Models of Memory (Part 2)

Models of Memory (Part 2)

1. Dual Process Theory of Recognition Memory

   • Two Bases of Recognition : -Familiarity -Recollection
     • Familiarity: Item was previously encountered even though NO CONTEXTUAL DETAIL can be retrieved. It is FAST and AUTOMATIC. It is based on perception of memory strength
     • Recollection: A process that consists of RETRIEVING SPECIFIC DETAILS associated with the prior presentation of an item. SLOWER and more ATTENTION DEMANDING
   • Butcher on a bus phenomenon - recognise face and then after a while recognise who it is
   • How can Recollection and Familiarity processes be measured?
     • Remember-Know Task
       • Respond "remember" if can remember contextual details of item (e.g. if it was first on the list)
       • Respond "Know" if seems familiar but no specific recollection
       • Respond "New" if item has not been presented before

2. Evidence for dual-process theory

   • YONELINAS (2002)
     • Remember-Know judgements can be FUNCTIONALLY DISSOCIATED
       • "Remember" but not "know", "Know" but not "remember",, "Remember" and "Know" similarly and "remember" and "know" in opposite ways
         • Supports the idea that RECOLLECTION AND FAMILIARITY are INDEPENDENT and DISTINCT PROCESSES
       • Effects of Depth Processing: GARDINER (1988)
         • Study Phase- Two conditions: Shallow Processing - Produce a word that rhymes with the given word (e.g brain....train) Deep Processing - Generate a semantic associate (e.g. Book....Library)
           • Test Phase- Remember-Know judgements
             • Results: Deeper processing affected remember responses (recollection) but not know responses (familiarity)
         • Examples of dissociation
           • Effects of Changing Modality of Presenation
             • Study Phase: Words presented VISUALLY for 300ms. PPs identify if any blurred letter
               • Test Phase: Remember-Know-New judgements, words presented VISUALLY or AUDITORILY
                 • Results: Changing the modality of presentation between study and test affects KNOW but not REMEMBER judgements
                   • Functional dissociations are consistent with the concept of DISTINCT MEMORY PROCESSES
             • Gregg & Gardiner (1994)

3. Brain regions involved in recollection and familiarity

   • Different structures within the MTL have different roles
     • PERIRHINAL CORTEX DAMAGE = affects familiarity but spares recollection
       • E.g patient NB (Bowles et al, 2007)
     • HIPPOCAMPAL DAMAGE affects recollection but spares familiarity
       • Yonelinas et al, 2002
     • SPECIALISTAION
   • Recollection and familiarity are different processes but there is NO SPECIALISATION within MTL
     • Hippocampal damage affects BOTH recollection and familiarity equally
       • Squire & Wixted (2011)
       • The perirhinal cortex is sensitive to weak memories and the hippocampus is sensitive to strong memories - this can give rise to neuroimaging dissociations

4. Single-process Account

   • Remember-know judgements reflect memories of different strengths / confidences
     • Remember = high confidence response, Know = low confidence responses
   • If a single-process model can explain the remember-know responses, is a dual process needed?
     • A study found that hippocampal neurons, regardless of successful recollection, responded to the familiarity of objects. Thus, the hippocampus may not exclusively subserve the recollection process. However, they also found that successful item recognition was not related to whether or not 'familiarity' neurons fired.