Effects of Memorability on Mnemonic Discrimination

Some events are consistently better remembered or forgotten by most people; this intrinsic ability of certain elements is known as memorability. Memorability can help explain up to 75% of the variability in memory performance. Memorability appears to be an inherent feature of episodic memory, or memory for events and experiences. However, what type of information drives certain experiences to be more memorable or forgettable remains unclear. Image memorability has solely been investigated using recognition memory tasks, yet we know other tasks may provide more nuanced measures of memory as well as a mechanistic account for how memorability may be observed in the brain. The hippocampus, a brain region important for episodic memory, plays a key role in reducing interference across memory for similar events. Hippocampal pattern separation permits the differentiation between similar experiences, while pattern completion allows for the reconstruction of experiences from partial cues. However, these hippocampal computations have yet to be examined in the context of memorability. To this end, we developed a novel stimulus set and conducted two mnemonic discrimination experiments to tax hippocampal pattern separation, manipulating both image memorability and interference. These findings have important implications toward a better understanding of episodic memory and will provide an improved characterization of the effects that memorability has on memory performance.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social Sciences

Grantor

Rice University

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Morales Calva, Fernanda

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Leal, Stephanie L

• Episodic Memory
• Memorability
• Mnemonic Discrimination
• Pattern Separation
• Memory

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1911/115394

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.rice.edu:1911/115394