Chan Stephanie C Y, Applegate Marissa C, Morton Neal W, Polyn Sean M, Norman Kenneth A
Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States.
Center for Learning and Memory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
Neuropsychologia. 2017 Mar;97:72-82. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.01.029. Epub 2017 Jan 26.
Several prominent theories posit that information about recent experiences lingers in the brain and organizes memories for current experiences, by forming a temporal context that is linked to those memories at encoding. According to these theories, if the thoughts preceding an experience X resemble the thoughts preceding an experience Y, then X and Y should show an elevated probability of being recalled together. We tested this prediction by using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) of fMRI data to measure neural evidence for lingering processing of preceding stimuli. As predicted, memories encoded with similar lingering thoughts about the category of preceding stimuli were more likely to be recalled together. Our results demonstrate that the "fading embers" of previous stimuli help to organize recall, confirming a key prediction of computational models of episodic memory.
几种著名的理论认为，近期经历的信息会留存于大脑中，并通过形成一种与编码时的那些记忆相关联的时间背景，来为当前经历组织记忆。根据这些理论，如果经历X之前的想法与经历Y之前的想法相似，那么X和Y同时被回忆起来的概率应该会提高。我们通过对功能磁共振成像（fMRI）数据进行多体素模式分析（MVPA）来测量先前刺激的持续处理的神经证据，从而检验了这一预测。正如所预测的那样，对先前刺激类别有着相似持续想法时所编码的记忆更有可能同时被回忆起来。我们的结果表明，先前刺激的“余烬”有助于组织回忆，证实了情景记忆计算模型的一个关键预测。
