Encoding Contexts Are Incidentally Reinstated During Competitive Retrieval and Track the Temporal Dynamics of Memory Interference

Inês Bramão; Jiefeng Jiang; Anthony D Wagner; Mikael Johansson

doi:10.1093/cercor/bhab529

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Encoding Contexts Are Incidentally Reinstated During Competitive Retrieval and Track the Temporal Dynamics of Memory Interference

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Encoding Contexts Are Incidentally Reinstated During Competitive Retrieval and Track the Temporal Dynamics of Memory Interference

Inês Bramão, Jiefeng Jiang, Anthony D Wagner and Mikael Johansson

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991), Vol.32(22), pp.5020-5035

02/01/2022

DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab529

PMCID: PMC9667177

PMID: 35106538

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Abstract

The ability to remember an episode from our past is often hindered by competition from similar events. For example, if we want to remember the article a colleague recommended during the last lab meeting, we may need to resolve interference from other article recommendations from the same colleague. This study investigates if the contextual features specifying the encoding episodes are incidentally reinstated during competitive memory retrieval. Competition between memories was created through the AB/AC interference paradigm. Individual word-pairs were presented embedded in a slowly drifting real-word-like context. Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) of high temporal-resolution electroencephalographic (EEG) data was used to investigate context reactivation during memory retrieval. Behaviorally, we observed proactive (but not retroactive) interference; that is, performance for AC competitive retrieval was worse compared with a control DE noncompetitive retrieval, whereas AB retrieval did not suffer from competition. Neurally, proactive interference was accompanied by an early reinstatement of the competitor context and interference resolution was associated with the ensuing reinstatement of the target context. Together, these findings provide novel evidence showing that the encoding contexts of competing discrete events are incidentally reinstated during competitive retrieval and that such reinstatement tracks retrieval competition and subsequent interference resolution.

electroencephalography (EEG)

episodic memory

multivariate-pattern analysis (MVPA)

memory reactivation

Details

Title: Subtitle: Encoding Contexts Are Incidentally Reinstated During Competitive Retrieval and Track the Temporal Dynamics of Memory Interference
Creators: Inês Bramão - Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund SE-221 00, Sweden
Jiefeng Jiang - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa 52242-1407, USA
Anthony D Wagner - Department of Psychology, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Mikael Johansson - Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund SE-221 00, Sweden
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991), Vol.32(22), pp.5020-5035
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab529
PMID: 35106538
PMCID: PMC9667177
NLM abbreviation: Cereb Cortex
ISSN: 1047-3211
eISSN: 1460-2199
Grant note: VR 2015-01180 / Swedish Research Council (MAW 2015.0043 / Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation
Language: English
Electronic publication date: 02/01/2022
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984213450402771

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