People with schizophrenia are known to have difficulties with episodic memory (EM). The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between theta-power and: i) behavioural measures of EM performance, ii) event- related potential (ERP) indices of recollection and, iii) measures of schizophrenia symptomatology. In doing so, the aim was to gain a better understanding of the basic neural mechanisms that contribute to successful EM performance, and how these may differ for people with schizophrenia. The present investigation adopted an endophenotypic approach and collected measures of schizotypy from student participants to minimise patient factors that can confound interpretations. Fifty- four participants were asked to complete a reality-monitoring exclusion EM paradigm whilst electroencephalogram (EEG) data were collected. Measures of theta-power and ERPs were time-locked to words presented during the retrieval phase. There was a significant positive correlation between theta-power over Fz between 600-1000ms post-stimulus presentation and estimates of recollection in the imagine condition as well as a significant negative correlation between these measures of theta-power for perceive items and ERP indices of recollection for imagine items. There was also a significant positive correlation between measures of frontal theta-power in the imagine condition and negative schizotypy. The epoch employed means it is likely these measures of theta- power reflect processes contributing to the content-specific retrieval of imagined items, and post-retrieval processes acting in service of differentiating imagined items in EM. Results are discussed in terms of suggestions for interventions and directions for future research.

Introdução: O aprendizado intencional/incidental pode influenciar a memória. A persistência deste efeito avaliado ao longo do tempo foi pouco estudada até o momento. Objetivos: Avaliar a persistência da memória comparando as aprendizagens intencional e incidental. Métodos: A amostra (120 sujeitos funcionalmente independentes, com idade variando de 18 a 81 anos), foi subdividida em dois grupos (experimental - condição ‘intenção de aprender’ - e controle). Uma abordagem ecológica foi utilizada para a avaliação do aprendizado incidental. As avaliações foram realizadas dois e sete dias após a codificação. Resultados: A intenção de aprender e a aquisição incidental (a partir de experiências de vida diária) melhoraram a recuperação da memória no dia dois, mas não sete dias após a codificação. Conclusão: Estes achados sugerem que o estado motivacional (espontâneo ou induzido) que modula o sistema da atenção deve ser importante para a melhora na recuperação das informações aprendidas. / Background: The intentional/incidental learning can influence memory. The persistence of this effect assessed over time has been little studied up to date. Objectives: To evaluate the persistence of memory comparing intentional and incidental learning conditions. Method: The sample (120 functionally independent subjects, age ranging from 18 to 81 years old), was subdivided into two groups (experimental - intention to learn condition - and control). An ecological approach was applied for the incidental learning condition. The assessments were performed two and seven days after the encoding. Results: The intention to learn and the incidental acquisition (from daily life experiences) improved performance two but not seven days after the encoding. Conclusions: These findings suggest that motivational state (spontaneous or induced) which module the system of attention may be important for the improvement in the retrieval of the information learned.

Many items encoded into episodic memory are highly similar – seeing a stranger’s car may result in a memory representation which overlaps in many features with the memory of your friend’s car. To avoid falsely recognising the novel but similar car, it is important for the representations to be distinguished in memory. Even in healthy young adults failures of this mnemonic discrimination lead relatively often to false recognition, and such errors become substantially more frequent in older age. Whether an item’s representation is discriminated from similar memory representations depends critically on how it is encoded. However, the precise encoding mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. Establishing the determinants of successful mnemonic discrimination is essential for future research into strategies or interventions to prevent recognition errors, particularly in the context of age-related decline. A fuller understanding of age-related decline in mnemonic discrimination can also inform basic models of memory. This thesis evaluated the contribution of encoding processes to mnemonic discrimination both in young adults and in ageing, within the framework of two prominent accounts of recognition memory, the pattern separation account (Wilson et al., 2006) and Fuzzy Trace Theory (FTT; Brainerd & Reyna, 2002). Firstly, a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in young adults found evidence for differences in regions engaged at encoding of images according to the accuracy of later mnemonic discrimination, consistent with both pattern separation and FTT. Evidence of functional overlap between regions showing activity consistent with pattern separation, and activity associated with later accurate recognition was consistent with a role of cortical pattern separation in successful encoding, but there was no direct evidence that cortical pattern separation contributed to mnemonic discrimination. This first evidence of cortical pattern separation in humans was supported by findings that in the majority of pattern separation regions, response functions to stimuli varied in their similarity to previous items were consistent with predictions of computational models. Regional variation in the dimension(s) of similarity (conceptual/perceptual) driving pattern separation was indicative of variation in the type of mnemonic interference minimised by cortical pattern separation. Further evidence of encoding contributions to mnemonic discrimination was provided by an event-related potential study in young and older adults. Older adults showed less distinct waveforms than young adults at encoding of items whose similar lures were later correctly rejected compared to those falsely recognised, supporting the proposal that age-related encoding impairments contribute to the decline in mnemonic discrimination. Finally, a set of behavioural studies found that older adults’ mnemonic discrimination deficit is increased by conceptual similarity, supporting previous findings and consistent with FTT’s account of greater emphasis by older adults on gist processing. However, older adults required greater reduction in perceptual or conceptual similarity in order to successfully reject lures, as uniquely predicted by the pattern separation account. Together, the findings support the notion that encoding processes contribute directly to mnemonic discrimination and its age-related decline. An integrated view of the pattern separation account and FTT is discussed and developed in relation to the current findings.

