Roberts Brady R T, Meade Melissa E, Fernandes Myra A
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Huron College at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Mem Cognit. 2025 Jan;53(1):282-298. doi: 10.3758/s13421-024-01591-y. Epub 2024 Jun 12.
Memory for words that are drawn or sketched by the participant, rather than written, during encoding is typically superior. While this drawing benefit has been reliably demonstrated in recent years, there has yet to be an investigation of its neural basis. Here, we asked participants to either create drawings, repeatedly write, or list physical characteristics depicting each target word during encoding. Participants then completed a recognition memory test for target words while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Behavioural results showed memory was significantly higher for words drawn than written, replicating the typical drawing effect. Memory for words whose physical characteristics were listed at encoding was also higher than for those written repeatedly, but lower than for those drawn. Voxel-wise analyses of fMRI data revealed two distributed sets of brain regions more active for items drawn relative to written, the left angular gyrus (BA 39) and bilateral frontal (BA 10) regions, suggesting integration and self-referential processing during retrieval of drawn words. Brain-behaviour correlation analyses showed that the size of one's memory benefit for words drawn relative to written at encoding was positively correlated with activation in brain regions linked to visual representation and imagery (BA 17 and cuneus) and motor planning (premotor and supplementary motor areas; BA 6). This study suggests that drawing benefits memory by coactivating multiple sensory traces. Target words drawn during encoding are subsequently remembered by re-engaging visual, motoric, and semantic representations.
在编码过程中，参与者通过绘制或草图而非书写来记忆单词，其记忆效果通常更佳。尽管近年来这种绘图优势已得到可靠验证，但尚未有人对其神经基础进行研究。在此，我们要求参与者在编码过程中要么绘制、反复书写，要么列出描述每个目标单词的物理特征。然后，参与者在接受功能磁共振成像（fMRI）时完成对目标单词的识别记忆测试。行为结果显示，绘制单词的记忆显著高于书写单词，这重现了典型的绘图效应。对在编码时列出物理特征的单词的记忆也高于反复书写的单词，但低于绘制的单词。对fMRI数据的体素分析显示，相对于书写的项目，有两组分布的脑区在绘制项目时更活跃，即左侧角回（BA 39）和双侧额叶（BA 10）区域，这表明在检索绘制单词时存在整合和自我参照加工。脑-行为相关性分析表明，在编码时，相对于书写单词，一个人对绘制单词的记忆优势大小与与视觉表征和意象相关的脑区（BA 17和楔叶）以及运动规划（运动前区和辅助运动区；BA 6）的激活呈正相关。这项研究表明，绘图通过共同激活多种感觉痕迹来促进记忆。编码时绘制的目标单词随后通过重新激活视觉、运动和语义表征而被记住。
