bulletin

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We review our studies examining neural correlates of directed forgetting and executive control in the avian prefrontal cortex. One of the fundamental forms of executive control is the ability to selectively filter information, retaining that which is critical for the current purposes and discarding that which is not. In our first experiment, we trained birds on a directed-forgetting version of a delayed matching-to-sample task. Following a sample stimulus, a bird heard either a remember tone indicating that a memory test would follow, or a forget tone indicating that no memory test would be given. We found that neural activity in the avian prefrontal cortex increased when the bird was told to remember, and decreased when the bird was told to forget. Behavioral probe tests confirmed that the animals were forgetting on forget trials.Although the sustained activation observed on remember trials and the absence of such activation on forget trials could be a code of remembering and forgetting the sample stimulus, it could also be a code of the possibility of obtaining a reward. To address this issue we conducted a second study in which we used three cues: remember, forget, and forget-reward. The forget-reward cue instructed the subject to forget the sample yet at the same time provided a free reward. Neural activity on forget-reward trials matched that on remember trials tentatively indicating that the sustained activation on remember trials might be a reward code rather than a sample stimulus code. Behavioral probe tests, however, failed to indicate that the animals were forgetting on forget-reward trials, and hence it still is possible that the sustained activation could be a code for memory of the sample stimulus. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Keywords: Sustained activation; Neural correlates of memory; Delay cells; Executive control; Prefrontal cortex; Nidopallium caudolaterale That we remember is self evident, yet how remembering is expressed in the activity of neurons is almost completely unknown. One possible mechanism that has been proposed is that of sustained activation [4,9,20]. Sustained activation is best understood with reference to the delayed matching-to-sample (DMS) task, a classic test of short-term memory in animals [23]. At the end of an intertrial interval (ITI), a sample stimulus (e.g., a circle or a line) is presented on the center of three projectors (see Fig. 1). After the subject makes a response to the sample stimulus, the sample stimulus is turned off for a period of time (delay) during which memory for the sample stimulus is activated. At the end of the delay period, both stimuli (circle and line) appear on the side projectors (comparison). A correct response requires * Corresponding author.E-mail address: colombo@psy.otago.ac.nz (M. Colombo). the subject to select the comparison stimulus that was the same as the sample stimulus. In the case of trial n in Fig. 1, the correct response is to press the circle stimulus, which results in a reward. Selecting the incorrect sti...

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Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustained activation and executive control in the avian prefrontal cortex

Milmine

Rose

Colombo

2008

Brain Research Bulletin

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“…The preponderance of evidence from these investigations shows that people remember better those items that they have been told to remember, as compared with information designated as to be forgotten (see MacLeod, 1998, for a review). Similar effects have been found in analogues of the directed-forgetting paradigm with animals-most typically, pigeons (e.g., Roper, Kaiser, & Zentall, 1995; see reviews by Grant, 1998;Zentall, Roper, Kaiser, & Sherburne, 1998), but also rats (Grant, 1982) and monkeys (Roberts, Mazmanian, & Kraemer, 1984). This research indicates that the ability to actively update and control incoming information is a more general phenomenon and an important skill that can be modeled in a number of species.…”

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confidence: 56%

Transfer of directed-forgetting cues across discrimination tasks with pigeons

Roper

Chaponis

Blaisdell

2005

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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Directed forgetting is shown as impaired performance on a memory test following an instruction that the presented items will not be tested. Experiments utilizing the delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) task have demonstrated that this ability to actively control memory is present in animals; however, no study has yet confirmed that cues to forget established in one DMTS discrimination will successfully transfer to other discriminations. Lacking such evidence, it is not clear whether forgetting cues act as "higher level" task instructions or are represented more simply, perhaps as part of a sample-specific sequence of events. The present study revealed good transfer of the forget cue function in pigeons after prior training with the forget cues in a separate discrimination. This finding is discussed in relation to analogous experiments on occasion setting, in which training within more than one discriminative context has been shown to be critical to the transfer of a conditional relation.

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“…It is possible, however, that the experiment reported by Roper et al (1995) suffered from a new nonmemorial artifact. Grant (personal communication, August 1995) argued that the finding reported by Roper et al might have resulted from interference (rather than reallocation) between the F-cue and sample memory that occurred on F-DIRECTED FORGETTING WITH PIGEONS 561 cued trials but not on R-cued trials.…”

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confidence: 74%

“…Using this reallocation procedure, Roper et al (1995) found a significant decrease in performance on F-cued probe trials as opposed to R-cued trials. It appeared that when nonmemorial artifacts were controlled and pigeons were encouraged to reallocate their memory resources on F-cued trials, directed forgetting effects could be demonstrated.…”

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Directed forgetting in pigeons resulting from the reallocation of memory-maintaining processes on forget-cue trials

Kaiser

Sherburne

Zentall

1997

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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When procedural artifacts are controlled, it has been difficult to demonstrate directed forgetting in pigeons. However, previous research with pigeons has not allowed for the reallocation of working memory (from forget items to remember items) on forget-cued trials as is possible in human directed forgetting experiments. In the present experiment, directed forgetting was found while controlling for procedural artifacts and allowing the pigeons to reallocate memory resources on forget trials. The results indicate that under these conditions, pigeons have active control over memory processing.Directed forgetting, a phenomenon that is well documented in the human literature (Bjork, 1972;Epstein, 1972;Johnson, 1994), has been used traditionally to show that humans can have active control over memory maintaining processes. Although several procedures have been used to demonstrate directed forgetting in humans, the one of most interest here is the "distinctive forget instruction" procedure (see Johnson, 1994). With this procedure, participants are given a list of words, some followed by a cue that instructs them that memory for that word will later be tested (remember cued), and some followed by a cue that instructs them that memory for that word will not be tested (forget cued). Humans typically show better memory for words that are cued to be remembered than for words that are cued to be forgotten. This finding suggests that humans can exert active control over information processing and memory.

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True directed forgetting in pigeons may occur only when alternative working memory is required on forget-cue trials

Cited by 19 publications

References 15 publications

Sustained activation and executive control in the avian prefrontal cortex

Sustained activation and executive control in the avian prefrontal cortex

Transfer of directed-forgetting cues across discrimination tasks with pigeons

Directed forgetting in pigeons resulting from the reallocation of memory-maintaining processes on forget-cue trials

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