Temporal Regularity May Not Improve Memory for Item-Specific Detail

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Mrinmayi Kulkarni¹  Deborah E. Hannula¹ 

[1] Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, United States

关键词: episodic memory;    pattern separation;    attention;    entrainment;    temporal expectation;    timing;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.623402

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Regularities in event timing allow for the allocation of attention to critical time-points when an event is most likely to occur, leading to improved visual perception. Results from recent studies indicate that similar benefits may extend to memory for scenes and objects. Here, we investigated whether benefits of temporal regularity are evident when detailed, item-specific representations are necessary for successful recognition memory performance. In Experiments 1 and 2, pictures of objects were presented with either predictable or randomized event timing, in separate encoding blocks. In the test phase, old and new objects were presented, intermixed with perceptually similar exemplars of encoded objects. In Experiment 3 we attempted to replicate previously reported memory enhancements for scenes. In contrast to predictions, temporal regularity did not affect response times (RT) or improve recognition memory accuracy in any of our experiments. These results suggest that any effects of temporal expectation on memory are subtle and may be sensitive to minor changes in task parameters. In sum, indirect upregulation of attention through imposed temporal structure may not be sufficient to have downstream effects on memory performance.

【 授权许可】

CC BY