Hemispheric Asymmetries in Memory Processes as Measured in a False Recognition Paradigm

doi:10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70857-8

Cortex

Volume 39, Issues 4–5, 2003, Pages 627-642

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70857-8 Get rights and content

Abstract

Although memory differs in important ways between the left and right cerebral hemispheres, the nature of these differences remains controversial. We examined this issue in two experiments using a false memory paradigm that allowed novel tests of two theories that have not been assessed in a common paradigm previously. Lists of semantically related words (e.g., bed, rest, wake…), all highly associated to one “critical” word (e.g., sleep), were presented auditorily during a study phase. Memory for both the related words and the critical words was measured in a subsequent old/new recognition test using divided-visual- field word presentations. The most important results were that the ability to correctly reject previously unpresented words was greater when test items were presented to the right visual field/left hemisphere (RVF/LH) than to the left visual field/right hemisphere (LVF/RH) and that participants were more confident in correctly rejecting unpresented words when test items were presented to the RVF/LH than to the LVF/RH. Results were in line with the theory that associative activation of semantic information is restricted in the left hemisphere but diffuse in the right; however, these results contrasted with the theory that memory traces are interpretive in the left hemisphere but veridical in the right. A potential resolution to the seemingly contradictory theories of asymmetries in memory processing is briefly discussed.

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Cited by (21)

