The influence of the hippocampus and declarative memory on word use: Patients with amnesia use less imageable words

Hilverman, Caitlin; Cook, Susan Wagner; Duff, Melissa C.

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.09.028

Cited by 17 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…However, the young participants in this study produced very few semantic details, near floor levels ( M = 3.8, SD = 1.99), precluding our ability to properly assess the dissociation between episodic and semantic details, as in other studies (Hodgetts et al, ). Moreover, in the present study, we cannot rule out the possibility that the association between our purported measurement of episodic AM and hippocampal subregions simply reflects linguistic aspects of narrative construction or production (e.g., see Duff & Brown‐Schmidt, ; Hilverman, Wagner Cook, & Duff, ), although some lesion work suggests that while the hippocampus is required for autobiographical memory, it is not required for producing a detailed narrative (Race, Keane, & Verfaellie, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Episodic autobiographical memory is associated with variation in the size of hippocampal subregions

Palombo

Bacopulos²,

Amaral

et al. 2018

Hippocampus

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Striking individual differences exist in the human capacity to recollect past events, yet, little is known about the neural correlates of such individual differences. Studies investigating hippocampal volume in relation to individual differences in laboratory measures of episodic memory in young adults suggest that whole hippocampal volume is unrelated (or even negatively associated) with episodic memory. However, anatomical and functional specialization across hippocampal subregions suggests that individual differences in episodic memory may be linked to particular hippocampal subregions, as opposed to whole hippocampal volume. Given that the DG/CA circuitry is thought to be especially critical for supporting episodic memory in humans, we predicted that the volume of this region would be associated with individual variability in episodic memory. This prediction was supported using high-resolution MRI of the hippocampal subfields and measures of real-world (autobiographical) episodic memory. In addition to the association with DG/CA , we further observed a relationship between episodic autobiographical memory and subiculum volume, whereas no association was observed with CA or with whole hippocampal volume. These findings provide insight into the possible neural substrates that mediate individual differences in real-world episodic remembering in humans.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Episodic autobiographical memory is associated with variation in the size of hippocampal subregions

Palombo

Bacopulos²,

Amaral

et al. 2018

Hippocampus

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“…Furthermore, instructing these patients to use visual imagery strategies impaired both high and low imagery word pair performance (Jones-Gotman, 1979). More recently, detailed examination of the language use of patients with bilateral hippocampal damage showed that the patients used fewer high imagery words when producing verbal narratives compared to both healthy controls and patients with damage elsewhere in the brain (Hilverman et al, 2017), supporting a link between the hippocampus and word imageability. In addition, higher than expected word pair performance has been found in amnesic patients for highly semantically related word pairs in comparison to unrelated word pairs of the kind that are usually employed in VPA tasks (Shimamura & Squire, 1984;Winocur & Weiskrantz, 1976).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…It could be that people use visual imagery when processing the word pairs (Maguire & Mullally, 2013). This speculation has recently received indirect support from the finding that patients with hippocampal amnesia used significantly fewer high imagery words in their narrative descriptions of real and imagined events (Hilverman, Cook, & Duff, 2017), suggesting a potential link between verbal processing and visual imagery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verbal paired associates and the hippocampus: The role of scenes

Clark

Kim

Maguire

2017

Preprint

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It is widely agreed that patients with bilateral hippocampal damage are impaired at binding pairs of words together. Consequently, the verbal paired associates (VPA) task has become emblematic of hippocampal function. This VPA deficit is not well understood, and is particularly difficult for hippocampal theories with a visuospatial bias to explain (e.g., cognitive map and scene construction theories). Resolving the tension among hippocampal theories concerning the VPA could be important for leveraging a fuller understanding of hippocampal function. Notably, VPA tasks typically use high imagery concrete words and so conflate imagery and binding. To determine why VPA engages the hippocampus, we devised an fMRI encoding task involving closely matched pairs of scene words, pairs of object words and pairs of very low imagery abstract words. We found that the anterior hippocampus was engaged during processing of both scene and object word pairs in comparison to abstract word pairs, despite binding occurring in all conditions. This was also the case when just subsequently remembered stimuli were considered. Moreover, for object word pairs, fMRI activity patterns in anterior hippocampus were more similar to those for scene imagery than object imagery. This was especially evident in participants who were high imagery users, and not in mid and low imagery users. Overall, our results show that hippocampal engagement during VPA, even when object word pairs are involved, seems to be evoked by scene imagery rather than binding. This may help to resolve the issue that visuospatial hippocampal theories have in accounting for verbal memory.

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“…The fact that the passage of time affected the use of language in narrative recollections is relevant to earlier studies describing abnormalities in language use by memory-impaired patients with hippocampal lesions. For example, reports that patients used fewer definite articles (20), higher-frequency words (21), and words with lower imageability (21) may reflect how patients typically speak when memory is weak and lacks detail. This idea was proposed by the earlier authors, and the present findings support it by showing directly that the use of language by memory-impaired patients matched in many respects the use of language by volunteers whose memory was weak as a result of being tested after a long delay.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, other studies have described situations where hippocampal patients use language differently than healthy volunteers (19). For example, hippocampal patients have been reported to use fewer definite articles in their discourse (20), higher-frequency words, and words with lower imageability (21) and to exhibit poorer narrative coherence (i.e., poorer continuity and organization in narratives) (22,23). These irregularities in the use of language could reflect impaired cognitive functions other than memory that are supported by the hippocampus.…”

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confidence: 99%

The nature of recollection across months and years and after medial temporal lobe damage

Heyworth¹,

Squire²

2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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We studied the narrative recollections of memory-impaired patients with medial temporal lobe (MTL) damage who took a 25-min guided walk during which 11 planned events occurred. The recollections of the patients, recorded directly after the walk, were compared with the recollections of controls tested directly after the walk (C1), after one month (C2), or after 2.6 years (C3). With respect to memory for the walk, the narrative recollections of the patients were impoverished compared with C1 but resembled the recollections of volunteers tested after long delays (C2 and C3). In addition, how language was used by the patients in their recollections resembled how language was used by groups C2 and C3 (higher-frequency words, less concrete words, fewer nouns, more adverbs, more pronouns, and more indefinite articles). These findings appear to reflect how individuals, either memory-impaired patients or controls, typically speak about the past when memory is weak and lacks detail and need not have special implications about language use and MTL function beyond the domain of memory. A notable exception to the similarity between patient narratives and the narratives of C2 and C3 was that the control groups reported the events of the walk in correct chronological order, whereas the order in which patients reported events bore no relationship to the order in which events occurred. We suggest that the MTL is especially important for accessing global information about events and the relationships among their elements.

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The influence of the hippocampus and declarative memory on word use: Patients with amnesia use less imageable words

Cited by 17 publications

References 24 publications

Episodic autobiographical memory is associated with variation in the size of hippocampal subregions

Episodic autobiographical memory is associated with variation in the size of hippocampal subregions

Verbal paired associates and the hippocampus: The role of scenes

The nature of recollection across months and years and after medial temporal lobe damage

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