<p>There is a body of research on the effect of physical activity oncognition in the old adult population. Less research areconducted on adolescents. The aim for this study is to find out ifadolescents long-term memory is affected by physical activity.144 pupils were asked to rate their physical activity each week.Thereafter their long- term memory was tested through tests onepisodic- and semantic memory. The results showed that thosewho are physically active more than 4 hours had a better scoreon part of the semantic test but no effect was found in theepisodic test. This result indicates that physical activity not onlyaffects working memory, as was shown by previous research butalso has an effect in parts of the semantic long-term memory.</p>

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of autobiographical memories to support the improvement of episodic memory (i.e., word recall) in patients with mild- stage Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and healthy older adults. Participants included 20 healthy young-old adults (M Age = 70.90; M MMSE = 28.70), 20 healthy old-old adults (M Age = 79.75; M MMSE = 28.05), and 15 patients with mild-stage AD or mixed dementia (M Age = 74.73; M MMSE = 22.47). Participants were presented with three lists of 30 words, each administered under a different support condition: (1) no cognitive support,(2) autobiographical memory support, and (3) semantic support. In the autobiographical memory support condition, participants associated each to-be- remembered word with a personal memory that was then shortened to a word cue for use in subsequent memory testing. In the semantic support condition, participants associated each to-be-remembered word with a one-word descriptor. Memory was assessed with three recall conditions: immediate free recall, cued recall, and recognition. It was expected that autobiographical memory cues would be more effective than general semantic cues in improving number of words recalled in patients with mild-stage AD and healthy older adults. The results indicated that healthy older adults and patients with mild- stage AD benefited from both forms of cognitive support. Although the young-old group recalled more words in the autobiographical than in the semantic support condition across the three recall conditions, the differences were not significant. The old-old group recalled more words in the autobiographical than in the semantic support condition on tests of immediate free recall. In contrast, the mild AD group recalled more words in the autobiographical than in the semantic support condition on tests of cued recall and recognition. A limitation was the ceiling effect for recognition performance in the young- old and old-old group. Consistent with previous studies, the results indicate that patients with mild-stage AD can benefit from cognitive support to improve episodic memory if support is provided at encoding and retrieval. The results suggest that autobiographical memory cues may be effective for improving everyday memory performance in healthy older adults and patients with mild-stage AD. / Counselling Psychology

Women outperform men in face recognition and are especially good at recognizing other females’ faces. This may be caused by a larger female interest in faces. The aims of this study were to investigate if women were more interested in female faces and if depth of friendship was related to face recognition. Forty-one women and 16 men completed two face recognition tasks: one in which the faces shown earlier had been presented one at a time, and one where they had been shown two and two. The Network of Relationships Inventory was used to assess depth of friendships. As hypothesized, but not statistically significant, women tended to recognize more female faces when faces were presented two and two. No relationships were found between depth of friendships and face recognition. The results gave some support for the previously untested hypothesis that interest has importance in women’s recognition of female faces.

Recent research has revealed many similarities between episodic memory, scene construction, and imagination of the future. It has been suggested that scene construction is the common process underlying memory and imagination, but no study to date has directly compared all three abilities. The present study compared retrieval time, ratings of detail and vividness for episodic memories, remembered scenes and imagined future events cued by landmarks of high and low familiarity. Memories, scenes, and imagined episodes based on a more familiar landmark as a cue were more quickly retrieved, more detailed, and more vivid. This study was the first to demonstrate the effects of frequent encounters with a cue on memory, scene construction and imagination of the future. Additionally, consistent results across conditions, as well as stronger effects in the scene construction condition, provide further evidence of a possible interdependence of episodic memory, imagination of the future, and scene construction.

Recent research has revealed many similarities between episodic memory, scene construction, and imagination of the future. It has been suggested that scene construction is the common process underlying memory and imagination, but no study to date has directly compared all three abilities. The present study compared retrieval time, ratings of detail and vividness for episodic memories, remembered scenes and imagined future events cued by landmarks of high and low familiarity. Memories, scenes, and imagined episodes based on a more familiar landmark as a cue were more quickly retrieved, more detailed, and more vivid. This study was the first to demonstrate the effects of frequent encounters with a cue on memory, scene construction and imagination of the future. Additionally, consistent results across conditions, as well as stronger effects in the scene construction condition, provide further evidence of a possible interdependence of episodic memory, imagination of the future, and scene construction.

