Targeted memory reactivation and consolidation-like processes during mind-wandering in younger and older adults.

Abstract

Mind-wandering (MW) is a universal cognitive process that is estimated to comprise $30% of our everyday thoughts. Despite its prevalence, the functional utility of MW remains a scientific blind spot. The present study sought to investigate whether MW serves a functional role in cognition. Specifically, we investigated whether MW contributes to memory consolidation-like processes, and if age differences in the ability to reactivate episodic memories during MW may contribute to age-related declines in episodic memory. Younger and older adults encoded paired associates, received targeted reactivation cues during an interval filled with a task that promotes MW, and were tested on their memory for the cued and uncued stimuli from the initial encoding task. Thought probes were presented during the retention (MW) interval to assess participants' thought contents. Across four experiments, we compared the effect of different cue modalities (i.e., auditory, visual) on cued recall performance, and examined both correct retrieval RTs as well as accuracy. Across experiments, there was evidence that stimuli that were cued during the MW task were correctly retrieved more quickly than uncued stimuli and that this effect was more robust for younger adults than older adults. Additionally, the more MW a participant reported during the retention interval, the stronger the cuing effect they produced during retrieval. The results from these experiments are interpreted within a retrieval facilitation framework wherein cues serve to reactivate the earlier traces during MW, and this reactivation benefits retrieval speed for cued items compared with uncued items.

Wakeful Rest Benefits Recall, but Not Recognition, of Incidentally Encoded Memory Stimuli in Younger and Older Adults

“…Thus, this effect should be interpreted with caution. However, it is worth noting that similar speeding effects were recently demonstrated by Nicosia and Balota [ 47 ] using a cuing paradigm for recently encoded materials. Moreover, the speeding effects showed a similar age interaction in that the effects of cuing during the retention interval led to greater speeding on cued recall for younger adults than for older adults [ 47 ].…”

“…Although the distribution of recognition performance was less restricted by ceiling effects ( Figure 3 B) than in Experiment 1 ( Figure 2 B), the confidence ratings in Experiment 2 still demonstrated an apparent ceiling effect ( Figure 3 C), which may limit sensitivity of this measure. However, no effect of wakeful rest was observed on processing speed, which is of course not limited by ceiling effects in the present results and has been shown to be sensitive to experimental manipulation and age differences in a similar cuing paradigm [ 47 ]. Thus, in order to further explore this issue, we aimed to test for wakeful rest effects and age differences in recognition memory performance using a design intended to increase difficulty (thus examining a different range of the recognition performance and confidence distributions, less restricted by ceiling effects), while at the same time minimizing the chances of rehearsal.…”

“…Thus, the speeding effect should be interpreted carefully. However, we have recently shown that similar age-dependent speeding effect are consistently observed in the same expected direction for cued recall performance using a targeted memory cuing paradigm during a post-encoding retention interval [ 47 ]. Inconsistencies in the presence of the speeding effect may be related to levels of overall performance, characteristics of the stimuli, and/or aspects of the testing procedure.…”

“…The potential age differences in the wakeful rest effect might also offer insight into the role of mind-wandering in memory stabilization. Of course, the task-free conditions during wakeful rest create the opportunity for mind-wandering, and indeed, higher rates of mind-wandering are associated with greater memory enhancement during wakeful rest [ 23 , 46 ] and cued reactivation [ 47 ]. Hence, mind-wandering to earlier episodes could serve as retrieval practice and support consolidation type mechanisms.…”

The reach of reactivation: Effects of consciously triggered versus unconsciously triggered reactivation of associative memory

“…The key feature of the current work was our intentional manipulation of consciousness. As discussed above, several studies have considered the role of offline memory processing during wakefulness 3,[8][9][10][11]41 ; see Wamsley (2022) for review). However, although offline states were linked before to sensory decoupling and lack of attention to reactivated material 5 , no study to the best of our knowledge has examined the effect that conscious awareness of the reactivated material has on subsequent memory.…”