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Baddeley, A. D. Human Memory: Theory and Practice (Revised edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998.
Other Readings
Dodson, C. S., W. Koutstaal, and D. L. Schacter. "Escape from illusion: Reducing false memories." Trends in Cognitive Science. 4 (2000): 391-397. (On web)
PubMed abstract: Illusory memories are unsettling, but far from uncommon. Over the past several years, increasing experimental and theoretical attention has focused on misattribution errors that occur when some form of memory is present but attributed to an incorrect time, place or source. Demonstrations of errors and distortions in remembering raise a question with important theoretical and practical implications: how can memory misattributions be reduced or avoided? We consider evidence that documents the occurrence of illusory memories, particularly false recognition responses, and then review three ways in which memory distortion can be minimized.
Gabrieli, J. D. "Cognitive neuroscience of human memory." Annual Review of Psychology. 49 (1998): 87-115. (On web)
PubMed abstract: Current knowledge is summarized about long-term memory systems of the human brain, with memory systems defined as specific neural networks that support specific mnemonic processes. The summary integrates convergent evidence from neuropsychological studies of patients with brain lesions and from functional neuroimaging studies using positron emission tomography (PET) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Evidence is reviewed about the specific roles of hippocampal and parahippocampal regions, the amygdala, the basal ganglia, and various neocortical areas in declarative memory. Evidence is also reviewed about which brain regions mediate specific kinds of procedural memory, including sensorimotor, perceptual, and cognitive skill learning; perceptual and conceptual repetition priming; and several forms of conditioning. Findings are discussed in terms of the functional neural architecture of normal memory, age-related changes in memory performance, and neurological conditions that affect memory such as amnesia. Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease.
Light, L. L. "Memory and aging." In Memory. Edited by E. L. Bjork & R. A. Bjork. San Diego: Academic Press (1998): 443-490.
Martin, A., and L. L. Chao. "Semantic memory and the brain: Structure and processes." Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 11 (2001): 194-201. (On web)
PubMed abstract: Recent functional brain imaging studies suggest that object concepts may be represented, in part, by distributed networks of discrete cortical regions that parallel the organization of sensory and motor systems. In addition, different regions of the left lateral prefrontal cortex, and perhaps anterior temporal cortex, may have distinct roles in retrieving, maintaining and selecting semantic information.Recent functional brain imaging studies suggest that object concepts may be represented, in part, by distributed networks of discrete cortical regions that parallel the organization of sensory and motor systems. In addition, different regions of the left lateral prefrontal cortex, and perhaps anterior temporal cortex, may have distinct roles in retrieving, maintaining and selecting semantic information.
Metcalfe, J. "Metacognitive processes." In Memory. Edited by E. L. Bjork & R. A. Bjork. San Diego: Academic Press (1996): 381- 407.
Miller, E. K., and J. D. Cohen. "An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function." Annual Review of Neuroscience. In press. (2001). (On web)
PubMed abstract: The prefrontal cortex has long been suspected to play an important role in cognitive control, in the ability to orchestrate thought and action in accordance with internal goals. Its neural basis, however, has remained a mystery. Here, we propose that cognitive control stems from the active maintenance of patterns of activity in the prefrontal cortex that represent goals and the means to achieve them. They provide bias signals to other brain structures whose net effect is to guide the flow of activity along neural pathways that establish the proper mappings between inputs, internal states, and outputs needed to perform a given task. We review neurophysiological, neurobiological, neuroimaging, and computational studies that support this theory and discuss its implications as well as further issues to be addressed.
Wagner, A. D., and W. Koutstaal. "Priming." In Encyclopedia of the Human Brain (in press). Edited by V. S. Ramachandran. San Diego: Academic Press (2002). (On web)
PubMed abstract: Patients with epilepsy frequently complain of memory difficulties yet perform normally on standard neuropsychological tests of memory. It has been suggested that this may be due to an impairment of very long-term memory consolidation processes, beyond those normally assessed in the neuropsychological clinic. We carried out a prospective study of verbal memory over a long-term retention interval of 8 weeks in patients with epilepsy and in controls. Results were compared with performance on conventional tests of memory. Despite normal learning and retention over 30 min, patients with epileptic foci in the left temporal lobe performed disproportionately poorly on the long-term test compared with both patients with epileptic foci in the right temporal lobe and controls. Our findings provide evidence for an extended period of memory consolidation and point to the critical region for this process, at least for verbal material, in the left temporal lobe. The implications of our findings for clinical assessment and therapeutic management of patients with epilepsy are discussed.
Canli T., Z. Zhao, J. Brewer, J. D. Gabrieli, and L. Cahill. "Event-relachated activation in the human amygdala associates with later memory for individual emotional experience." J Neurosci. 20, 19 (Oct 1, 2000): RC99.
PubMed abstract: The role of the amygdala in enhancing declarative memory for emotional experiences has been investigated in a number of animal, patient, and brain imaging studies. Brain imaging studies, in particular, have found a correlation between amygdala activation during encoding and subsequent memory. Because of the design of these studies, it is unknown whether this correlation is based on individual differences between participants or within-subject variations in moment-to-moment amygdala activation related to individual stimuli. In this study, participants saw neutral and negative scenes and indicated how emotionally intense they found each scene. Separate functional magnetic resonance imaging responses in the amygdala for each scene were related to the participants' report of their experience at study and to performance in an unexpected memory test 3 weeks after scanning. The amygdala had the greatest response to scenes rated as most emotionally intense. The degree of activity in the left amygdala during encoding was predictive of subsequent memory only for scenes rated as most emotionally intense. These findings support the view that amygdala activation reflects moment-to-moment subjective emotional experience and that this activation enhances memory in relation to the emotional intensity of an experience.
Cycowicz Y. M., D. Friedman, J. G. Snodgrass, and M. Duff. "Recognition and source memory for pictures in children and adults." Neuropsychologia. 39, 3 (2001): 255-67.
PubMed abstract: The present experiment investigated the developmental aspects of source compared to item memory. College students and 7-8-year-old children viewed pictures drawn in red or green during a study phase, and were asked either to remember the pictures for a subsequent recognition test, or to remember both the pictures and their associated colors for a subsequent source meThe present experiment investigated the developmental aspects of source compared to item memory. College students and 7-8-year-old children viewed pictures drawn in red or green during a study phase, and were asked either to remember the pictures for a subsequent recognition test, or to remember both the pictures and their associated colors for a subsequent source memory test. In the test phase, new and old pictures were presented in black. In the recognition task, participants were asked to make binary old/new recognition judgments, while in the source task, they were asked to make trinary old-green/old-red/new source judgements. Performance on all tasks improved with increasing age, but the age difference for source was much larger than that for item memory. It has been suggested that the frontal lobes play a critical role in the retrieval of source information, and that this brain region relative to the medial temporal lobes continues to develop into late adolescence. Thus, it is possible that immaturity of the frontal lobes may be causally related to the children's lower performance on the source memory task.mory test. In the test phase, new and old pictures were presented in black. In the recognition task, participants were asked to make binary old/new recognition judgments, while in the source task, they were asked to make trinary old-green/old-red/new source judgements. Performance on all tasks improved with increasing age, but the age difference for source was much larger than that for item memory. It has been suggested that the frontal lobes play a critical role in the retrieval of source information, and that this brain region relative to the medial temporal lobes continues to develop into late adolescence. Thus, it is possible that immaturity of the frontal lobes may be causally related to the children's lower performance on the source memory task.
de Fockert J. W., G. Rees, C. D. Frith, and N. Lavie. "The role of working memory in visual selective attention." Science. 291, 5509 (Mar 2 2001): 1803-6.
PubMed abstract: The present experiment investigated the developmental aspects of source compared to item memory. College students and 7-8-year-old children viewed pictures drawn in red or green during a study phase, and were asked either to remember the pictures for a subsequent recognition test, or to remember both the pictures and their associated colors for a subsequent source memory test. In the test phase, new and old pictures were presented in black. In the recognition task, participants were asked to make binary old/new recognition judgments, while in the source task, they were asked to make trinary old-green/old-red/new source judgements. Performance on all tasks improved with increasing age, but the age difference for source was much larger than that for item memory. It has been suggested that the frontal lobes play a critical role in the retrieval of source information, and that this brain region relative to the medial temporal lobes continues to develop into late adolescence. Thus, it is possible that immaturity of the frontal lobes may be causally related to the children's lower performance on the source memory task.
Donaldson D. I., S. E. Petersen, and R. L. Buckner. "Dissociating memory retrieval processes using fMRI: evidence that priming does not support recognition memory." Neuron. 31, 6 (27 Sep 2001): 1047-59.
PubMed abstract: We employed event-related fMRI to constrain cognitive accounts of memory retrieval. Studies of explicit retrieval reveal that lateral and medial parietal, dorsal middle frontal gyrus, and anterior prefrontal cortex respond more for studied than new words, reflecting a correlate of "retrieval success." Studies of implicit memory suggest left temporal cortex, ventral and dorsal inferior frontal gyrus respond less for studied than new words, reflecting a correlate of "conceptual priming." In the present study, responses for old and new items were compared during performance on explicit recognition (old/new judgement) and semantic (abstract/concrete judgement) tasks. Regions associated with priming were only modulated during the semantic task, whereas regions associated with retrieval success were modulated during both tasks. These findings constrain functional-anatomic accounts of the networks, suggesting that processes associated with priming do not support explicit recognition judgments.
Druzgal T. J., and M. D'Esposito. "Activity in fusiform face area modulated as a function of working memory load." Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 10, 3 (Jan 2001): 355-64.
PubMed abstract: Previous fMRI results suggest that extrastriate visual areas have a predominant role in perceptual processing while the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has a predominant role in working memory. In contrast, single-unit recording studies in monkeys have demonstrated a relationship between extrastriate visual areas and visual working memory tasks. In this study we tested whether activity in both the PFC and fusiform face area (FFA) changed with increasing demands of an n-back task for gray-scale faces. Since stimulus presentation was identical across conditions, the n-back task allowed us to parametrically vary working memory demands across conditions while holding perceptual and motor demands constant. This study replicated the result of PFC areas of activation that increased directly with load n of the task. The novel finding in all subjects was FFA activation that also increased directly with load n of the task. Since perceptual demands were equivalent across the three task conditions, these findings suggest that activity in both the PFC and the FFA vary with face working memory demands.