On the retrieval of earliest memories.

Earliest memories were examined with respect to recollection type (i.e., remember-know), retrieval type (i.e., direct-generative), retrieval speed, and memory fluency (i.e., phonemic, semantic, and autobiographical). A total of 137 young adults (94 females; Mage = 20.47, SDage = 1.57) reported their earliest memories and specified their recollection and retrieval types for reported memories. They further dated their recollections by reporting the age at event, rated event characteristics and completed the phonemic, semantic, and autobiographical memory fluency tasks. Remembered and known earliest memories were similar in retrieval speed, but remembered memories were more prevalent. For retrieval type, direct and generative retrieval were similar in prevalence, but direct retrieval was faster in recalling the earliest memories. Directly retrieved memories were dated earlier than generated ones, but no such pattern in dating was observed for remember-know distinction. In terms of memory fluency, none of the three fluency tasks predicted the retrieval speed, recollection and retrieval type. For event characteristics, significant differences were observed only for vividness and rehearsal for both retrieval and recollection type. The present study is the first to explore recollection and retrieval type, retrieval speed, memory fluency together with dating and event characteristics in the context of earliest memories.

Cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying false memories: misinformation, distortion or erroneous configuration?

Errors can affect our memory, yet even when there are gaps in our recollection of events, memory often serves us fairly well. Memory formation involves at least three different sub-processes, that are regulated by an underlying neural structure. From a cognitive neuropsychological perspective, a complex process of encoding, consolidating, and retrieval is involved in remembering an event, and it might be hindered by one's emotional state, physiological response to the event itself, and misinformation. As a result, it is very likely that one may struggle to remember specifics of what happened which can increase our susceptibility to the formation of false memories. This has major implications for everyday functioning, as in the case when you mistakenly remember you took your pills when you never did, or where errors have led to false accusations about trauma or abuse, and wrongful convictions of crimes. Memories sometimes contain biases and inaccuracies that prevent them from accurately recalling events. The review will provide an updated overview of current research advances on the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying inaccurate, distorted, or false memories.

European Projects for Patients with Dementia and Their Caregivers.

As we all know there is no treatment that can stop or delay the progression of dementia. The treatment we use is only symptomatic. EFNS (European Federation of Neurological Societies) recommendations for dementia prevention by Sorbi et al. (2012) concluded that there is no treatment, no lifestyle, which could have an effect on prevention or delay of onset of different forms of dementia until today. The future studies in prevention must recruit younger people, larger sample, and for longer period. The last 10 years we have run, in collaboration with organizations in different European countries, many projects in order to support patients with neurodegenerative diseases, mainly patients with dementia and their caregivers. The first project was a 2-year prospective cohort study of antidementia drug non-persistency in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) in Europe: predictors of discontinuation and switch in the ICTUS (Impact of Cholinergic Treatment USe) study, an FP5 project with 1380 patients. Five studies were published. The second project was DESCRIPA study, an FP5 project to DEvelopment of Screening guidelines and clinical CRIteria for Predementia Alzheimer's disease, with 881 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). LLM (Long Lasting Memories) and VRADA (A virtual reality application for the exercise of dementia and Alzheimer patients) are two projects that include body and cognitive exercise for health for the elderly and patients with mild cognitive impairment. The next is the RECAGE (REspectful Caring for the AGitated Elderly) project (Horizon 2020), a prospective cohort study for coping with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. With six European universities we finished a very interesting FP6 project, the AddNeuroMed one, which gives even now information about the progression of normal elderly MCI and AD patients, in collaboration with other consortia. A very interesting Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project about digital biomarkers was entitled Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse-Alzheimer's Disease (RADAR project). The main goal of this project was the development and validation of technology-enabled, quantitative and sensitive measures of functional decline in people with early-stage AD. A running project is an Erasmus+ one in the higher education field, "Genetic counseling in European universities: The case of neurodegenerative diseases" (GECONEU project). The target of this study is to develop an online course for university students focusing on genetic counseling, and support people and society to better understand the aims of genetic testing and the usefulness of genetic counseling by involving students in an innovative learning and teaching setting. AD-gaming, BRIDGE, iCONNECT (Intergenerational CONtact between studeNts and people with dEmentia through CreaTive education), E.L.So.M.C.I (English Lessons with the Use of Songs for People with Mild Cognitive Impairment), Games4CoSkills, and De-Sign are all Erasmus+ projects that aim to improve the quality of life of patients with MCI or dementia. Story2remember, Dementia right, ASPAD (Augmentation of the Support of Patients suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and their caregivers), INFOCARE (Supporting Informal Caregivers of People with Dementia), S.IN.CA.L.A (Supporting Informal Carers: A Whole-Family and Life course Approach), and PIA (Peer support workers as an Innovative force in Advocacy in dementia care) are all Erasmus+ projects for training and supporting caregivers of patients with dementia.

