Work

Tracking the relation between gist and item memory over the course of long-term memory consolidation

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Our experiences in the world support memories not only of specific episodes but also of the generalities (the 'gist') across related experiences. It remains unclear how these two types of memories evolve and influence one another over time. In two experiments, 173 human participants encoded spatial locations from a distribution and reported both item memory (specific locations) and gist memory (center for the locations) across 1-2 months. Experiment 1 demonstrated that after 1 month, gist memory was preserved relative to item memory, despite a persistent positive correlation between them. Critically, item memories were biased toward the gist over time. Experiment 2 showed that a spatial outlier item changed this relationship and that the extraction of gist is sensitive to the regularities of items. Our results suggest that the gist starts to guide item memories over longer durations as their relative strengths change.

Source: eLife

DOI: 10.7554/elife.65588

Authors: Tima Zeng, Alexa Tompary, Anna C. Schapiro, Sharon L. Thompson-Schill

Institution: University of Pennsylvania

Language: English

Topic: Memory Processes and Influences

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,500

Funders: University of Pennsylvania, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders