Memory for associations and order

从学习我们的工作方式，到记住剧本或旋律的音符，记忆对于复杂的知识和行为是必不可少的。因此，理解记忆的认知和大脑活动基础对于理解自然发生的行为和设计有效的人工记忆至关重要。这意味着不仅要记住单个的信息片段，还要记住它们之间的关系，其中最简单的是成对（例如布拉德和安吉丽娜），称为“联想记忆”，或序列（例如电话号码，故事中的事件顺序），称为“顺序记忆”。一个有趣的想法是，大脑可能以非常相似的方式进行联想记忆和顺序记忆。如果这种“公共进程”的观点得到支持，那将使我们能够更简洁地理解更广泛的内存功能。有两种方法可以构建公共流程模型：1)“链接”模型通过将关联（a - b, B-C，…）链接在一起来学习有序列表（ABC…）。2)“位置编码”模型学习每个项目的位置代码（a -1, B-2, C-3，…），并可以通过将成对的项目连接到一个共同的位置来学习一组成对的项目。行为学研究结果既支持这两种模型，也对其提出了挑战。大脑活动测量（事件相关电位、erp和节律）可以帮助我们比较模型，但脑电图研究才刚刚开始解决顺序记忆问题。我们认为一个模型的缺点是另一个模型的优点。因此，人们可能会根据具体情况同时使用这两种机制。结合行为、建模和大脑活动（erp和节奏）方法，我们将建立一个使用链和位置编码的共同过程模型，通过两种方式测试它们是如何权衡的：1)我们测试一对中物品顺序的记忆（是STEPHEN-HARPER还是HARPER-STEPHEN?），这可以测试模型机制。2)我们将指导参与者使用类似连锁（“链接法”）或位置编码（“基因座法”）的流行策略来识别哪些因素使连锁优于位置编码，反之亦然。这将揭示大脑活动如何支持跨物种的关系记忆，并可能增强人工记忆的设计。

From learning our way to work, to memorizing a script or notes of a melody, memory is essential for complex knowledge and behaviour. Understanding the cognitive and brain-activity basis of memory is therefore central to understanding naturally occurring behaviour and to designing effective artificial memories. This means remembering not just individual pieces of information, but also their relationships, the simplest of which are pairings (e.g., BRAD-ANGELINA), called "association-memory," or sequences (e.g., phone numbers, sequence of events in a story), called "order-memory." One intriguing idea is that the brain may carry out association- and order-memory in very similar ways. If this "common-processes" view were supported, that would allow us to understand a broader range of memory functions more concisely. There are two ways to build a common-processes model: 1) "Chaining" models learn an ordered list (ABC...) by linking together associations (A-B, B-C, ...). 2) "Positional coding" models learn a position-code for each item (A-1, B-2, C-3, ...), and can learn a set of pairs by linking paired items to a common position. Behavioural findings have both supported and challenged both models. Brain-activity measures (event-related potentials, ERPs, and rhythms) could help us compare models, but EEG studies have only begun to address order-memory. We suggest one model's weaknesses are the other model's strengths. Thus, people may use both mechanisms, depending on the situation. Combining behavioural, modeling and brain-activity (ERPs and rhythms) methods, we will build a common-processes model that uses chaining and positional coding, by testing how they trade off, in two ways: 1) We test memory of item-order within a pair (was it STEPHEN-HARPER or HARPER-STEPHEN?), which can test model mechanisms. 2) We will instruct participants to use popular strategies that resemble chaining ("Link Method") or positional coding ("Method of Loci") to identify which factors make chaining superior to positional coding, and vice-versa. This will reveal how brain activity may support relational memory across species and could enhance the design of artificial memories.