Episodic memory for natural and transformed food
Marilena Aiello1, Miriam Vignando1, Francesco Foroni2
1Area of Neuroscience, SISSA, Trieste, Italy.
Summary
Transformed foods are better remembered than natural foods, suggesting evolutionary relevance. This memory difference erodes with significant episodic memory impairment, impacting the natural/transformed food distinction.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Memory
Background:
- Conceptual knowledge of food may align with the living/non-living distinction.
- The animacy effect in episodic memory benefits living over non-living things.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate if the animacy effect extends to natural versus transformed foods.
- Examine how episodic memory for food types is affected by aging and neurodegenerative diseases.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted.
- Experiment 1: Episodic memory for natural and transformed foods in young adults.
- Experiment 2: Episodic memory for food and living/non-living categories in centenarians, Alzheimer's disease (DAT), Progressive Primary Aphasia (PPA) patients, and healthy controls.
Main Results:
- Young adults showed superior recognition memory for transformed foods over natural foods.
- This transformed food advantage diminished in centenarians and neurodegenerative disease patients.
- Centenarians and PPA patients had increased false alarms for natural food; DAT patients showed this for both food types.
- Episodic memory for living things was more resilient to decline than for non-living things in patients, especially PPA.
Conclusions:
- Transformed food's enhanced memorability suggests greater salience and potential evolutionary significance.
- The natural/transformed food distinction in memory is vulnerable to significant episodic memory impairment.
- Findings provide new insights into food memory and extend understanding of the animacy effect in episodic memory.
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