Predicting image memorability from evoked feelings.

While viewing a visual stimulus, we often cannot tell whether it is inherently memorable or forgettable. However, the memorability of a stimulus can be quantified and partially predicted by a collection of conceptual and perceptual factors. Higher-level properties that represent the "meaningfulness" of a visual stimulus to viewers best predict whether it will be remembered or forgotten across a population.

Prefrontal tDCS fails to modulate memory retrieval in younger and older adults.

Previous research shows that a single session of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) can improve the accuracy of episodic memory retrieval, but stimulation effects are not always found and may be moderated by time of day. Here, we report the results from a rigorous clinical trial (NCT03723850) designed to replicate these tDCS findings in younger adults and extend them to cognitively normal older adults. We conducted the largest double-blind, between-subjects tDCS study on memory retrieval in younger and older adults to date.

Predicting visual memory across images and within individuals.

We only remember a fraction of what we see-including images that are highly memorable and those that we encounter during highly attentive states. However, most models of human memory disregard both an image's memorability and an individual's fluctuating attentional states. Here, we build the first model of memory synthesizing these two disparate factors to predict subsequent image recognition.