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PubMed1998

Recognition memory in rats--I. Concepts and classification.

Recognition is the process by which a subject is aware that a stimulus has been previously experienced. It requires that the characteristics of events are perceived, discriminated, identified and then compared (matched) against a memory of the characteristics of previously experienced events. Understanding recognition memory, its underlying neuronal mechanisms, its dysfunction and alleviation of the latter by putative cognition enhancing drugs is a major research target and has triggered a wealth of animal studies. One of the most widely used animals for this purpose is the rat, and it is the rat's recognition memory which is the focus of this review. In this first part, concepts of recognition memory, stages of mnemonic processing and paradigms for the measurement of the rat's recognition memory will be discussed. In two subsequent articles (parts II and III) we will focus on the neuronal mechanisms underlying recognition memory in rats. Three major points arise from the comparison of paradigms that have in the past been used to assess recognition memory in rats. First, it should be realized that some tasks which, at face value, can all be considered to measure recognition memory in rats, may not assess recognition memory at all but may, for example, be based on recall rather than recognition. Second, it is evident that different types of recognition memory can be distinguished and that tasks differ in the type of recognition memory taxed. Some paradigms, for example, measure familiarity, whereas others assess recency. Furthermore, paradigms differ as to whether spatial stimuli or items are employed. Third, different processes, ranging from stimulus-response learning to the formation of concepts, may be involved to varying extent in different tasks. These are important considerations and question the predictive validity of the results obtained from studies examining, for example, the effects of putative cognition enhancing drugs.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Subitizing, magnitude representation, and magnitude retrieval in deaf and hearing adults.

This study examines basic number processing (subitizing, automaticity, and magnitude representation) as the possible underpinning of mathematical difficulties often evidenced in deaf adults. Hearing and deaf participants completed tasks to assess the automaticity with which magnitude information was activated and retrieved from long-term memory (using a Stroop-like paradigm to assess congruity effects), the representational format of magnitude information (by analysis of distance and Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes effects), and the ability to rapidly enumerate small sets (subitizing). Both groups showed distance effects taken to indicate the use of a visual-spatial analog number line representing approximate quantity. Furthermore, both groups showed similar patterns of performance on the subitizing tasks and showed similar amounts of interference in an analysis of congruity effects. This is taken as evidence against the notion that idiosyncratic differences in basic number processing account for mathematical difficulties experienced by deaf individuals.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Children's understanding of reputations.

In the present study, the authors investigated age differences in children's understanding (a) that a person's behavior may contribute to the formation of a shared opinion within the peer group and (b) that origins of a reputation can be direct or indirect. The authors read stories in which a target character engaged in either prosocial or antisocial interactions with peers to children in kindergarten, 2nd, and 4th grade. They then asked the children to judge how various peers viewed the target character. Children's explanations indicated that children in all of those age groups understood that firsthand experience influenced peers' opinions, and by 2nd grade, children understood that indirect experience or gossip also might have contributed to an individual's reputation.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1982

Use of categorical knowledge to aid recall.

Recall performance of 84 mildly retarded adolescents and 84 non-retarded fourth graders was compared under various encoding conditions. The seven encoding conditions consisted of the following format-cueing combinations: simultaneous-subject cues, simultaneous-experimenter cues, sort-subjects cues, sort-experimenter cues, sequential-subject cues, sequential-experimenter cues, and sequential-no cues. Stimuli were 24 colour pictures from six categories. Results indicated generally comparable levels of performance for retarded and non-retarded subjects. However, retarded subjects were less responsive to sort and experimenter cue conditions, which led to increased recall in the non-retarded subjects. It was suggested that retrieval difficulties may be interfering with the ability of retarded individuals to utilize categorical knowledge to facilitate recall.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Age, affect, and memory for pictorial story sequences.

Sixteen young (19.1 mean years), 16 middle-aged (39.4 mean years), and 16 older women (71.1 mean years) were presented with simple stories in an eight-frame pictorial format. The stories contained no verbal information and were designed to have emotional or neutral affective content. Immediate and delayed (72 hours later) recall were measured in terms of response to specific questions (structured recall) and total number of written propositions (free recall). Recall of affective content was greater for both structured and free recall conditions for all age groups. The superior recall of affective as compared to neutral material became more important with delay although the elderly did not differentially benefit from this relationship. The primary conclusion drawn was that affective content has similar effects on recall at all ages.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

A chronobiological test for cognitive styles: Chrono-Trial Making.

This paper presents a description of the test, Chrono-Trail Making, an adaptation of the format of the Trial Making Test of the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery. Generated were 28 parallel forms adapted from Part A; another 28 forms were adapted from Part B. These forms are assumed to be of similar difficulty and to have the same physical characteristics as the two parts of the original test. Each of the series of 28 was given consecutively at 15-min. intervals. Examination of scores confirms the identification in 24 young men of a Basic Rest-Activity Cycle (BRAC) of 90- to 100-min. periods. These, it was proposed, may refer to two different cognitive styles.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Adult age differences in explanations and memory for behavioral information.

