Prediction errors indexed by the P3 track the updating of complex long-term memory schemas

Abstract

Schemas are higher-level knowledge structures that store an abstraction of multiple previous experiences. They allow us to retain a multitude of information, but without the cost of storing every detail. Schemas are believed to be relatively stable, but occasionally have to be updated to remain useful in the face of changing environmental conditions. Once a schema is consolidated, schema updating has been proposed to be the result of a prediction error (PE) based learning mechanism, similar to the updating of less complex knowledge. However, for schema memory this hypothesis has so far been difficult to test since the tools to track small modifications to abstracted memory schemas have not been sensitive enough. Moreover, existing research on electrophysiological correlates of updating have focused on short-term belief updating tasks. Here I am using EEG and continuous memory measures recorded during the encoding of new schema consistent and inconsistent material to test the behavioural and neural correlates of schema updating. Schema updating was assessed in a memory test 24 hours after encountering inconsistent information, demonstrating the long-term effect of such PE-based learning. I observed a stronger relationship between behavioural PE and schema updating measures for inconsistent compared to consistent material, in line with the idea that more updating is required when a schema changes. Moreover, the P3 EEG signal tracked both the PE at the time of learning, as well as the updating of the memory schema one day later in the inconsistent condition. These results demonstrate that schema updating in the face of inconsistent information is indeed driven by PE-based mechanisms, and that similar neural mechanisms underlie the updating of consolidated long-term schemas and short-term belief structures.

Beyond the Positivity Bias: The Processing and Integration of Self-relevant Feedback is Driven by its Alignment with Pre-Existing Self-Views

“…Consistent with our behavioral results, we found that self-congruent and selfincongruent feedback elicited distinct electrophysiological signatures suggesting a rapid discrimination between congruent and incongruent information. Our findings are consistent with ERP literature suggesting that schema-incongruent information triggers rapid electrophysiological responses (Höltje et al, 2019;Richter, 2020).These responses are postulated to reflect a mismatch between incoming information and activated schemas, triggering error signals that result in the updating of mental representations. In contrast, our findings suggested that self-incongruent information did not update participants' selfrepresentations.…”

Rapid Interactions of Widespread Brain Networks Characterize Semantic Cognition

“…The combination of latency, localization, and behavior in JC3 provides evidence that this component shares similarities with the characteristics of the late positive component (LPC; sometimes also referred to as the P300b). The LPC has been linked to post hoc memory schema updates, in which unexpected information either triggers greater long-term memory retrieval processes than expected information already stored in working memory (Olichney et al, 2000) or requires greater reliance on updates to an existing memory scheme (DeLong et al, 2014;Richter, 2019), resulting in a larger LPC amplitude. This effect is dependent on the ease of this process, and so individuals with more automated memory and language processes would be expected to have lower jICA loadings, as is the case in our findings.…”

Neurocognitive Model of Schema-Congruent and -Incongruent Learning in Clinical Disorders: Application to Social Anxiety and Beyond

“…As with behavioral experiments, clinicians administering imagery rescripting have not routinely incorporated intentional rehearsal into the postrescripting homework assignments that patients are instructed to complete in the week following interventions, although we propose that doing so could enhance treatment benefits in the manner detailed above. Indeed, basic experimental studies have shown that schema updating is strengthened in memory in accordance with the time dedicated to the consolidation of schema-inconsistent information (Korkki et al, 2021;Richter, 2020;Richter et al, 2019). Thus, after the acute administration of simulation-based interventions, clinicians should work with patients to deepen their processing of schemaincongruent information through intentional withinand between-sessions practice designed to enhance memory consolidation of new material.…”