Project Abstract/Summary
Episodic memories are an important part of how we interact with the world and with one another. When we remember a past event, we call to mind details of what we experienced at the time— the who, what, where, and when of the event. During recall, our memories rebuild the past in our minds. This is an imperfect process, however, and the resulting memories vary considerably in the precision and in the types of details we can remember (e.g., remembering where you were but not who you were with) and the specificity with which we remember them (e.g., remembering the gist of a conversation, rather than the exact words that were spoken). Understanding the sources of episodic memory variability has significant societal implications, as improving the specificity of episodic memory is a common goal in both educational contexts as well as in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. This project uses functional neuroimaging and cognitive testing to examine the brain processes that predict the contents and specificity of episodic memory. It builds on prior research showing that there is a core set of brain regions, including the hippocampus and a group of cortical areas that play a key role in episodic memory. Although these regions are believed to work together as a network to unify and encode the specific details of episodic memories, the underlying neural mechanisms are unknown. To deepen our understanding of episodic memory, this project identifies the brain processes during memory encoding and retrieval that can predict which event details are remembered and with what level of specificity. The project also investigates individual differences in how event details are reconstructed, with the goal of being able to predict how individuals will differentially recall an event. The research plan integrates theories from cognitive psychology and neuroscience with computational approaches for modeling and predicting cognitive and neural function. This is complemented by related education and service initiatives focused on communicating the science of memory to the general public in Science Museums, and to K-12 audiences in public schools, and enhancing computational training among psychology students through programming coursework and workshops, facilitating access to STEM careers.
The overarching goal of the project is to identify the neural factors that predict the multidimensional quality of recollection across events and individuals. Episodic memory has been reliably associated with activity in the posterior medial brain network, a set of functionally co-active brain regions in the medial temporal lobes, medial and lateral parietal cortex, and medial prefrontal cortex. Yet much remains unknown about how these multiple brain regions contribute to the specificity with which distinct event features are bound and recalled. This project tests the hypothesis that there are distinct pathways within the posterior medial network that serve to bind event details in memory and to resolve their specific perceptual details, and that these pathways are differentially involved in predicting memory outcomes during event encoding and retrieval. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to measure brain activity while healthy young adult participants encode and retrieve multi-featural events. The first goal is to test whether brain activity can predict memory, specifically whether retrieval-related activity in the posterior medial network can be used to decode the contents and specificity of episodic memory, and to examine how this relates to information from sensory regions. The second aim is to determine the role that these memory networks play in binding event features together, and resolving level of specificity of detail, during different stages of event encoding. The third objective is to assess individual differences in episodic memory, which are a crucial source of variability in memory quality. A parallel series of online behavioral studies examines whether individual differences in the contents and specificity of episodic memory are dissociable from one another, and whether these individualized memory profiles are predictive of memory quality for lifelike events. Together, the research objectives test an integrated account of brain region- and network-level contributions to memory for complex events, addressing important gaps in our understanding of episodic memory, its neural bases, and its variability across individuals. The results contribute to a foundation of knowledge supporting the development of interventions to enhance memory
This award reflects NSF’s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation’s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Principal Investigator
Maureen Ritchey – Boston College located in CHESTNUT HILL, MA
Co-Principal Investigators
Funders
Funding Amount
$843,514.00
Project Start Date
10/01/2021
Project End Date
09/30/2026
Will the project remain active for the next two years?
The project has more than two years remaining
Source: National Science Foundation
Please be advised that recent changes in federal funding schemes may have impacted the project’s scope and status.
Updated: April, 2025