{"id":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","oai_identifier":"oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/91993"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/toronto-retro/oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/91993","repository":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","name":"University of Toronto","base_url":"https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Long-Term Memory Biases Auditory Spatial Attention: Healthy and Impaired “Memory-Guided Attention”","abstract":"Attention and memory may be impaired in individuals at-risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), though standard cognitive assessments typically study the two in parallel. In reality, attention and memory interact to facilitate processing, and thus a more integrative approach is required. Here, I used a novel auditory paradigm to assess how long-term contextual memory facilitates detection of an auditory target in healthy young adults (Study 1 and 2), and whether performance on this task is related to Apolipoprotien E4 (APOE4) genotype, a risk factor for the sporadic AD (Study 3). During an initial familiarization task, participants heard audio-clips some of which included a lateralized target (p = 50%). On each trial, participants indicated whether the target was presented from the left, right or was absent. Following a retention interval, the same audio-clips were presented, but now all included a target. Across three experiments in Study 1, young adults showed memory-based gains in response speed and accuracy associated with informative memory cues. In Study 2, auditory context facilitated speeded target detection 24 hours after learning just as well as 1 hour after learning. Differences between electrophysiological (EEG) responses associated with informative and uninformative audio-clip cues point to memory rather than attention mechanisms. In Study 3, differences in cognitive performance in carriers of APOE4 at a pre-clinical phase were observed. Notably, while memory recall was unaffected by genotype, APOE4 dose impaired memory-guided attention. A relationship between explicit memory and memory-guided attention was only observed in non-carriers, and this relationship was broken in APOE4 heterozygotes and homozygotes, indicating that APOE4 carriers rely less on explicit memory to facilitate attention. Because memory-guided attention declined with age in APOE4 carriers, it may be an early disease-related impairment rather than a life-long impairment.","abstract_html":"Attention and memory may be impaired in individuals at-risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), though standard cognitive assessments typically study the two in parallel. In reality, attention and memory interact to facilitate processing, and thus a more integrative approach is required. Here, I used a novel auditory paradigm to assess how long-term contextual memory facilitates detection of an auditory target in healthy young adults (Study 1 and 2), and whether performance on this task is related to Apolipoprotien E4 (APOE4) genotype, a risk factor for the sporadic AD (Study 3). During an initial familiarization task, participants heard audio-clips some of which included a lateralized target (p = 50%). On each trial, participants indicated whether the target was presented from the left, right or was absent. Following a retention interval, the same audio-clips were presented, but now all included a target. Across three experiments in Study 1, young adults showed memory-based gains in response speed and accuracy associated with informative memory cues. In Study 2, auditory context facilitated speeded target detection 24 hours after learning just as well as 1 hour after learning. Differences between electrophysiological (EEG) responses associated with informative and uninformative audio-clip cues point to memory rather than attention mechanisms. In Study 3, differences in cognitive performance in carriers of APOE4 at a pre-clinical phase were observed. Notably, while memory recall was unaffected by genotype, APOE4 dose impaired memory-guided attention. A relationship between explicit memory and memory-guided attention was only observed in non-carriers, and this relationship was broken in APOE4 heterozygotes and homozygotes, indicating that APOE4 carriers rely less on explicit memory to facilitate attention. Because memory-guided attention declined with age in APOE4 carriers, it may be an early disease-related impairment rather than a life-long impairment.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zimmermann, Jacqueline Frances"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Psychology","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Alain, Claude"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-11","date_published":"2018-11","updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:27:54Z","subjects":["Apolipoprotien E4","Attention","Auditory","Memory"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1807/91993","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Alain, Claude"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Zimmermann, Jacqueline Frances"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2018-11"]},{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2018-11-19T18:02:54Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-11-19T18:02:54Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2018-11"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Apolipoprotien E4","Attention","Auditory","Memory"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1807/91993"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Attention and memory may be impaired in individuals at-risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), though standard cognitive assessments typically study the two in parallel. In reality, attention and memory interact to facilitate processing, and thus a more integrative approach is required. Here, I used a novel auditory paradigm to assess how long-term contextual memory facilitates detection of an auditory target in healthy young adults (Study 1 and 2), and whether performance on this task is related to Apolipoprotien E4 (APOE4) genotype, a risk factor for the sporadic AD (Study 3). During an initial familiarization task, participants heard audio-clips some of which included a lateralized target (p = 50%). On each trial, participants indicated whether the target was presented from the left, right or was absent. Following a retention interval, the same audio-clips were presented, but now all included a target. Across three experiments in Study 1, young adults showed memory-based gains in response speed and accuracy associated with informative memory cues. In Study 2, auditory context facilitated speeded target detection 24 hours after learning just as well as 1 hour after learning. Differences between electrophysiological (EEG) responses associated with informative and uninformative audio-clip cues point to memory rather than attention mechanisms. In Study 3, differences in cognitive performance in carriers of APOE4 at a pre-clinical phase were observed. Notably, while memory recall was unaffected by genotype, APOE4 dose impaired memory-guided attention. A relationship between explicit memory and memory-guided attention was only observed in non-carriers, and this relationship was broken in APOE4 heterozygotes and homozygotes, indicating that APOE4 carriers rely less on explicit memory to facilitate attention. Because memory-guided attention declined with age in APOE4 carriers, it may be an early disease-related impairment rather than a life-long impairment."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Long-Term Memory Biases Auditory Spatial Attention: Healthy and Impaired “Memory-Guided Attention”"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Alain, Claude"],"dc:contributor.department":["Psychology"],"dc:creator":["Zimmermann, Jacqueline Frances"],"dc:date":["2018-11"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2018-11-19T18:02:54Z"],"dc:date.available":["2018-11-19T18:02:54Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2018-11"],"dc:description.abstract":["Attention and memory may be impaired in individuals at-risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), though standard cognitive assessments typically study the two in parallel. In reality, attention and memory interact to facilitate processing, and thus a more integrative approach is required. Here, I used a novel auditory paradigm to assess how long-term contextual memory facilitates detection of an auditory target in healthy young adults (Study 1 and 2), and whether performance on this task is related to Apolipoprotien E4 (APOE4) genotype, a risk factor for the sporadic AD (Study 3). During an initial familiarization task, participants heard audio-clips some of which included a lateralized target (p = 50%). On each trial, participants indicated whether the target was presented from the left, right or was absent. Following a retention interval, the same audio-clips were presented, but now all included a target. Across three experiments in Study 1, young adults showed memory-based gains in response speed and accuracy associated with informative memory cues. In Study 2, auditory context facilitated speeded target detection 24 hours after learning just as well as 1 hour after learning. Differences between electrophysiological (EEG) responses associated with informative and uninformative audio-clip cues point to memory rather than attention mechanisms. In Study 3, differences in cognitive performance in carriers of APOE4 at a pre-clinical phase were observed. Notably, while memory recall was unaffected by genotype, APOE4 dose impaired memory-guided attention. A relationship between explicit memory and memory-guided attention was only observed in non-carriers, and this relationship was broken in APOE4 heterozygotes and homozygotes, indicating that APOE4 carriers rely less on explicit memory to facilitate attention. Because memory-guided attention declined with age in APOE4 carriers, it may be an early disease-related impairment rather than a life-long impairment."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1807/91993"],"dc:subject":["Apolipoprotien E4","Attention","Auditory","Memory"],"dc:title":["Long-Term Memory Biases Auditory Spatial Attention: Healthy and Impaired “Memory-Guided Attention”"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:27:54Z"}