A Boon and a Bane: Comparing the Effects of Prior Knowledge on Memory Across the Lifespan
A Boon and a Bane: Comparing the Effects of Prior Knowledge on Memory Across the Lifespan
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DOI：
10.1037/dev0000712
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发表时间：
2019-06-01
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
Shing, Yee Lee
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brod, Garvin;Shing, Yee Lee
我们对6 - 7岁、18 - 22岁和67 - 74岁的人群进行了一项联想记忆任务测试，该任务包含所有年龄组都非常熟悉的知识一致和知识不一致的物体 - 场景配对。我们比较了这三个年龄组在记忆一致性效应（即对知识一致的联想记忆更好）和图式偏差分数方面的情况，图式偏差分数衡量参与者出现知识一致的记忆错误的倾向。我们发现，先前知识对所有年龄组在一致情境中编码的项目的记忆都有类似的促进作用。然而，对于联想记忆，老年人以及在较小程度上儿童过度依赖他们的先前知识，这表现为一致性效应和图式偏差增强。在记忆编码过程中进行的功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）显示，腹内侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）中存在与年龄无关的记忆×一致性相互作用。此外，vmPFC的激活程度与图式偏差呈正相关。这些发现表明，老年人在情景记忆决策中最容易依赖他们的先前知识，但儿童也可能严重依赖他们熟悉的先前知识。此外，fMRI结果表明，vmPFC在整个生命周期中将新信息同化为现有知识结构中起着关键作用。vmPFC的激活导致对知识一致信息的记忆更好，但也增加了出现知识一致的记忆错误的敏感性，特别是在儿童和老年人中。
We tested 6- to 7-year-olds, 18- to 22-year-olds, and 67- to 74-year-olds on an associative memory task that consisted of knowledge-congruent and knowledge-incongruent object-scene pairs that were highly familiar to all age groups. We compared the 3 age groups on their memory congruency effect (i.e., better memory for knowledge-congruent associations) and on a schema bias score, which measures participants' tendency to commit knowledge-congruent memory errors. We found that prior knowledge similarly benefited memory for items encoded in a congruent context in all age groups. However, for associative memory, older adults and, to a lesser extent, children overrelied on their prior knowledge, as indicated by an enhanced congruency effect and schema bias. Functional MRI (fMRI) performed during memory encoding revealed an age-independent Memory x Congruency interaction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Furthermore, the magnitude of vmPFC recruitment correlated positively with the schema bias. These findings suggest that older adults are most prone to rely on their prior knowledge for episodic memory decisions, but that children can also rely heavily on prior knowledge that they are well acquainted with. Furthermore, the fMRI results suggest that the vmPFC plays a key role in the assimilation of new information into existing knowledge structures across the entire life span. vmPFC recruitment leads to better memory for knowledge-congruent information but also to a heightened susceptibility to commit knowledge-congruent memory errors, in particular in children and older adults.