When
James Antony
Assistant Professor
Psychology and Child Development
CalPoly
Abstract: How do memories endure? In this talk, I will discuss several factors that promote long-term memory. First, I will show how moment-to-moment predictions - and errors in those predictions (surprises) - affect long-term memories in laboratory and real-world settings. Next, I will describe experiments using EEG in which memories become reactivated by presenting learning-related stimuli during sleep, leading to their strengthening. Third, I will use a computational model to demonstrate how reactivation differs by time delay, explaining the well-known benefits of distributing learning over time. Finally, using a naturalistic stimulus, I will show that causality within a narrative plays a strong role in organizing memories, and this effect may stem from the neural reactivation of causally related events. Cumulatively, these findings significantly improve our understanding of memory longevity, and they could aid in developing methods for enhancing learning in educational settings and in populations suffering from memory deficits.
https://arizona.zoom.us/j/86269239800