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Representational Account of Memory: Insights from Aging and Synesthesia
Gaby Pfeifer1, Jamie Ward1, Dennis Chan2
1University of Sussex.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|July 27, 2016
Summary
Visual perception and memory are linked. Synesthesia and aging show opposite brain activity patterns in visual associative memory tasks, supporting a continuum model.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Perception
Background:
- The representational account suggests perception and memory exist on a continuum.
- Disparate sensory-perceptual abilities may influence associative memory.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the continuum account of memory.
- To investigate how synesthesia and aging affect visual associative memory.
Main Methods:
- A between-group design comparing young synesthetes, older adults, and young controls.
- Region of Interest (ROI) and whole-brain analyses of ventral visual stream activity.
- Examined associative retrieval and recognition of non-synesthetic visual stimuli.
Main Results:
- Associative retrieval showed enhanced activity in young/older adults compared to synesthetes.
- Associative recognition showed enhanced activity in synesthetes compared to older adults.
- Age effects in early visual cortex differed between retrieval and recognition tasks.
Conclusions:
- Inverted group effects in visual cortex activity support the continuum model.
- Perceptual mechanisms directly contribute to visual associative memory.
- Synesthesia and aging provide unique insights into perception-memory interactions.
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