Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 12, 2026

Examining the Characteristics of Episodic Memory using Event-related Potentials in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease
Published on: August 30, 2011
Neural evidence of the strategic choice between working memory and episodic memory in prospective remembering
Jarrod A Lewis-Peacock1, Jonathan D Cohen2, Kenneth A Norman2
1Department of Psychology and Imaging Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Abstract:
Theories of prospective memory (PM) posit that it can be subserved either by working memory (WM) or episodic memory (EM). Testing and refining these multiprocess theories of PM requires a way of tracking participants' reliance on WM versus EM. Here we use multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to derive a trial-by-trial measure of WM use in prospective memory. We manipulated strategy demands by varying the degree of proactive interference (which impairs EM) and the memory load required to perform the secondary task (which impairs WM). For the condition in which participants were pushed to rely more on WM, our MVPA measures showed 1) greater WM use and 2) a trial-by-trial correlation between WM use and PM behavior. Finally, we also showed that MVPA measures of WM use are not redundant with other behavioral measures: in the condition in which participants were pushed more to rely on WM, using neural and behavioral measures together led to better prediction of PM accuracy than either measure on its own.
Related Concept Videos
Working Memory
Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory
Storage
Implicit Memories
One key aspect of implicit...
Explicit Memories
Episodic memory contains information about personally experienced events and is reported as a story. An example of episodic memory is recalling a birthday celebration. This type of memory includes the what, where, and when of an event, as...
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory

