Amount, not strength of recollection, drives hippocampal activity: A problem for apparent word familiarity-related hippocampal activation.

The role of the hippocampus in recollection and familiarity remains debated. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we explored whether hippocampal activity is modulated by increasing recollection confidence, increasing amount of recalled information, or both. We also investigated whether any hippocampal differences between recollection and familiarity relate to processing differences or amount of information in memory.

Spatial navigation deficits in amnestic mild cognitive impairment with neuropsychiatric comorbidity.

Aims: To find out whether neuropsychiatric comorbidity (comMCI) influences spatial navigation performance in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).

Methods: We recruited aMCI patients with (n = 21) and without (n = 21) neuropsychiatric comorbidity or alcohol abuse, matched for global cognitive impairment and cognitively healthy elderly participants (HE, n = 22). They completed the Mini-Mental State Examination and a virtual Hidden Goal Task in egocentric, allocentric, and delayed recall subtests.

Material Specificity Drives Medial Temporal Lobe Familiarity But Not Hippocampal Recollection.

The specific role of the perirhinal (PRC), entorhinal (ERC) and parahippocampal cortices (PHC) in supporting familiarity-based recognition remains unknown. An fMRI study explored whether these medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures responded in the same way or differentially to familiarity as a function of stimulus type at recognition. A secondary aim was to explore whether the hippocampus responds in the same way to equally strong familiarity and recollection and whether this is influenced by the kind of stimulus involved.

Personal semantic and episodic autobiographical memories in Korsakoff syndrome: A comparison of interview methods.

Objective: The temporal gradient in patients with Korsakoff's syndrome has been of particular interest in the literature, as many studies have found evidence for a steep temporal gradient, but others have observed more uniform remote memory impairment across all past time periods. Inconsistencies might be the result of the nature of remote memory impairment under study (i.e.

Investigating virtual reality navigation in amnestic mild cognitive impairment using fMRI.

Spatial navigation requires a well-established network of brain regions, including the hippocampus, caudate nucleus, and retrosplenial cortex. Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) is a condition with predominantly memory impairment, conferring a high predictive risk factor for dementia. aMCI is associated with hippocampal atrophy and subtle deficits in spatial navigation.

mHealth and memory aids: levels of smartphone ownership in patients.

Background: The use of mobile devices to deliver healthcare has not yet been exploited in neuropsychological rehabilitation. Smartphones have the potential to serve as multi-functional memory aids.

Aims: To investigate whether patients attending a clinic for mixed memory problems own smartphones, to determine whether this could be a widely applicable medium to use as a memory aids device.

Individual differences in forced-choice recognition memory: partitioning contributions of recollection and familiarity.

In forced-choice recognition memory, two different testing formats are possible under conditions of high target-foil similarity: Each target can be presented alongside foils similar to itself (forced-choice corresponding; FCC), or alongside foils similar to other targets (forced-choice noncorresponding; FCNC). Recent behavioural and neuropsychological studies suggest that FCC performance can be supported by familiarity whereas FCNC performance is supported primarily by recollection. In this paper, we corroborate this finding from an individual differences perspective.

Alterations in working memory networks in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) show preserved or mildly impaired working memory, despite their deficits in episodic memory. We aimed to identify performance and/or neural differences between aMCI patients and matched controls on a standard working memory fMRI task. Neuropsychological assessment demonstrated aMCI impairments in verbal and visual episodic long-term memory, with intact IQ and executive function.

Response to Algarabel et al., 2012 "Recognition memory deficits in mild cognitive impairment". Reconsidering claims of familiarity disruptions in mild cognitive impairment.

There is some debate over the relative impairment of recollection and familiarity in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A recent publication by Algarabel et al. (2012, Recognition memory deficits in mild cognitive impairment, Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 19, 608-619) claims to undermine previous studies reporting preserved familiarity in patients with MCI.

Effects of risperidone, amisulpride and nicotine on eye movement control and their modulation by schizotypy.

Rationale: The increasing demand to develop more efficient compounds to treat cognitive impairments in schizophrenia has led to the development of experimental model systems. One such model system combines the study of surrogate populations expressing high levels of schizotypy with oculomotor biomarkers.

Objectives: We aimed (1) to replicate oculomotor deficits in a psychometric schizotypy sample and (2) to investigate whether the expected deficits can be remedied by compounds shown to ameliorate impairments in schizophrenia.

A visual object stimulus database with standardized similarity information.

Although many visual stimulus databases exist, none has data on item similarity levels for multiple items of each kind of stimulus. We present such data for 50 sets of grayscale object photographs. Similarity measures between pictures in each set (e.

Measuring recollection and familiarity: Improving the remember/know procedure.

The remember/know (RK) procedure is the most widely used method to investigate recollection and familiarity. It uses trial-by-trial reports to determine how much recollection and familiarity contribute to different kinds of recognition. Few other methods provide information about individual memory judgements and no alternative allows such direct indications of recollection and familiarity influences.

British English norms for the spontaneous completion of three-letter word stems.

Word stem completion tasks involve showing participants a number of words and then later asking them to complete word stems to make a full word. If the stem is completed with one of the studied words, it indicates memory. It is a test widely used to assess both implicit and explicit forms of memory.

The contribution of familiarity to recognition memory is a function of test format when using similar foils.

Patient Y.R., who suffered hippocampal damage that disrupted recollection but not familiarity, was impaired on a yes/no (YN) object recognition memory test with similar foils.

Associative memory and the medial temporal lobes.

Associative recognition and recall depend on structures in the medial temporal lobes (MTLs). There is disagreement about whether associative memory is functionally heterogeneous, whether it is functionally distinct from intra-item associative memory and how the MTLs contribute to this kind of memory. Despite an increase in research on associative memory, work has lacked a theoretical framework to guide design and interpretation of studies.

A novel test of conditioned inhibition correlates with personality measures of schizotypy and reward sensitivity.

Conditioned inhibition is demonstrated when the meaning of one signal (conditioned stimulus, CS) is qualified by another (conditioned inhibitor, CI). Whilst the CS presented alone reliably predicts the outcome (unconditioned stimulus, US), when presented in conjunction with the CI the otherwise expected US will not occur. Conditioned inhibition has long been established in animal research but there have been difficulties in establishing reliable procedures suitable for use in human research.