This project examines associative memory (i.e., memory for the link or relation among different events or items) in patients with amnesia due to lesions of the medial temporal lobes or diencephalon. To date, studies of implicit and explicit memory in amnesia have focused largely on item memory. By providing an information processing analysis of amnesic patients' performance on tasks of associative memory, we hope to provide further insight into the nature of the memory processes that are impaired and preserved in amnesia. The first section of this proposal focuses on amnesics' implicit memory for novel associations. We propose to systematically investigate amnesics' performance across a range of implicit memory tasks in which new associative priming occurs at a perceptual and at a conceptual level, and in which associations are formed within-domain and across-domain. Comparison of amnesics' performance across these tasks will allow us to assess the validity of the notion that amnesia reflects a general deficit in relational memory. The second section of the proposal focuses on amnesics' explicit memory for novel associations. We evaluate whether amnesics' recognition memory for associative information is disproportionately impaired in comparison to their recognition memory for item information. We also examine whether amnesics are differentially impaired on associative memory tasks that vary in their underlying processing demands. These studies are aimed at assessing the validity of the notion that amnesics' impairment in associative recognition is due to a disproportionate impairment in recollection. Converging evidence from these two lines of study should provide important insights into the nature of associative memory and its status in amnesia. By specifying the nature of the memory processes that allow the establishment and retrieval of different forms of novel associations, this project will further our understanding of the form of memory that is critical for remembering relational information.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH057681-10
Application #
7236692
Study Section
Biobehavioral and Behavioral Processes 3 (BBBP)
Program Officer
Osborn, Bettina D
Project Start
1998-03-10
Project End
2009-02-28
Budget Start
2007-03-01
Budget End
2009-02-28
Support Year
10
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$179,206
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Neurology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
604483045
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02118
Verfaelllie, Mieke; LaRocque, Karen F; Keane, Margaret M (2012) Intact implicit verbal relational memory in medial temporal lobe amnesia. Neuropsychologia 50:2100-6
Kan, Irene P; Keane, Margaret M; Martin, Elizabeth et al. (2011) Implicit memory for novel associations between pictures: effects of stimulus unitization and aging. Mem Cognit 39:778-90
Ford, Jaclyn Hennessey; Verfaellie, Mieke; Giovanello, Kelly S (2010) Neural correlates of familiarity-based associative retrieval. Neuropsychologia 48:3019-25
Marsolek, Chad J; Deason, Rebecca G; Ketz, Nicholas A et al. (2010) Identifying objects impairs knowledge of other objects: a relearning explanation for the neural repetition effect. Neuroimage 49:1919-32
Giovanello, Kelly Sullivan; Schnyer, David; Verfaellie, Mieke (2009) Distinct hippocampal regions make unique contributions to relational memory. Hippocampus 19:111-7
Keane, Margaret M; Martin, Elizabeth; Verfaellie, Mieke (2009) Performance benefits and costs in forced choice perceptual identification in amnesia: Effects of prior exposure and word frequency. Mem Cognit 37:655-66
Kan, Irene P; Alexander, Michael P; Verfaellie, Mieke (2009) Contribution of prior semantic knowledge to new episodic learning in amnesia. J Cogn Neurosci 21:938-44
Schnyer, David M; Dobbins, Ian G; Nicholls, Lindsay et al. (2007) Item to decision mapping in rapid response learning. Mem Cognit 35:1472-82
Kan, Irene P; Giovanello, Kelly S; Schnyer, David M et al. (2007) Role of the medial temporal lobes in relational memory: neuropsychological evidence from a cued recognition paradigm. Neuropsychologia 45:2589-97
Nichols, Elizabeth A; Kao, Yun-Ching; Verfaellie, Mieke et al. (2006) Working memory and long-term memory for faces: Evidence from fMRI and global amnesia for involvement of the medial temporal lobes. Hippocampus 16:604-16

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