Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1001 NK Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Leiden University, 2311 EZ Leiden, The Netherlands.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Nov 30;118(48). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2101509118.
For over a century, stability of spatial context across related episodes has been considered a source of memory interference, impairing memory retrieval. However, contemporary memory integration theory generates a diametrically opposite prediction. Here, we aimed to resolve this discrepancy by manipulating local context similarity across temporally disparate but related episodes and testing the direction and underlying mechanisms of memory change. A series of experiments show that contextual stability produces memory integration and marked reciprocal strengthening. Variable context, conversely, seemed to result in competition such that new memories become enhanced at the expense of original memories. Interestingly, these patterns were virtually inverted in an additional experiment where context was reinstated during recall. These observations 1) identify contextual similarity across original and new memories as an important determinant in the volatility of memory, 2) present a challenge to classic and modern theories on episodic memory change, and 3) indicate that the sensitivity of context-induced memory changes to retrieval conditions may reconcile paradoxical predictions of interference and integration theory.
一个多世纪以来，相关情节之间空间语境的稳定性一直被认为是记忆干扰的一个来源，从而损害了记忆检索。然而，当代的记忆整合理论却做出了截然相反的预测。在这里，我们旨在通过在时间上不同但相关的情节中操纵局部语境相似性来解决这一分歧，并测试记忆变化的方向和潜在机制。一系列实验表明，语境稳定性产生了记忆整合和明显的相互强化。相反，变量语境似乎导致了竞争，使得新的记忆以牺牲原始记忆为代价得到增强。有趣的是，在另一个在回忆过程中恢复语境的实验中，这些模式几乎完全相反。这些观察结果 1）确定了原始记忆和新记忆之间的语境相似性是记忆不稳定性的一个重要决定因素，2）对情节记忆变化的经典和现代理论提出了挑战，3）表明上下文引起的记忆变化对检索条件的敏感性可能调和干扰和整合理论的矛盾预测。