Lateralised sleep spindles relate to false memory generation
2017, Neuropsychologia
Sleep is known to enhance false memories: After presenting participants with lists of semantically related words, sleeping before recalling these words results in a greater acceptance of unseen “lure” words related in theme to previously seen words. Furthermore, the right hemisphere (RH) seems to be more prone to false memories than the left hemisphere (LH). In the current study, we investigated the sleep architecture associated with these false memory and lateralisation effects in a nap study. Participants viewed lists of related words, then stayed awake or slept for approximately 90 min, and were then tested for recognition of previously seen-old, unseen-new, or unseen-lure words presented either to the LH or RH. Sleep increased acceptance of unseen-lure words as previously seen compared to the wake group, particularly for RH presentations of word lists. RH lateralised stage 2 sleep spindle density relative to the LH correlated with this increase in false memories, suggesting that RH sleep spindles enhanced false memories in the RH.
Hemispheric processing of memory is affected by sleep
2017, Brain and Language
Citation Excerpt :
The LH processes words with a narrow activation of other closely-related words, and the RH co-activates a broader network of associated words (Beeman, 1998; Beeman & Bowden, 2000; Burgess & Simpson, 1988; Chiarello, 2003; Kacinik & Chiarello, 2007; Monaghan, Shillcock, & McDonald, 2004), analogous to the coarse- and fine-coding asymmetries of visual processing in the two hemispheres (Brady, Campbell, & Flaherty, 2005; Christman, Kitterle, & Hellige, 1991; Hsiao, Cipollini, & Cottrell, 2013; Monaghan & Shillcock, 2004; Sergent, 1982). Indeed, lateralisation studies of DRM lists, without sleep, demonstrate asymmetries in performance relating to asymmetries in LH and RH semantic processing: Lure words are generally more likely to be accepted when presented to the LVF/RH than the RVF/LH (Bellamy & Shillcock, 2007; Faust, Ben-Artzi, & Harel, 2008; Giammattei & Arndt, 2012; Ito, 2001; Westerberg & Marsolek, 2003). These results are consistent with a broader spread of activation in processing words in the RH than LH (Howe, Wimmer, Gagnon, & Plumpton, 2009; Monaghan, Ormerod, & Sio, 2014).
Sleep is known to affect learning and memory, but the extent to which it influences behavioural processing in the left and right hemispheres of the brain is as yet unknown. We tested two hypotheses about lateralised effects of sleep on recognition memory for words: whether sleep reactivated recent experiences of words promoting access to the long-term store in the left hemisphere (LH), and whether sleep enhanced spreading activation differentially in semantic networks in the hemispheres. In Experiment 1, participants viewed lists of semantically related words, then slept or stayed awake for 12 h before being tested on seen, unseen but related, or unrelated words presented to the left or the right hemisphere. Sleep was found to promote word recognition in the LH, and to spread activation equally within semantic networks in both hemispheres. Experiment 2 ensured that the results were not due to time of day effects influencing cognitive performance.
A history of brain asymmetry studies
2016, The Curated Reference Collection in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology
This chapter provides an overview of the history of the study of brain asymmetry and cerebral specialization. It breaks down this history into four epochs: the classical era (1860–900) during which neurologists first confronted the reality of an asymmetric brain, the dark ages (1900–60) during which general interest in brain asymmetry dwindled, the modern era (1960–80) during which work with split-brain patients reignited interest, and the post-modern era (1980-present) during which models of brain asymmetry came to focus on interhemispheric interaction and componential approaches. A final section briefly reviews the related literature on handedness.
False memories to emotional stimuli are not equally affected in right- and left-brain-damaged stroke patients
2014, Brain and Cognition
Previous research has attributed to the right hemisphere (RH) a key role in eliciting false memories to visual emotional stimuli. These results have been explained in terms of two right-hemisphere properties: (i) that emotional stimuli are preferentially processed in the RH and (ii) that visual stimuli are represented more coarsely in the RH. According to this account, false emotional memories are preferentially produced in the RH because emotional stimuli are both more strongly and more diffusely activated during encoding, leaving a memory trace that can be erroneously reactivated by similar but unstudied emotional items at test. If this right-hemisphere hypothesis is correct, then RH damage should result in a reduction in false memories to emotional stimuli relative to left-hemisphere lesions. To investigate this possibility, groups of right-brain-damaged (RBD, N = 15), left-brain-damaged (LBD, N = 15) and healthy (HC, N = 30) participants took part in a recognition memory experiment with emotional (negative and positive) and non-emotional pictures. False memories were operationalized as incorrect responses to unstudied pictures that were similar to studied ones. Both RBD and LBD participants showed similar reductions in false memories for negative pictures relative to controls. For positive pictures, however, false memories were reduced only in RBD patients. The results provide only partial support for the right-hemisphere hypothesis and suggest that inter-hemispheric cooperation models may be necessary to fully account for false emotional memories.
Lateralized processing of false memories and pseudoneglect in aging
2013, Cortex
Citation Excerpt :
Using a modified version of the DRM paradigm, hemispheric differences have been also highlighted in the processing of true and false memories (Bellamy and Shillcock, 2007; Ben-Artzi et al., 2009; Faust et al., 2008; Ito, 2001; Westerberg and Marsolek, 2003). Indeed, when primarily targeted using a divided visual fields procedure, the left hemisphere (LH) tends to be more accurate for studied items (Ito, 2001) and to reject more easily the critical LU (Bellamy and Shillcock, 2007; Westerberg and Marsolek, 2003). Moreover correct rejections of critical LU in the LH are associated with higher confidence levels (Westerberg and Marsolek, 2003).
