Roberts Brady R T, Pruin Julia, Bainbridge Wilma A, Rosenberg Monica D, deBettencourt Megan T
Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, 940 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
Institute for Mind and Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2025 Apr;32(2):875-886. doi: 10.3758/s13423-024-02589-y. Epub 2024 Oct 8.
What we remember reflects both what we encounter, such as the intrinsic memorability of a stimulus, and our internal attentional state when we encounter that stimulus. Our memories are better for memorable images and images encountered in an engaged attentional state. Here, in an effort to modulate long-term memory performance, we manipulated these factors in combination by selecting the memorability of presented images contingent on individuals' natural fluctuations in sustained attention. Can image memorability and attentional state be strategically combined to improve memory? Are memorable images still well remembered during lapses in sustained attention, and conversely, can attentive states rescue memory performance for forgettable images? We designed a procedure to monitor participants' sustained attention dynamics on the fly via their response time fluctuations during a continuous performance task with trial-unique scene images. When high- or low-attentional states were detected, our algorithm triggered the presentation of high- or low-memorability images. Afterwards, participants completed a surprise recognition memory test for the attention-triggered images. Results demonstrated that memory performance for memorable items is not only resistant to lapses in sustained attention but also that memory cannot be further improved by encoding memorable items in engaged attentional states. On the other hand, memory performance for low-memorability images can be rescued by attentive encoding states. In sum, we show that both memorability and sustained attention can be leveraged in real time to maximize memory performance. This approach suggests that adaptive cognitive interfaces can tailor what information appears when to best support overall memory.
我们所记住的内容既反映了我们所遇到的事物，比如刺激的内在可记忆性，也反映了我们遇到该刺激时的内部注意力状态。我们对令人难忘的图像以及在专注注意力状态下遇到的图像记忆更佳。在此，为了调节长期记忆表现，我们通过根据个体在持续注意力方面的自然波动来选择呈现图像的可记忆性，将这些因素结合起来进行操控。图像的可记忆性和注意力状态能否通过策略性地结合来改善记忆呢？在持续注意力出现 lapses 时，令人难忘的图像是否仍能被很好地记住，反之，专注状态能否挽救对易遗忘图像的记忆表现呢？我们设计了一个程序，通过在一个带有独特场景图像的连续执行任务中参与者的反应时间波动，实时监测他们的持续注意力动态。当检测到高注意力或低注意力状态时，我们的算法会触发呈现高可记忆性或低可记忆性的图像。之后，参与者对注意力触发的图像完成了一个意外的识别记忆测试。结果表明，对于令人难忘的项目，记忆表现不仅能抵抗持续注意力的 lapses，而且在专注注意力状态下对令人难忘的项目进行编码并不能进一步提高记忆。另一方面，低可记忆性图像的记忆表现可以通过专注的编码状态来挽救。总之，我们表明可记忆性和持续注意力都可以实时利用，以最大化记忆表现。这种方法表明，自适应认知界面可以根据何时出现何种信息进行定制，以最佳地支持整体记忆。
