Strategic retrieval prevents memory interference: the temporal dynamics of retrieval orientation
Kerrén, Casper LU ; Bramao, Ines LU ; Hellerstedt, Robin LU and Johansson, Mikael LU
(2021)
In Neuropsychologia
154.
- Abstract
- Resolving interference between overlapping memories is crucial to remember the past. This study tests the novel prediction that orienting search focus benefits goal-relevant retrieval by reducing competition from unwanted memories. In a modified retrieval-practice paradigm, participants encoded word-pairs in one of two encoding tasks. Critically, to evaluate whether this retrieval orientation (RO) reduces memory interference, target and competitor memories were always related to different encoding tasks. At retrieval, instructions were provided for half of the blocks with the intention to bias remembering towards items encoded with one of the ROs. Behavioural data show that adopting an RO improved target accessibility, strengthened the... (More)
- Resolving interference between overlapping memories is crucial to remember the past. This study tests the novel prediction that orienting search focus benefits goal-relevant retrieval by reducing competition from unwanted memories. In a modified retrieval-practice paradigm, participants encoded word-pairs in one of two encoding tasks. Critically, to evaluate whether this retrieval orientation (RO) reduces memory interference, target and competitor memories were always related to different encoding tasks. At retrieval, instructions were provided for half of the blocks with the intention to bias remembering towards items encoded with one of the ROs. Behavioural data show that adopting an RO improved target accessibility, strengthened the testing effect, and reduced retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) of competitors. Specifically, RIF – typically attributed to inhibitory control of memory interference – was prominent when no retrieval orientation (NRO) instruction was provided. Furthermore, a neural correlate of RO was calculated by training a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to discriminate the electroencephalographic (EEG) spatial brain patterns correspondent to the two ROs over the time course of selective retrieval. RO was characterised by increases in the theta and decreases in the beta frequency band, evident both before and after category-cue onset. While the pre-cue RO reinstatement effect predicted both immediate retrieval-practice success and later target accessibility, the post-cue effect predicted disengagement of inhibitory control, such that participants showing a stronger RO reinstatement effect showed lower levels of RIF. These data suggest that strategically orienting search focus during retrieval both increases target memory accessibility and reduces memory interference, which consequently protects related memories from inhibition and later forgetting. Furthermore, they also highlight the roles of theta and beta oscillations in establishing and maintaining a task-relevant bias towards target memory representations during competitive memory retrieval. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3a15eb78-3384-47ed-bc98-a863ce466866
- author
- Kerrén, Casper
LU
; Bramao, Ines
LU
; Hellerstedt, Robin
LU
and Johansson, Mikael
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-02-05
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- retrieval-orientation, retrieval-induced forgetting, episodic memory, reinstatement, multivariate pattern-analysis, interference
- in
- Neuropsychologia
- volume
- 154
- article number
- 107776
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85100642785
- pmid:33549585
- ISSN
- 1873-3514
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107776
- project
- Learning and remembering: The cognitive neuroscience of memory for real-world events
- Measuring memory reactivation: The temporal dynamics of remembering
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 3a15eb78-3384-47ed-bc98-a863ce466866
- date added to LUP
- 2021-02-04 16:36:17
- date last changed
- 2022-05-12 18:09:03
@article{3a15eb78-3384-47ed-bc98-a863ce466866,
abstract = {{Resolving interference between overlapping memories is crucial to remember the past. This study tests the novel prediction that orienting search focus benefits goal-relevant retrieval by reducing competition from unwanted memories. In a modified retrieval-practice paradigm, participants encoded word-pairs in one of two encoding tasks. Critically, to evaluate whether this retrieval orientation (RO) reduces memory interference, target and competitor memories were always related to different encoding tasks. At retrieval, instructions were provided for half of the blocks with the intention to bias remembering towards items encoded with one of the ROs. Behavioural data show that adopting an RO improved target accessibility, strengthened the testing effect, and reduced retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) of competitors. Specifically, RIF – typically attributed to inhibitory control of memory interference – was prominent when no retrieval orientation (NRO) instruction was provided. Furthermore, a neural correlate of RO was calculated by training a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to discriminate the electroencephalographic (EEG) spatial brain patterns correspondent to the two ROs over the time course of selective retrieval. RO was characterised by increases in the theta and decreases in the beta frequency band, evident both before and after category-cue onset. While the pre-cue RO reinstatement effect predicted both immediate retrieval-practice success and later target accessibility, the post-cue effect predicted disengagement of inhibitory control, such that participants showing a stronger RO reinstatement effect showed lower levels of RIF. These data suggest that strategically orienting search focus during retrieval both increases target memory accessibility and reduces memory interference, which consequently protects related memories from inhibition and later forgetting. Furthermore, they also highlight the roles of theta and beta oscillations in establishing and maintaining a task-relevant bias towards target memory representations during competitive memory retrieval.}},
author = {{Kerrén, Casper and Bramao, Ines and Hellerstedt, Robin and Johansson, Mikael}},
issn = {{1873-3514}},
keywords = {{retrieval-orientation; retrieval-induced forgetting; episodic memory; reinstatement; multivariate pattern-analysis; interference}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Neuropsychologia}},
title = {{Strategic retrieval prevents memory interference: the temporal dynamics of retrieval orientation}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107776}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107776}},
volume = {{154}},
year = {{2021}},
}