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Schemas allow us to make assumptions about the world based upon previous experiences and aid in memory organisation and retrieval. However, a reliance on schemas may also result in increased false memories to schematically related lures. Prior neuroimaging work has linked schematic processing in memory tasks to activity in prefrontal, visual, and temporal regions. Yet, it is unclear what type of processing in these regions underlies memory errors. The current study examined where schematic lures exhibit greater neural similarity to schematic targets, leading to this memory error, as compared to neural overlap with non-schematic lures, which, like schematic lures, are novel items at retrieval. Results showed that patterns of neural activity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, medial frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, hippocampus, and occipital cortices exhibited greater neural pattern similarity for schematic targets and schematic lures than between schematic lures and non-schematic lures. As such, results suggest that schematic membership, and not object history, may be more critical to the neural processes underlying memory retrieval in the context of a strong schema.
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This content will become publicly available on January 5, 2026
Neural effects of memory training to reduce false memories in older adults: Univariate and multivariate analyses
The growing population of older adults emphasizes the need to develop interventions that prevent or delay some of the cognitive decline that accompanies aging. In particular, as memory impairment is the foremost cognitive deficit affecting older adults, it is vital to develop interventions that improve memory function. This study addressed the problem of false memories in aging by training older adults to use details of past events during memory retrieval to distinguish targets from related lures. We examined the neural basis of a retrieval-based monitoring strategy by assessing changes in univariate BOLD activity and discriminability of targets and lures pre and post training. Results showed training-related decreases in false memory rates with no alterations to hit rates. Both training and practice were associated with altered recruitment of a frontoparietal monitoring network as well as benefits to neural discriminability within network regions. Participants with lower baseline neural discriminability between target and lure items exhibited the largest changes in neural discriminability. Collectively, our results highlight the benefits of training for reductions of false memories in aging. They also provide an understanding of the neural mechanisms that support these reductions.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2000047
- PAR ID:
- 10587693
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Neurobiology of aging
- ISSN:
- 0197-4580
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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