Recognition, remember-know, and confidence judgments: no evidence of cross-contamination here!

ABSTRACTWe report three experiments designed to reveal the mechanisms that underlie subjective experiences of recognition by examining effects of how those experiences are measured. Prior research has explored the potential influences of collecting metacognitive measures on memory performance. Building on this work, here we systematically evaluated whether cross-measure contamination occurs when remember-know (RK) and/or confidence (C) judgments are made after old/new recognition decisions. In Experiment 1, making either RK or C judgments did not significantly influence recognition relative to a standard no-judgment condition. In Experiment 2, making RK judgments in addition to C judgments did not significantly affect recognition or confidence. In Experiment 3, making C judgments in addition to RK judgments did not significantly affect recognition or patterns of RK responses. Cross-contamination was not apparent regardless of whether items were studied using a shallow or deep levels-of-processing task - a manipulation that yielded robust effects on recognition, RK judgments, and C. Our results indicate that under some conditions, participants can independently evaluate their recognition, subjective recognition experience, and confidence. Though contamination across measures of metamemory and memory is always possible, it may not be inevitable. This has implications for the mechanisms that underlie subjective experiences that accompany recognition judgments.

Do young children, like young adults, remember animates better than inanimates?

It has repeatedly been shown in adults that animates are remembered better than inanimates. According to the adaptive view of human memory this is due to the fact that animates are generally more important for survival than inanimates. Animacy enhances not only the quantity but also the quality of remembering. The effect is primarily driven by recollection. Virtually all studies have been conducted in adults, and we believe that the investigation of animacy effects in children is also highly relevant. The present study therefore tested the animacy effect on recollection in young (6-7 years, M = 6.6 years) and older children (10-12 years, M = 10.83 years) using the Remember/Know paradigm. As found in adults, an animacy effect on memory was found, but only in older children, and specifically in the "remember" responses, suggesting, once again, its episodic nature.

Temporal and contextual binding in episodic memory in younger and older adults.

Episodic memory (EM) is a subsystem responsible for storing and recalling information about the basic elements of an event in a binding manner. Some approaches consider the temporal element to be one of the basic components of EM (WWWhen paradigm), while others consider that the contextual component is able in practice to better represent this cognitive ability (WWWhich paradigm). The relationship of both paradigms simultaneously with other instruments for measuring EM has not been investigated in healthy older adults. Thus, the present study examined the performance of young and older adults on questions based on the WWWhen and WWWhich paradigms, investigating the relationship of these questions with episodic (Remember) and non-episodic (Know) strategies. The results showed that for the younger adults both the questions demonstrated to only be significantly related with the "remember" strategy. On the other hand, older adults presented a response pattern in which the "WWWhich" questions used only episodic strategies for their correct resolution. Aging appears to promote a substantial reduction in both "Remember" and "Know" strategies, mainly those associated with solving tasks based on the temporal element of EM.

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Increase the Efficiency of Memory Functioning for Trauma-Related Information.