Consider a common social interaction: Two people must each attend to and remember the other person’s behaviour while also keeping track of their own responses. Knowledge of what one said to whom is important for subsequent interactions so that information is not repeated to the same person. Remembering what one said to others is also important in the workplace where supervisors need to remember to whom they have told specific information so that they can later assess assignment progress from the relevant employee. The processes involved in remembering the destination of information will be referred to as “destination memory” in this dissertation. Although there has been extensive research regarding the processes involved in remembering the source of information, or “source memory,” there has been little to no research on destination memory. In a series of four experiments, this dissertation delineates the core features of destination memory. In Experiment 1, a paradigm was developed to assess destination memory in the laboratory. This experiment also corroborated complaints of destination memory failures: Adults have very poor destination memory when compared to memory for the information they tell or the person to whom they tell the information. Destination memory fundamentally differs from source memory in terms of how information is transferred—“input” in the case of source memory and “output” in the case of destination memory. Attention is directed at the processes involved in transmitting information in the case of destination memory which leaves fewer attention resources for associating the information with the person one is telling it to. Therefore, it would be anticipated that destination memory would be worse than source memory. Experiment 2 directly contrasted destination memory and source memory and confirmed that destination memory accuracy was indeed substantially lower than source memory accuracy. Because in the case of a destination event information is self-produced, attention is focused on oneself. Experiment 3 assessed whether self-focus reduces the association between the outputted information and the person that one is telling it to. When self-focus increased, so too did destination memory errors because fewer attentional resources were available to integrate the person-information pairing. This led to the prediction that, in the reverse situation where attentional resources are directed to the person-information pairing at encoding, then destination memory should improve. Experiment 4 confirmed this prediction: Destination memory was enhanced when people’s attention was shifted from themselves to the person-information pairing. This thesis has undertaken to examine a surprisingly neglected component of normal remembering—remembering who one told something to. To study this “destination memory,” a new paradigm is introduced. Across four experiments, destination memory is seen to be quite fallible, more so than source memory. An account is offered in terms of destination memory being undermined by the self-focus that it generates. This view is reinforced by two experiments that show that increasing self-focus reduces destination memory whereas increasing environment-focus improves destination memory. Like source memory, destination memory is a key component of episodic memory, the record of our personal past.

Consider a common social interaction: Two people must each attend to and remember the other person’s behaviour while also keeping track of their own responses. Knowledge of what one said to whom is important for subsequent interactions so that information is not repeated to the same person. Remembering what one said to others is also important in the workplace where supervisors need to remember to whom they have told specific information so that they can later assess assignment progress from the relevant employee. The processes involved in remembering the destination of information will be referred to as “destination memory” in this dissertation. Although there has been extensive research regarding the processes involved in remembering the source of information, or “source memory,” there has been little to no research on destination memory. In a series of four experiments, this dissertation delineates the core features of destination memory. In Experiment 1, a paradigm was developed to assess destination memory in the laboratory. This experiment also corroborated complaints of destination memory failures: Adults have very poor destination memory when compared to memory for the information they tell or the person to whom they tell the information. Destination memory fundamentally differs from source memory in terms of how information is transferred—“input” in the case of source memory and “output” in the case of destination memory. Attention is directed at the processes involved in transmitting information in the case of destination memory which leaves fewer attention resources for associating the information with the person one is telling it to. Therefore, it would be anticipated that destination memory would be worse than source memory. Experiment 2 directly contrasted destination memory and source memory and confirmed that destination memory accuracy was indeed substantially lower than source memory accuracy. Because in the case of a destination event information is self-produced, attention is focused on oneself. Experiment 3 assessed whether self-focus reduces the association between the outputted information and the person that one is telling it to. When self-focus increased, so too did destination memory errors because fewer attentional resources were available to integrate the person-information pairing. This led to the prediction that, in the reverse situation where attentional resources are directed to the person-information pairing at encoding, then destination memory should improve. Experiment 4 confirmed this prediction: Destination memory was enhanced when people’s attention was shifted from themselves to the person-information pairing. This thesis has undertaken to examine a surprisingly neglected component of normal remembering—remembering who one told something to. To study this “destination memory,” a new paradigm is introduced. Across four experiments, destination memory is seen to be quite fallible, more so than source memory. An account is offered in terms of destination memory being undermined by the self-focus that it generates. This view is reinforced by two experiments that show that increasing self-focus reduces destination memory whereas increasing environment-focus improves destination memory. Like source memory, destination memory is a key component of episodic memory, the record of our personal past.