Age differences in the effects of knowledge-based expectations on both the use of integrative memory processes and recall were examined. In the context of an impression-formation task, young and older adults were presented with lists containing behaviors that varied in consistency with attributed personality traits. Younger adults recalled trait-inconsistent behaviors better than consistent ones, but older adults exhibited no such consistency effect. The age difference in performance was related to the younger adults' spontaneously producing more explanations for inconsistent behaviors. Explanations are assumed to facilitate access to such information by establishing associations with other behavioral information residing in memory. When age differences in the use of explanation-based processing were controlled, the age differences in the effects of consistency on memory were eliminated.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Within-target illusory correlations and the formation of context-dependent attitudes.

Two experiments explored the formation of context-dependent attitudes about a single social target. One such mechanism for the development of differential attitudes toward a target in different contexts is illusory correlation formation. It was proposed that within-target illusory correlations (i.e., perceiving unwarranted associations between salient target behaviors and distinctive domains in which the target is observed) can result in biased evaluations of a social target in different domains (e.g., home vs. work). When memory-based (vs. on-line) judgments were induced, perceivers formed context-dependent attitudes for both group (Experiment 1) and individual (Experiment 2) targets. These findings are consistent with theories regarding multiply categorizable attitude objects. Further, they suggest that some apparent discrepancies between attitudes and behavior may reflect holding multiple context-dependent attitudes about social targets.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1992

The development of functional and equivalence classes in high-functioning autistic children: the role of naming.

The development of functional and equivalence classes was studied in four high-functioning, preschool-aged autistic children. Initially, all subjects failed to demonstrate match-to-sample relations indicative of stimulus equivalence among two three-member classes of visual stimuli. Then, 2 subjects showed emergence of those relations after they were taught to assign the same name to all members in each class. Next, subjects were taught names for new stimuli outside the match-to-sample format. On subsequent match-to-sample tests, 2 subjects demonstrated untrained conditional relations among the stimuli given a common name. New, unnamed stimuli were then related via match-to-sample training to stimuli from sets of named stimuli. Tests for emergent conditional relations between the new unnamed stimuli and the named stimuli yielded positive results for 1 subject and somewhat mixed results for 3 subjects. Finally, without naming, 2 subjects developed stimulus equivalence among two new three-member classes of visual stimuli. These data suggest that naming may remediate failures to develop untrained conditional relations, some of which are indicative of stimulus equivalence.

Association Learning↗
PubMed1997

Food- and nonfood-related differential outcomes in equivalence learning by adults with Prader-Willi syndrome.

Adults with Prader-Willi syndrome learned the conditional relations necessary for the formation of two equivalence classes under four conditions: (a) nondifferential, nonedible outcomes; (b) nondifferential, edible outcomes; (c) differential, nonedible outcomes; and (d) differential, edible outcomes. Tests for transitive relations revealed superior performance when the two differential outcomes procedures, in which a distinct reinforcer was associated with each stimulus set, were used during teaching. Performance on test trials following nondifferential outcomes training was better when edible outcomes were used during teaching for 4 of the 5 participants. An enhancement of performance on the derived relations separated by two or three nodal stimuli was seen when a differential outcomes procedure was used to teach the baseline conditional relations.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Event memory: the effects of processing objectives and time delay on memory for action sequences.

The memorial representations of events that result from different types of goal-directed cognition are conceptualized on the basis of the general model of information processing proposed by Wyer and Srull (1980, 1984). In a test of this conceptualization, subjects read a passage describing the events that took place at a cocktail party. They were told either (a) to form an impression of the party and the events that occurred, (b) to empathize with the person from whose perspective the passage was written, or (c) to remember the information presented in a way that would allow them to reproduce it. The stimulus passage contained two target events, each consisting of actions that were either described chronologically or in reverse order, and were either presented together or were separated by other unrelated material. After either a short or a long delay, subjects recalled the information they read in the order it came to mind. Finally, subjects were given the individual event actions and told to place them in the order they were presented. The actions comprising target events were generally more likely to be recalled together and in chronological order when subjects had learned about them with either an impression formation or an empathy objective than when they had read about them with the goal of remembering them. However, orderings of these actions were affected by task objectives only after a long delay. The effect of task objectives on the order of recalling the events themselves showed a quite different pattern; for example, subjects with an empathy objective were most likely to recall the last target event presented before the first one after a long delay, whereas subjects with an impression objective were least likely to do so. The proposed model provided a reasonable account of these and other effects of task objectives on memory for events and the actions comprising them.

Cognition↗
PubMed1990

Position-numeral equivalences and delayed position recognition span.

The role of equivalence class formation in delayed position recognition span performance was examined. Initially, the 3 subjects, adults with mental retardation, could not name the nine positions on the span test board. Thus, mnemonic facilitation of span performance based on position naming was not possible. Each subject, however, could name printed numerals and match these stimuli to their dictated names. Matching-to-sample training then established nine equivalence classes, each consisting of a position, a printed numeral, and the numeral name. In subsequent span tests, subject-produced numeral names led to dramatic increases in span scores. The equivalences provided precursors of a kind of verbal code that facilitated performance outside the training context.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Music performance.

