Unitarisierung und episodische Gedächtnisbildung: Die Effekte semantischer, räumlicher und schema-basierter Enkodierfaktoren auf das assoziative Wiedererkennen und dessen elektrophysiologische Korrelate bei jungen und älteren Erwachsenen und bei Patienten mit Gehirnverletzungen
Kognitive und systemische Humanneurowissenschaften
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
The process of healthy aging is characterized by larger age-related differences in associative memory as compared to item memory. The results from the German side suggest that this age-related associative memory deficit under some circumstances is accompanied by a preserved familiarity process, but attenuated recollection in older age. Bottom-up unitization can serve as an approach to increase the contribution of familiarity to associative recognition memory and to compensate for the diminished recollection so that older adults can improve their associative memory performance. We investigated different bottom-up unitization approaches and their impact on the agerelated associative memory deficit as well as the underlying electrophysiological correlates. Referring to action relationships as bottom-up unitization approach, we found that younger and older adults’ associative memory could benefit from the presence of action relationships. Interestingly, the underlying mechanisms of this memory boost seem to differ between both age groups: Older adults seem to rely more on familiarity for the associations in action-related intact object pairs (i.e., enhanced early familiarity effect for intact as compared to recombined action-related object pairs). The younger adults, instead, seem to rely more on recollection for associations instead of benefitting from enhanced familiarity-based remembering. This conclusion is also supported when underlying representations of action-related object pairs are investigated. Thus, the results suggest that the presence of action relationships acted as bottom-up unitization approach especially for older adults, who could not rely on recollection as younger adults. Furthermore, task-relevant processing of action relations indexed by the LPC is not affected by older age. However, the processing of meaning of non-verbal action relations associated with the N400 is attenuated in older adults. The results from the Israeli sides do not support the view that semantic-meaning-based associative conjunction of visual object stimuli on the level of implicit context effects lead to unitization that can increase familiarity as initially hypothesized. The memory studies with stroke patients have been delayed due to the pandemic situation. As data analyses are still ongoing no firm conclusions on the impact of posterior parietal brain lesions on associative memory performance can be drawn at present.
Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)
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It’s time for action! - Does the presence of an action relationship reduce the associative memory deficit? Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory: The Recollection, Familiarity and Novelty Detection Conference in Liége, Belgium.
Huffer, V., Bader, R. & Mecklinger, A.
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Can you remeber what you can do? – The impact of action relationships as bottom-up unitization approach on the associative memory deficit. Poster presented at the “46. Jahrestagung Psychologie und Gehirn online” in Tübingen, Germany.
Huffer, V., Bader, R. & Mecklinger, A.
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On making sense of senseless action: Age differences in the N400 for bizarre action relations. Poster presented at the Virtual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society.
Weigl, M., Huffer. V.,& Mecklinger, A.
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Action without meaning? - Action relationships as bottom-up unitization approach and its influence on the age-related associative memory deficit - behavioral and electrophysiological evidence
Huffer, V.
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Can the elderly take the action? – The influence of unitization induced by action relationships on the associative memory deficit. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 194, 107655.
Huffer, Véronique; Bader, Regine & Mecklinger, Axel