OBJECTIVE: The present study explored the resources reallocation explanation for memory biases in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), whereby a preferential allocation of cognitive resources to the processing of threatening stimuli could result in both improvements in their memorization and deficits for other types of information. METHOD: To this end, 25 participants presenting significant symptoms of PTSD (i.e., total PCL-5 score ≥33) and 32 participants presenting low levels of symptoms (i.e., total PCL-5 score <20) took part in a Remember/Know recognition procedure associated with a dual-task encoding of positive, neutral, negative, and trauma-related words. In order to manipulate the availability of cognitive resources, the encoding of each word was associated with a simultaneous encoding of series of letters and numbers. RESULTS: Results replicated the increased production of Remember recognitions for trauma-related words in participants with significant PTSD symptoms. However, the dual-task load only impaired remember recognitions for non-trauma-related words. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to expectations, these findings suggest that the encoding of trauma-related information in PTSD is relatively independent from the availability of cognitive resources. Thus, rather than reflecting an increased allocation of cognitive resources to the processing of threatening information, memory biases in PTSD appeared to be supported by an enhanced efficiency of their processing.

Animacy enhances recollection but not familiarity: Convergent evidence from the remember-know-guess paradigm and the process-dissociation procedure.

Words representing living beings are better remembered than words representing nonliving objects, a robust finding called the animacy effect. Considering the postulated evolutionary-adaptive significance of this effect, the animate words' memory advantage should not only affect the quantity but also the quality of remembering. To test this assumption, we compared the quality of recognition memory between animate and inanimate words. The remember-know-guess paradigm (Experiment 1) and the process-dissociation procedure (Experiment 2) were used to assess both subjective and objective aspects of remembering. Based on proximate accounts of the animacy effect that focus on elaborative encoding and attention, animacy is expected to selectively enhance detailed recollection but not the acontextual feeling of familiarity. Multinomial processing-tree models were applied to disentangle recollection, familiarity, and different types of guessing processes. Results obtained from the remember-know-guess paradigm and the process-dissociation procedure convergently show that animacy selectively enhances recollection but does not affect familiarity. In both experiments, guessing processes were unaffected by the words' animacy status. Animacy thus not only enhances the quantity but also affects the quality of remembering: The effect is primarily driven by recollection. The results support the richness-of-encoding account and the attentional account of the animacy effect on memory.

Attentional attenuation (rather than attentional boost) through task switching leads to a selective long-term memory decline.

Allocating attention determines what we remember later. Attentional demands vary in a task-switching paradigm, with greater demands for switch than for repeat trials. This also results in lower subsequent memory performance for switch compared to repeat trials. The main goal of the present study was to investigate the consequences of task switching after a long study-test interval and to examine the contributions of the two memory components, recollection and familiarity. In the study phase, the participants performed a task-switching procedure in which they had to switch between two classifications tasks with pictures. After a short vs. a long study-test interval of a week, the participants performed a surprise memory test for the pictures and gave remember/know judgements. The results showed that recognition memory declined after 1 week and this was mainly due to a decrease in "remember" responses. The results also showed that the task-switching effect on memory was enduring. Whereas the results of the immediate test were mixed, the results of the delayed tests showed that the task-switching effect was based on recollection, expressed in more "remember" responses for repeat than for switch trials. As recollection is more sensitive to attention manipulations than familiarity, the results align with the notion that attentional requirements at study determine what we remember, in particular after a long study-test interval.

Eye-closure effects and the influence of short-term storage and processing capacity on episodic memory.

Two experiments investigated differences in short-term storage and processing capacity on the magnitude of eye-closure effects on episodic memory. Experiment 1 compared individuals with high (vs. low) forward and backward spans in the free-recall of words retrieved under both eyes closed and open conditions. Main effects of both forward and backward span capacity (greater recall for the high span group) and eye-closure (higher recall with eyes closed) were found. Eye-closure was also associated with more "remember" responses. Experiment 2 compared individuals with high (vs. low) reading spans and found both main effects for reading span and eye-closure (greater recall for the high span group and with eyes closed). Remember responses were associated with both high reading span and eye-closure. The absence of interactions is discussed in terms of explanations of eye-closure effects that differentiate between modality-general and modality-specific processes.

