Neural Pattern Classification Tracks Transfer-Appropriate Processing in Episodic Memory

Abstract

The transfer-appropriate processing (TAP) account holds that episodic memory depends on the overlap between encoding and retrieval processing. In the current study, we employed multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) of electroencephalography to examine the relevance of spontaneously engaged visual processing during encoding for later retrieval. Human participants encoded word-picture associations, where the picture could be a famous face, a landmark, or an object. At test, we manipulated the retrieval demands by asking participants to retrieve either visual or verbal information about the pictures. MVPA revealed classification between picture categories during early perceptual stages of encoding (∼170 ms). Importantly, these visual category-specific neural patterns were predictive of later episodic remembering, but the direction of the relationship was contingent on the particular retrieval demand of the memory task: a benefit for the visual and a cost for the verbal. A reinstatement of the category-specific neural patterns established during encoding was observed during retrieval, and again the relationship with behavior varied with retrieval demands. Reactivation of visual representations during retrieval was associated with better memory in the visual task, but with lower performance in the verbal task. Our findings support and extend the TAP account by demonstrating that processing of particular aspects during memory formation can also have detrimental effects on later episodic remembering when other aspects of the event are called-for and shed new light on encoding and retrieval interactions in episodic memory.

Cue overlap supports preretrieval selection in episodic memory: ERP evidence

“…The greater the cue overlap — similarity between the neural representations of the cue and the stored information — the more likely the information is to be retrieved (but see Nairne, 2002 ). For example, it is well established that reinstating the original context in which information was studied, such as a location, benefits memory (see Smith & Vela, 2001 for review), particularly when task demands require retrieval of context (Bramão & Johansson, 2018 ).…”

Encoding contexts are incidentally reinstated during competitive retrieval and track the temporal dynamics of memory interference

“…Brain oscillatory activity has been previously used to successfully train pattern classifiers to distinguish mnemonic representations ( Jafarpour et al. 2014 ; Bramão and Johansson 2018 ) and is thought to support core mechanisms of episodic memory ( Hanslmayr and Staudigl 2014 ; Hanslmayr et al. 2016 ; Schreiner and Staudigl 2020 ).…”

Selective memory retrieval revealed by electroencephalographic (EEG) neural pattern reinstatement

“…More direct neural evidence for internal reinstatement comes from both fMRI and EEG studies that have shown reactivation of neural patterns from targeted studied events. Goal-related neural activity has been detected prior to cued retrieval attempts in several studies, but does not directly show proactive reinstatement of study neural patterns before retrieval unfolds (Bramão et al, 2022;Bramão & Johansson, 2018;Manning et al, 2011;McDuff et al, 2009). This evidence is complemented by findings that study phase neural patterns reappear in the first second or so of memory search in free recall tasks, although such patterns are difficult to distinguish from those accompanying initial recollection (Kragel et al, 2021;Polyn, 2005;Polyn et al, 2012; see also Bramão et al, 2022;Bramão & Johansson, 2018).…”