Music performance provides a rich domain for study of both cognitive and motor skills. Empirical research in music performance is summarized, with particular emphasis on factors that contribute to the formation of conceptual interpretations, retrieval from memory of musical structures, and transformation into appropriate motor actions. For example, structural and emotional factors that contribute to performers' conceptual interpretations are considered. Research on the planning of musical sequences for production is reviewed, including hierarchical and associative retrieval influences, style-specific syntactic influences, and constraints on the range of planning. The fine motor control evidenced in music performance is discussed in terms of internal timekeeper models, motor programs, and kinematic models. The perceptual consequences of music performance are highlighted, including the successful communication of interpretations, resolution of structural ambiguities, and concordance with listeners' expectations. Parallels with other domains support the conclusion that music performance is not unique in its underlying cognitive mechanisms.

Attention↗
PubMed2006

Animal neuropsychology: validation of the Intra-Dimensional Extra-Dimensional set shifting task for mice.

Research in animal neuropsychology is providing an exciting new generation of behavioral tests for mice that promise to overcome many of the limitations of current high-throughput testing, and provide direct animal homologues of clinically important measures in human research. Set shifting tasks are some of the best understood and widely used human neuropsychological tasks, with clinical relevance to traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, autism, obsessive compulsive disorder, trichotillomania, and many other disorders. Here we report the first successful modification of a human set shifting neuropsychological task, the Intra-Dimensional Extra-Dimensional (IDED) task, for use with mice. We presented mice with a series of compound discrimination and reversal tasks where one stimulus dimension consistently cued reward. Task performance improved with a new set of compound stimuli, as did reversal performance--indicating the formation of a cognitive-attentional set. We then overtrained a subset of the mice, and presented control and overtrained mice with a new compound discrimination where a novel stimulus dimension cued reward. As is the case in human control subjects, control mice persisted in responding to the now-incorrect stimulus dimension, performing poorly on this extra-dimensional shift compared with the previous intra-dimensional shift, thereby validating the task as a measure of set shifting. Furthermore, overtrained mice were impaired on this extra-dimensional shift compared with controls, further validating the task. The advantages and disadvantages of the IDED task compared to high-throughput approaches are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed2007

The role of functional information for infant categorization.

This report examines whether knowledge about function influences the formation of artifact categories in 11-12- month old infants. Using an object-examination task, a set of artificial stimuli was presented that could either be grouped according to overall similarity or according to similarity in one functionally relevant part. Experiment 1 revealed that infants categorized the objects according to overall similarity but not part similarity under control conditions. Experiment 2 showed that after having seen the experimenter demonstrating the functional use of the critical part, infants later categorized the stimuli according to part similarity. When the same actions were performed without producing any effect, infants failed to categorize according to the critical part. This set of findings suggests that 11-12-month old infants use functional information as a cue to categorization.

Association Learning↗
PubMed2000

Young children's understanding of desire formation.

Two studies examined preschoolers' appreciation of how mental states arise. In Study 1, children aged 3 to 5 (24 at each age) better understood perception-generated beliefs (e.g., that looking in a certain location generates a belief about the location's content) and attitude-generated desires (e.g., that positive experiences with an activity generate a desire to partake of the activity again) than physiology-generated desires (e.g., that not eating for a long time generates a desire for food). In Study 2, 4- and 5-year-olds (48 at each age) better understood the effects of quantity of experience (e.g., eating a lot vs. a little) than of time of experience (eating just now vs. a long time ago) on physiological states and desires. The findings suggest that whether children reason in more advanced fashion about desires or beliefs depends on which aspects of these mental states are considered.

Awareness↗
PubMed1993

Reflecting on scientific thinking: children's understanding of the hypothesis-evidence relation.

3 experiments were carried out to examine children's understanding of the role of covariation evidence in hypothesis formation. Previous research suggested that it is not until 8 to 11 years of age that children begin to understand how a given pattern of covariation supports a particular hypothesis about which factor is causally responsible for an observed effect. Experiments 1 to 3 employed a different (fake evidence) technique than previous research and showed that by 6 years of age most children understand how evidence would lead a story character to form a different hypothesis than the subject's own. Experiment 3 showed that most 6- and young 7-year-olds understand how a character's future actions (e.g., choice of an object) and predictions of future outcomes depend on the hypothesis he or she holds.

Child↗
PubMed1993

Observing and imitating the formation of object classes during the second year of life.

The developmental origins of overt object classification are still poorly understood, but one factor that may be informative and facilitative of classification during the second year is observing adults group similar objects. A pretest-posttest design with modeling and control groups was used to assess the impact of modeling on deferred imitation of groupings based on object similarity. Children at three ages (12, 18, and 24 months) observed an adult produce class groupings and alignments of objects. By 18 and 24 months, there was significant deferred imitation of object groupings. There was virtually no effect at 12 months. Moreover, only at 24 months were classified sets spatially aligned. The results indicate that observing adult classification will at least facilitate object grouping during the latter part of the second year, and that it may promote the use of spatial alignments as organizing devices or as modes of depicting object classes.

Child, Preschool↗