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Refresh my memory: Episodic memory reinstatements intrude on working memory maintenance.
Abigail N Hoskin1, Aaron M Bornstein2, Kenneth A Norman3,2
1Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. anovick@princeton.edu.
Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience
|December 6, 2018
Summary
Episodic memory (EM) retrieval during working memory (WM) tasks can impair recognition performance. This study shows EM content interferes with WM, causing errors and slower responses, even without distraction.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Memory Research
Background:
- Working memory (WM) is crucial for short-term recognition tasks.
- Episodic memory (EM) is thought to influence recognition only when WM is disrupted.
- EM retrieval occurs during quiescence, suggesting potential influence before response preparation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of EM retrieval on short-term recognition memory performance.
- To determine if EM content, reactivated during WM maintenance, affects recognition.
- To explore the neural mechanisms underlying EM-WM interaction.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis.
- Participants performed recognition tasks with varying delay periods.
- fMRI pattern analysis was used to examine brain activity during EM reinstatement.
Main Results:
- Delay-period EM reactivation introduced incidental context into WM.
- Retrieved associations from EM negatively impacted subsequent recognition, causing substitution errors.
- Accurate responses were slowed, and this slowing was mediated by the content of EM reinstatement, as shown by fMRI.
Conclusions:
- Episodic memory exerts a previously unrecognized influence on working memory.
- EM content can interfere with WM maintenance and recognition performance.
- The interaction between EM and WM is more dynamic and pervasive than previously assumed.
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