Quantum Gravity If Non-Locality Is Fundamental.

I take non-locality to be the Michelson-Morley experiment of the early 21st century, assume its universal validity, and try to derive its consequences. Spacetime, with its locality, cannot be fundamental, but must somehow be emergent from entangled coherent quantum variables and their behaviors. There are, then, two immediate consequences: (i). if we start with non-locality, we need not explain non-locality. We must instead explain an emergence of locality and spacetime. (ii). There can be no emergence of spacetime without matter. These propositions flatly contradict General Relativity, which is foundationally local, can be formulated without matter, and in which there is no "emergence" of spacetime. If these be true, then quantum gravity cannot be a minor alteration of General Relativity but must demand its deep reformulation. This will almost inevitably lead to: matter not only curves spacetime, but "creates" spacetime. We will see independent grounds for the assertion that matter both curves and creates spacetime that may invite a new union of quantum gravity and General Relativity. This quantum creation of spacetime consists of: (i) fully non-local entangled coherent quantum variables. (ii) The onset of locality via decoherence. (iii) A metric in Hilbert space among entangled quantum variables by the sub-additive von Neumann entropy between pairs of variables. (iv) Mapping from metric distances in Hilbert space to metric distances in classical spacetime by episodic actualization events. (v) Discrete spacetime is the relations among these discrete actualization events. (vi) "Now" is the shared moment of actualization of one among the entangled variables when the amplitudes of the remaining entangled variables change instantaneously. (vii) The discrete, successive, episodic, irreversible actualization events constitute a quantum arrow of time. (viii) The arrow of time history of these events is recorded in the very structure of the spacetime constructed. (ix) Actual Time is a succession of two or more actual events. The theory inevitably yields a UV cutoff of a new type. The cutoff is a phase transition between continuous spacetime before the transition and discontinuous spacetime beyond the phase transition. This quantum creation of spacetime modifies General Relativity and may account for Dark Energy, Dark Matter, and the possible elimination of the singularities of General Relativity. Relations to Causal Set Theory, faithful Lorentzian manifolds, and past and future light cones joined at "Actual Now" are discussed. Possible observational and experimental tests based on: (i). the existence of Sub- Planckian photons, (ii). knee and ankle discontinuities in the high-energy gamma ray spectrum, and (iii). possible experiments to detect a creation of spacetime in the Casimir system are discussed. A quantum actualization enhancement of repulsive Casimir effect would be anti-gravitational and of possible practical use. The ideas and concepts discussed here are not yet a theory, but at most the start of a framework that may be useful.

Sensitivity of the hippocampus to objective but not subjective episodic memory judgments.

We assessed whether neural activity in the hippocampus dissociates according to whether memory test items elicit a subjective sense of recollection or accurate retrieval of contextual information. We reanalyzed a previously acquired dataset from a study in which participants made both objective (source memory for spatial context) and subjective (Remember-Know) judgments for each test item. Results indicated that the hippocampus was exclusively sensitive to the amount of contextual information retrieved, such that accurate source memory judgments were associated with greater activity than inaccurate judgments, regardless of Remember/Know status. The findings add to the evidence that the hippocampus is insensitive to the subjective experience of recollection, but supports retrieval of contextual information.

Using the phenomenology of memory for recent events to bridge the gap between episodic and semantic memory.

