Attentional fluctuations and the temporal organization of memory

Abstract

Event boundaries and temporal context shape the organization of episodic memories. We hypothesized that attentional fluctuations during encoding serve as “events” that shape temporal context representations and recall organization. Individuals encoded trial-unique objects during a modified sustained attention task. Memory was tested with free recall. Response time variability during the encoding tasks was used to characterize “in the zone” and "out of the zone" attentional states. We predicted that: 1) “in the zone”, vs. “out of the zone”, attentional states should be more conducive to maintaining temporal context representations that can cue temporally organized recall; and 2) temporally distant “in the zone” states may enable more recall “leaps” across intervening items. We replicated several important findings in the sustained attention and memory fields, including more online errors during “out of the zone” vs “in the zone” attentional states, and recall that was temporally structured. Yet, across four studies, we found no consistent evidence for either of our main hypotheses. Recall was robustly temporally organized, and there was no difference in recall organization for items encoded “in the zone” vs “out of the zone”. We conclude that temporal context serves as a strong scaffold for episodic memory, one that can support organized recall even for items encoded during relatively poor attentional states.

Target detection does not influence temporal memory

“…In contrast, switching task sets at event boundaries represents a procedural working memory update (Oberauer, 2009), which requires a new event model to guide actions in performing the new task. In a similar vein, previous research has found that spontaneous attentional fluctuations during a sustained task do not affect the temporal organization of items during later recall, suggesting that changes in attention alone are not sufficient to create event boundaries when the task remains the same (Jayakumar et al, 2022). Our results provide additional insights into the role of task goals as an important determinant of how experience is organized and segmented in memory.…”

A generalized cortical activity pattern at internally-generated mental context boundaries during unguided narrative recall

“…Namely, when one major mental context switches to another, the brain may pass through a transient off-focus (Mittner et al, 2016) or mind-blanking (Mortaheb et al, 2022; Ward & Wegner, 2013) state which is distinct from both processing external stimuli (e.g., movie watching) and engaging in internal thoughts (e.g., memory recall). This account may also explain the difference between within- vs. between-movie boundary patterns: in terms of attentional fluctuation (Jayakumar et al, 2022; Song, Finn, et al, 2021), external attention is enhanced at within-movie event boundaries (Pradhan & Kumar, 2021; Zacks et al, 2007), whereas the relay state is associated with lapses in attention (deBettencourt et al, 2018; Esterman et al, 2014). An alternative, but not mutually exclusive, possibility is that the boundary state involves the recruitment of cognitive control to resolve the competition between mental contexts.…”

“…between-movie boundary patterns: in terms of attentional fluctuation (Jayakumar et al, 2022;Song, Finn, et al, 2021), external attention is enhanced at within-movie event boundaries (Pradhan & Kumar, 2021;Zacks et al, 2007), whereas the relay state is associated with lapses in attention (deBettencourt et al, 2018;Esterman et al, 2014). An alternative, but not mutually exclusive, possibility is that the boundary state involves the recruitment of cognitive control to resolve the competition between mental contexts.…”

Grounding the Attentional Boost Effect in Events and the Efficient Brain

“…The available data are not encouraging. In two studies, Mulligan et al (2016Mulligan et al ( , 2021 in attention over time also may have little effect on temporal context memory (Jayakumar et al, 2022). It is possible that the transient nature of responses in the continuous dual-task paradigm boosts episodic memory while having little effect on the formation of inter-item associations (cf.…”