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Salient experiences enhance mundane memories through graded prioritization
Chenyang Leo Lin1, Wen Wen1, Phillip Xin Cheng1,2
1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Science Advances
|September 24, 2025
Summary
Salient experiences enhance weak memories, both before and after the event. Memory enhancement depends on semantic links and stimulus proximity, not just salience learning.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Memory Research
Background:
- Salient experiences can create temporal windows, enhancing memory consolidation.
- The selectivity of this enhancement, particularly for semantically related weak memories, is debated.
- Existing neurobiological and behavioral frameworks lack clarity on factors influencing memory enhancement magnitude.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide clear evidence for retroactive and proactive memory enhancement effects.
- To investigate the role of salience learning in memory enhancement.
- To identify factors determining the presence and magnitude of memory enhancement.
Main Methods:
- Conducted 10 independent studies with 648 participants.
- Examined retroactive and proactive memory enhancement.
- Utilized high-level feature embeddings from convolutional neural networks to analyze stimulus proximity.
Main Results:
- Confirmed both retroactive and proactive enhancement of weak memories.
- Stronger salience learning facilitated proactive but not retroactive enhancement.
- Retroactive enhancement correlated with stimulus proximity in feature embedding, indicating a graded prioritization.
Conclusions:
- Salience learning's role in memory enhancement is more nuanced than previously thought.
- Stimulus proximity in feature space is a key factor for retroactive memory enhancement.
- Findings offer new insights into the consolidation mechanisms of everyday memories.
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