Public events such as celebrity news, tragedies, and political events are widely experienced. Initially at least, memories of these events are "episodic" in nature; however, these events are also stored in associative networks similar to the semantic organization of knowledge (N. R. Brown, 1990, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 119[3], 297-314). Thus, these memories provide a novel way of examining how episodically experienced events might become semanticized and integrated into the knowledge base. Younger and older adults rated their subjective memory strength for and answered questions about details of events occurring over the previous 12 years. Participants also rated their phenomenological experience using a modified remember/know paradigm, in which no instructions about usage of the terms were provided. Interestingly, remembered and known items were equal in terms of subjective strength. Know responses were highly accurate, and more so than remember responses. Older and younger adults performed similarly. Participants' own definitions of remember, know, and just familiar revealed that knowing is associated with retrieval from semantic memory, whereas remembering and just familiarity are more associated with event/episodic memory. These results suggest that memory for public events shares phenomenological features with both episodic/event memory and semantic memory. Public events thus allow researchers to examine the complex ways in which storage of novel information can be jointly maintained in both episodic and semantic memory.

Probing emotional recognition memory: how different response formats affect response behaviour.

Receiver-operating characteristic curves from confidence ratings and remember/know (R/K) judgments are often used to estimate the contribution of familiarity and recollection to recognition memory. Both coming with specific advantages and disadvantages, which could be reduced by their combination. Little is known how the combination of both methods impacts response behaviour. This could be particularly important for emotional memory research, which is susceptible to variation in meta-mnemonic processes. We obtained reference performance indices from the two methods, instructing individuals to give confidence ratings or R/K judgments in one step. Against these, we contrasted R/K judgments in a two-step format and two combined formats, confidence ratings followed by R/K judgments and vice versa. Regarding reference formats, confidence ratings resulted in more liberal response criteria and false alarm rates than R/K judgments. Two-step R/K judgments and confidence ratings followed by R/K judgments resulted in patterns similar to one-step R/K judgments. Reversing the order resulted in more liberal response biases, higher hit and false alarms rates. Recollection and familiarity were unaffected by response formats. Valence effects did not vary with response formats. The present results suggest that confidence ratings followed by R/K judgments provide the advantages of both without biasing response behaviour.

Effects of survival processing on list method directed forgetting.

Two experiments examined the effects of directed (intentional) forgetting on information processed for its survival value. Experiment 1 used the list-method directed forgetting procedure in which items processed for their relevance to survival, moving house or pleasantness were followed by the cue to remember or forget. Following the encoding of a second list, free-recall of both lists showed that survival encoding brought about greater remembering (after the remember cue) and forgetting (after the forget cue). Experiment 2 also used the list-method and manipulated mental context reinstatement prior to recall. Although this manipulation was effective in enhancing memory, more directed forgetting was again shown in the survival condition. In both experiments the effects of survival processing were shown also in free-recall "remember" (vs. "know") responses, indicative of the retrieval of associative or contextual details. The mechanisms that might underpin these were evaluated and considered in relation to future work.

The production of false recognition and the associated state of consciousness following encoding in a naturalistic context in aging.

Using virtual reality, we implemented a naturalistic variant of the DRM paradigm in young and older adults to evaluate false recall and false recognition. We distinguished false recognition related to the highest semantic association (the critical lures), semantic similarity (i.e. items that belong to the same semantic category), and perceptual similarity (i.e. items that are similar, but not identical in terms of shape or color). The data revealed that younger adults recalled and recognized more correct elements than older adults did while the older adults intruded more critical items than younger adults. Both age groups produced false recognition related to the critical items, followed by perceptually and then semantically related items. False recognitions were highly recollective as they were mainly associated with a sense of remembering, even more so in older adults than in young adults. The decline of executive functions and working memory predicted age-related increases in false memories.

Episodic and semantic memory processes in the boundary extension effect: An investigation using the remember/know paradigm.