Aging is associated with higher propensity to false memories and decreased retrieval of previously studied items. When young adults (YA) perform on a lateralized version of the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm, the right cerebral hemisphere (RH) is more sensitive than the left (LH) to false memories, suggesting hemispheric imbalance in the cerebral mechanisms supporting semantic and episodic memory processes. Since cerebral asymmetries tend to be reduced with age, we surmised that behavioral asymmetries in the generation of false memories would be diminished with aging. To probe this hypothesis, a lateralized version of the DRM paradigm was administered to healthy older adults (OA) and YA. During the encoding phase, lists of semantically associated words were memorized. During the retrieval session, targets (previously seen words), lures (LU) (never seen strongly semantically related words) and distracters (never seen, unrelated words) were briefly displayed either in the left or right visual fields, thus primarily stimulating the RH or LH, respectively. Participants had to decide whether the word was previously studied (Old/New), but also whether they had a strong episodic recollection (Remember) or a mere feeling of familiarity (Know) about Old words. In line with our predictions, false memories were globally higher in OA than YA, and vivid false recollections (i.e., Remember responses) were higher when LU were presented in the RH in YA, but not in OA. Additionally, we found significant correlations between YA participants’ Familiarity scores and leftward attentional bias as previously evidenced using a visuospatial landmark task (Schmitz and Peigneux, 2011), an effect not present in OA. This result is in line with the hypothesis of an interplay between attentional resources allocated to visuospatial and memory processes, suggesting a memory pseudoneglect phenomenon that would be altered with aging.
How do our brain hemispheres cooperate to avoid false memories?
2013, Cortex
Citation Excerpt :
While the reasons for this benefit of interhemispheric crosstalk are not yet known, one might speculate that the requirement to engage both brain hemispheres may strengthen the memory traces, improve the accessibility of contralateral engrams, or allow the different processing strategies of the two hemispheres to positively complement each other. The latter seems especially likely, since not only the interplay between the hemispheres matters for the frequency of false memories, it is also relevant which brain hemisphere encodes and retrieves stimuli (Fabiani et al., 2000; Loring et al., 1989; Westerberg and Marsolek, 2003). When the left hemisphere is the retrieving one, false memories arise less often than when the right hemisphere carries out the retrieval (Westerberg and Marsolek, 2003).
Memories are not always as reliable as they may appear. The occurrence of false memories can be reduced, however, by enhancing the cooperation between the two brain hemispheres. Yet is the communication from left to right hemisphere as helpful as the information transfer from right to left? To address this question, 72 participants were asked to learn 16 word lists. Applying the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm, the words in each list were associated with an unpresented prototype word. In the test condition, learned words and corresponding prototypes were presented along with non-associated new words, and participants were asked to indicate which of the words they recognized. Crucially, both study and test words were projected to only one hemisphere in order to stimulate each hemisphere separately. It was found that false recognitions occurred significantly less often when the right hemisphere studied and the left hemisphere recognized the stimuli. Moreover, only the right-to-left direction of interhemispheric communication reduced false memories significantly, whereas left-to-right exchange did not. Further analyses revealed that the observed reduction of false memories was not due to an enhanced discrimination sensitivity, but to a stricter response bias. Hence, the data suggest that interhemispheric cooperation does not improve the ability to tell old and new apart, but rather evokes a conservative response tendency. Future studies may narrow down in which cognitive processing steps interhemispheric interaction can change the response criterion.

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Special IssueHemispheric Asymmetries in Memory Processes as Measured in a False Recognition Paradigm

Abstract

Brain and Language

Brain and Language

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

Distinguishing between memory illusions and actual memories using phenomenological measurements and explicit warnings

American Journal of Psychology

Summation priming and coarse semantic coding in the right hemisphere

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

Interhemispheric transfer and the processing of foveally presented stimuli

Behavioural Brain Research

Demonstration of bilateral projection of the central retina of the monkey with horseradish peroxidase neuronography

Journal of Comparative Neurology

On codes of meaning and the meaning of codes: Semantic access and retrieval within and between hemispheres

Toward a veridical interpretation of right-hemisphere processing and storage

Psychological Science

On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal intrusions in immediate recall

Journal of Experimental Psychology

Deficits in perceptual matching in the left hemisphere of a callosotomy patient. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

Modality effects in false recall and false recognition

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

Associative false recognition occurs without strategic criterion shifts

Psychonomic Bulletin and Review

Hemispheric asymmetry: What's right and what's left

Central fixations are inadequately controlled by instructions alone: Implications for studying cerebral asymmetry

The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Special Issue
Hemispheric Asymmetries in Memory Processes as Measured in a False Recognition Paradigm