Lingering mental context and the formation of lasting memories

背景：我们学习和记忆的能力变化无常。为什么在某些情况下，我们必须努力将信息储存在记忆中（例如，在学习教科书章节时），而在其他情况下，丰富而持久的记忆几乎毫不费力地具体化（例如，在阅读小说时）？几十年来，哲学家和心理学家一直在讨论对某些信息的亲和力，比如叙述，但我们对其潜在机制知之甚少。为什么我们擅长记忆某些类型的输入，比如叙述？这可能会告诉我们，我们的记忆系统是如何工作的？在这个提议中，我概述了一个围绕核心假设的新研究项目：故事鼓励“深度”或精细处理——将我们的注意力转向刺激的更广泛意义，而不是其直接的物理性质或低级语义——这导致编码的经验在暴露后的几分钟内“萦绕”在脑海中。这种对深度加工经验的无意识和持续的逗留非常适合后编码记忆巩固过程，从而使逗留成为持久记忆形成的关键决定因素。尽管大量文献表明，关注输入的含义（即深度处理）有助于记忆的形成，但人们对这是如何实现的知之甚少。在这里，“逗留”现象提供了一种新颖且可检验的解释：我们深刻处理的经历的非常时刻可能在我们的自发思想中持续更长时间（即逗留），这种延长的编码机会非常适合促进记忆巩固。目标：基于有希望的试点数据，本提案使用多种分析方法（例如，自然语言处理，机器学习和人类功能磁共振成像）来实现三个目标：(1)表征深度处理和徘徊之间的关系；(2)确定徘徊对记忆的影响；(3)建立一个神经系统解释如何实现徘徊。影响：总的来说，拟议的工作在两个关键方面对自然科学和工程具有重要意义。首先，它会加深我们对学习和记忆的理解。考虑到我们记忆叙述的亲和力，故事为我们如何最佳记忆提供了一个强有力的窗口。此外，这一提议的目标是建立一种机制来解释我们如何以及为什么比其他人更好地记住某些输入，因此，由此产生的经验数据将为新的和创新的人类记忆计算模型提供肥沃的土壤。其次，作为安大略省为数不多的双语高等院校之一的一名初入职场的科学家，资助这项提案将使我能够开展一个富有成效的研究项目，促进培养实验设计、数据分析和科学传播方面的高素质加拿大人才。

BACKGROUND: Our capacity to learn and remember is surprisingly fickle. Why is it that, in some cases, we must exert ourselves to commit information to memory (e.g., while studying a textbook chapter), while in others, rich and lasting memories materialize almost effortlessly (e.g., while reading a novel)? For decades, philosophers and psychologists have discussed affinity for certain kinds of information, such as narratives, yet we know little about the underlying mechanisms. Why do we excel at remembering certain kinds of inputs, like narratives? What this might tell us about how our memory system works? In this proposal, I outline a new research program centered around a core hypothesis: stories encourage `deep' or elaborative processing - orienting our attention towards the broader meaning of a stimulus rather than its immediate physical properties or low-level semantics - which causes the encoded experience to `linger' in mind for several minutes after exposure. This unintentional and persistent lingering of deeply processed experiences is be ideally suited for processes of post-encoding memory consolidation, thus making lingering a key determinant in the formation of lasting memories. Though a rich body of literature demonstrates that attending to the meaning of an input (i.e., deep processing) facilitates memory formation, little is known about how this is achieved. Here, the phenomenon of 'lingering' provides a novel and testable explanation: the very moments of our experience that we deeply process may last longer in our spontaneous thoughts (i.e. lingering), and this extended encoding opportunity is well-suited to facilitate memory consolidation. OBJECTIVES: Building off of promising pilot data, this proposal uses a variety of analytic approaches (e.g., natural language processing, machine learning and human functional magnetic resonance imaging), to accomplish three objectives: (1) characterize the relationship between deep processing and lingering, (2) determine the consequences of lingering on memory, and (3) establish a neural account for how lingering is implemented. IMPACT: Overall, the proposed work is significant to natural sciences and engineering in two key ways. First, it will deepen our understanding of learning and memory. Given our affinity for remembering narratives, stories provide a powerful window into how we remember optimally. Moreover, the goal of this proposal is to develop a mechanistic account of how and why we remember certain inputs better than others, and thus, the resulting empirical data will provide fertile ground for new and innovative computational models of human memory. Second, funding this proposal will allow me, an early-career scientist at one of the few bilingual post-secondary institutions in Ontario, to develop a productive research program that can promote the training of highly qualified Canadian personnel in experimental design, data analysis, and science communication.