ERP Studies of Dual Processes in Recognition Memory

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议研究的目的是了解人类识别记忆基础的神经认知过程。识别记忆是由对信息的一般熟悉程度敏感的过程以及能够回忆具体细节的过程支持的（例如，知道一个人是熟悉的并回忆起她是一名医生）。我们最近的研究表明，回忆和熟悉可以通过测量与事件相关的脑电位（ERPs）的脑电活动来区分：早期（300-500毫秒）额叶ERP效应似乎受到熟悉的影响，而后期（400-800毫秒）顶叶ERP效应似乎与回忆有关。这项研究的首要目标是利用回忆和熟悉的神经生理学相关性，结合其他行为和药理学方法，来研究几个问题，这些问题对于理解涉及识别记忆的过程和神经系统至关重要。这一目标将通过三个具体目标来实现。第一个具体目标将集中在理解识别记忆过程的连续与阈值性质。第二个具体目标是研究顶叶新旧效应是否对真实记忆或感知衰老敏感。第三个具体目标是研究几个不同的过程对我们识别和/或从学习事件中检索联想信息的能力的影响。该研究将进一步加深我们对识别记忆过程的基本理解，使我们能够建立电生理反应和识别记忆表现之间的明确关系，同时测试关于回忆和熟悉过程本质的关键假设。为了清楚地了解识别记忆的组成过程是如何被衰老、疾病和神经损伤选择性地损害的，了解这些识别记忆过程的神经基础是至关重要的。从拟议的研究中获得的增强知识将有助于设计具体的干预措施，以改善这些不同人群的记忆，并将为理解衰老、疾病和脑损伤如何选择性地损害，更重要的是，如何减少记忆过程铺平道路。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of the proposed research is to understand the neurocognitive processes that underlie human recognition memory. Recognition memory is supported by processes that are sensitive to the general familiarity of information as well as by processes that enable the recollection of specific details (e.g., knowing that a person is familiar and recollecting that she is a doctor). Our recent research suggests that recollection and familiarity can be differentiated by measuring electrical activity in the brain with event-related brain potentials (ERPs): Early (300-500 ms) frontal ERP effects appear to be affected by familiarity, whereas later (400-800 ms) parietal ERP effects appear to be related to recollection. The overarching goal of the proposed research is to use these neurophysiological correlates of recollection and familiarity, in combination with other behavioral and pharmacological methods, to examine several issues that are central to understanding the processes and neural systems involved in recognition memory. This goal will be realized in three specific aims. The first specific aim will focus on understanding the continuous vs. threshold nature of recognition memory processes. The second specific aim will examine whether the parietal old/new effect is sensitive to veridical memory or perceived oldness. The third specific aim will examine the manner in which several distinct processes may contribute to our ability to recognize and/or retrieve associative information from a study episode. The proposed research will further our basic understanding of recognition memory processes by allowing us to establish clear relationships between electrophysiological responses and recognition memory performance while testing critical hypotheses about the nature of recollection and familiarity processes. To clearly understand the manner in which the component processes of recognition memory are selectively impaired by aging, disease, and neurological insult, it is crucial to understand the neural bases of these recognition memory processes. The enhanced knowledge that will result from the proposed research will help with the design of specific interventions to improve memory in each of these different populations, and will pave the way for understanding the manner in which aging, disease, and brain injury can selectively impair, and more importantly, spare memory processes.