Indirect modulation of human visual memory
Abstract
Conditions in which memories become maladaptive have inspired extensive research geared to modulate memory by targeting it directly and explicitly. Given limitations of direct memory modulation, we asked the following: can the target memories be modulated indirectly? To address this question, we uniquely targeted visual memories, and leveraged a paradigm utilizing instructions to either forget or remember newly encoded memories. We used a multi-domain approach, and applied the instructions to embedded verbal information presented during encoding (words), with the intention to indirectly modulate recognition of the target visual context memory itself (pictures). Accordingly, participants were presented with two lists of words, where each word was preceded and followed by pictures. Participants were instructed to either remember or forget the first list of words. As expected, the instruction to either remember or forget the words differentially influenced word memory strength. Importantly, the instruction regarding the words, indirectly modulated picture memory strength. Better memory for words resulted in reduced picture memory strength and vice versa, with the instruction to remember the words reducing picture memory strength. Together with a negative correlation between word and picture memory strength, the results suggest a competition for shared resources between memory for content and context. These findings may open new avenues to indirectly modulate maladaptive…
Read the paper
Related studies
- Diarylethenes for Memories and Switches
- Long-Term Potentiation and Memory
- Social Memory Studies: From “Collective Memory” to the Historical Sociology of Mnemonic Practices
- The Cognitive Neuroscience of Working Memory
- Memory aging and brain maintenance
- Effector and Memory CTL Differentiation
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.