BACKGROUND: Boundary extension (BE) is a phenomenon where participants report from memory that they have experienced more information of a scene than was initially presented. The goal of the current study was to investigate whether BE is fully based on episodic memory or also involves semantic scheme knowledge. METHODS: The study incorporated the remember/know paradigm into a BE task. Scenes were first learned incidentally, with participants later indicating whether they remembered or knew that they had seen the scene before. Next, they had to rate 3 views - zoomed in, zoomed out or unchanged - of the original picture on similarity in closeness in order to measure BE. RESULTS: The results showed a systematic BE pattern, but no difference in the amount of BE for episodic ('remember') and semantic ('know') memory. Additionally, the remember/know paradigm used in this study showed good sensitivity for both the remember and know responses. DISCUSSION: The results suggest that BE might not critically depend on the contextual information provided by episodic memory, but rather depends on schematic knowledge shared by episodic and semantic memory. Schematic knowledge might be involved in BE by providing an expectation of what likely lies beyond the boundaries of the scene based on semantic guidance. GEL CLASSIFICATION: 2343 learning & memory.

The Memory Effect of Reflected Self-Appraisals on Different Types of Others.

The development of one's self-concept unfolds within early interactions with intimate significant others for childhood and adolescence. Previous studies suggest that people define themselves in part through internalized perceptions of other people's beliefs about them, known as reflected self-appraisals. Even in adulthood, reflected self-appraisals still remain critically influential on direct self-appraisals, and the affect might depend on the different types of others. In the present study, for the first time, we extend the classic "other-reference" paradigm to the field of reflected self-appraisals in order to examine whether there is a difference in the memory performance of reflected self-appraisals on different types of others in an early adult sample. In the experiment, participants were told to encode personality trait words by judging how different types of others (romantic partners, friends, and classmates) think about the participants themselves. After a retention interval, they received a surprise recognition memory test. The results showed that the memory performance of romantic partners is significantly better than that of friends and classmates, indicating that the memory performance of reflected self-appraisals varies across the others with different levels of closeness. Specifically, the closer the relationship between people and others is, the better the memory performance of reflected self-appraisals will be. Meanwhile, the speed and the encoding deepness of the reflected self-appraisals vary among different genders, leading to the gender effect of recognition memory. This study might help deepen our understanding on the development of self-concept in adulthood.

The effect of age on recollection is not moderated by differential estimation methods.

Episodic memory performance declines with increasing age. It has sometimes been reported that this decline is more marked when episodic recollection is estimated by "objective" measures such as source memory performance than when it is estimated by "subjective" measures such as the "Remember/Know" procedure. Here, our main goal was to directly contrast recollection estimates derived from these procedures in the same samples of young and older participants (24 adults per age group, within-subjects manipulation of test procedure). Following identical study phases in which words were paired with either faces or scenes, participants' memories were assessed in separate test blocks using either Remember/Know or source memory procedures. Contrary to several prior reports, the deleterious effects of age on recollection estimates did not differ according to test type. Thus, we found no evidence that age differentially impacts subjective and objective recollection estimates. Additionally, and consistent with prior findings, effects of age on estimates of familiarity-driven recognition were small and non-significant.

Supporting older eyewitnesses' episodic memory: the self-administered interview and sketch reinstatement of context.

Environmental support at retrieval improves episodic performance, yet there exists very few empirically evaluated techniques for supporting older witnesses/victims' remembering (>65 years). We investigated two techniques for use in a criminal justice context - the Self-Administered Interview and Sketch Reinstatement of Context. Older adults (N = 134) witnessed an unexpected live event, following which half immediately completed a Self-Administered Interview and half did not (Time 1). All were interviewed 48 h later (Time 2) using one of three face-to-face interview techniques: Sketch Reinstatement of Context, Mental Reinstatement of Context, or no support Control. Those who completed a Self-Administered Interview at Time 1 recalled more correct information at Time 2 irrespective of interview condition and confabulated less. Likewise, participants interviewed using the Sketch Reinstatement of Context technique recalled more correct information and confabulated less, whether they had completed a Self-Administered Interview, or not. However, the Self-Administered Interview + Sketch Reinstatement of Context was the most effective combination, indicating an interaction between stabilising a memory trace quickly and how sketching appears to scaffold memory retrieval during face-to-face interviews.