Brain works backwards to retrieve memories
London:15.01.2019
When we remember a past event, the human brain reconstructs that experience in reverse order, according to a study.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, reconstructed the memory retrieval process, using brain decoding techniques.
These techniques make it possible to track when in time a unique memory is being reactivated in the brain, said researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK.
Understanding more precisely how the brain retrieves information could help better assess the reliability of eye witness accounts, for example of crime scenes, where people often are able to recall the overall ‘gist’ of an event, but recall specific visual details less reliably.
They found that, when retrieving information about a visual object, the brain focuses first on the core meaning — recovering the ‘gist’ — and only afterwards recalls more specific details.
When we initially see a complex object, it is the visual details — patterns and colours — that we perceive first. Abstract, meaningful information that tells us the nature of the object we are looking at, whether it is a dog, a guitar, or a cup, for example, comes later.
During the study, participants saw images of specific objects, and then learned to associate each image with a unique reminder word. They were later asked to reconstruct the image in as much detail as possible with the help of reminer words and brain activity was recorded throughout the task through electrodes attached to the scalp, allowing the researchers to observe changes in brain patterns with millisecond precision. PTI
London:15.01.2019
When we remember a past event, the human brain reconstructs that experience in reverse order, according to a study.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, reconstructed the memory retrieval process, using brain decoding techniques.
These techniques make it possible to track when in time a unique memory is being reactivated in the brain, said researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK.
Understanding more precisely how the brain retrieves information could help better assess the reliability of eye witness accounts, for example of crime scenes, where people often are able to recall the overall ‘gist’ of an event, but recall specific visual details less reliably.
They found that, when retrieving information about a visual object, the brain focuses first on the core meaning — recovering the ‘gist’ — and only afterwards recalls more specific details.
When we initially see a complex object, it is the visual details — patterns and colours — that we perceive first. Abstract, meaningful information that tells us the nature of the object we are looking at, whether it is a dog, a guitar, or a cup, for example, comes later.
During the study, participants saw images of specific objects, and then learned to associate each image with a unique reminder word. They were later asked to reconstruct the image in as much detail as possible with the help of reminer words and brain activity was recorded throughout the task through electrodes attached to the scalp, allowing the researchers to observe changes in brain patterns with millisecond precision. PTI
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