Type of encoded material and age modulate the relationship between episodic recall of visual perspective and autobiographical memory

Abstract

Episodic memory enables us to form a bank of autobiographical memories across our lifespan. The relationship between autobiographical memory and laboratory-measures of episodic memory is complicated and these processes might be differentially affected by ageing (e.g. . Different patterns of recollection for matched real-world and laboratory-based episodes in younger and older adults. Cognition, 202, 104309.). Here, we examine whether the ability to recall one's own visual perspective relates to richness of autobiographical recall, and how this relationship is affected by age. Memory of perspective at encoding, was assessed in younger (18-35 years) and older adults (65-85 years). Participants, wearing head cameras, viewed arrays of objects. Later they were asked which images represented earlier scenes, and if the image was taken from their perspective (i.e. from their camera). Performance was compared with autobiographical memory. Accuracy in identifying their own perspective correlated with autobiographical scores. Age-group was a moderating factor in this relationship. Subsequently, new participants encoded photographs of objects and were later asked whether they recognised the images. Visual perspective was manipulated in these photographs. In this task there was no relationship between performance and autobiographical memory. In younger adults only 3-D encoding of scenes relates directly to autobiographical memory but ability to complete these two tasks appears to operate independently in the older group.

Perspective matters: When visual perspective reshapes autobiographical memories.

“…During a recognition memory test, a couple of hours later, participants were shown pairs of photographs of the objects and asked to identify which one matched their encoding experience (i.e., from their camera). Older adults were impaired in choosing the correct photograph when there was a shift in perspective, and these findings were replicated in another study using a similar paradigm (Kapsetaki et al, 2022). Thus, existing research suggests that aging has complex effects on visual perspective in memory.…”

“…Several studies have reported age-related differences in the visual perspective of autobiographical memories (El Haj et al, 2019; Kapsetaki et al, 2022; Piolino et al, 2006; Russell et al, 2019; Siedlecki et al, 2015). For example, Piolino et al (2006) asked young and older adult participants to recall autobiographical memories from recent and remote periods and to provide own-eyes and observer-like perspective ratings.…”

Human faces and face‐like stimuli are more memorable

“…Another limitation of our study is that we only examined one modality (vision) and only restricted ourselves to two‐dimensional stimuli within that modality. It has been previously shown that there is a differentiation in memory for real three‐dimensional stimuli versus photographs of real three‐dimensional stimuli (Kapsetaki et al, 2022; Snow et al, 2014). Thus, future studies could examine whether our findings translate to actual stimuli in real life (i.e., real three‐dimensional stimuli rather than images of them) and to stimuli in other modalities (e.g., audition and touch).…”