22 research outputs found
Ricordare un incidente stradale è una questione di punti di vista
No full text"Questo studio esamina gli effetti del video 2D rispetto al video a 360° sulla memoria e la formazione di falsi ricordi in contesti stressanti. Studi precedenti dimostrano che le esperienze emotivamente coinvolgenti possono portare a falsi ricordi(Bower et al., 2018; Skadberg & Yao, 2018). Inoltre, eventi stressanti possono influenzare l'accuratezza della memoria. L'uso della VR, come il video a 360°, può aumentare la formazione di falsi ricordi. Lo studio utilizza un disegno sperimentale 2x2 between e due variabili indipendenti: Arousal ("CarCrash" vs. "NoCarCrash") e Point of View (Fisso vs. 360°). I partecipanti sono stati assegnati casualmente a una delle quattro condizioni sperimentali e hanno guardato un video seguito da un test di riconoscimento. I risultati mostrano che l'esperienza stressante riduce l'accuratezza dei riconoscimenti(Schacter, 2001), ma un'esperienza più interattiva migliora le risposte corrette. Tuttavia, i partecipanti nella condizione 360° tendono ad accettare più spesso stimoli "Plausibili" come "Vecchi" o “Familiari" rispetto ai partecipanti nella condizione "Fisso". Questo studio ha implicazioni importanti per la memoria autobiografica e può essere rilevante in contesti forensi in cui l'accuratezza della memoria è cruciale. L'uso della realtà virtuale può contribuire alla validità ecologica delle presentazioni di stimoli, migliorando l'immersione e la presenza dei partecipanti.
Memories of future past. The role of predictions and lived experiences on memory accuracy.
No full textRicordi (im)morali: la moralità e il senso di colpa impattano la memoria autobiografica
No full textUsing neuromodulation to understand highly superior autobiographical memory retrieval: A TMS study
No full textHighly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) is a rare ability to recall a profound number of personal events across one’s lifespan. HSAM recall is extremely quick, detailed and highly accurate, yet how autobiographical content is retrieved remains misunderstood. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on a single HSAM case to identify specific brain areas causally involved in exceptional retrieval. Participant was shown several dates previously verified they had a memory for (i.e., verifiable event recall) while TMS was administered over visual areas (V1), left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) or vertex (control) 500 ms after each date onset. Time to access memories in response to a date, nature of the memory (i.e., personal or factual), and ratings of whether access was direct or generative were recorded. Results found left DLPFC TMS significantly slowed down participant reaction time, while V1 stimulation caused a speeding up, with both effects specific to generative memory retrieval. This is the first neuromodulation study on an HSAM subject and provides evidence the left DLPFC is causally involved in HSAM elaboration. V1 effect is discussed in terms of addition-by-subtraction, hypothesising that V1 modulation allows other areas to increase efficiency
Deception detection accuracy: the role of personally vs. ideologically justified opinions
No full textIntroduction: Several factors modulate accuracy in detecting deception (Vrij, 2008). For instance, Sowden et al. (2015) showed that inconsistency, between detectors and deceivers, in ideological opinion on controversial topics impairs lie detection, while neurostimulation of the right Temporoparietal Junction (TPJ) removes the impairment. In the forensic field, however, deceptions refer more to personal experience, rather than ideological opinions. This is the first study aimed at (1) comparing consistency between personally justified vs. ideologically justified opinions as modulator of deception detection, and (2) providing causal data (via TMS stimulation) on the role of the right TPJ in this modulation.
Methods: Initially, 150 healthy (age 18-65) participants completed a questionnaire about 10 controversial topics (e.g., abortion), asking for ideological opinion (for vs. against), and presence (vs. absence) of related personal memories. Forty-eight statements (half true) were recorded in videos. Each statement reported an opinion and its justification (personal vs. ideological). In Experiment 1, videos were randomly administered to 62 participants (half females). Participants judged veracity of each statement, and provided confidence ratings in their judgments. In Experiment 2, the same procedure was replicated with 40 participants, while, at the beginning of each video, triple-pulse 10 Hz TMS was administered on right TPJ vs. Vertex. Data collection is not completed yet.
Results: Data analysis will be performed when datasets are complete. Compared to inconsistency in opinions, we expect detectors to be more accurate when the opinion expressed by the deceiver is consistent with their own, and is ideologically justified. Contrarily, when personally justified, we expect detectors to be less accurate when opinions are consistent in deceivers and detectors. In line with Pfundmair et al.(2017), we also expect an overall effect of consistency of judge-actor sex. In Experiment 2, TMS administration over TPJ compared to Vertex (Sham) is expected to selectively impair self representation, reducing the advantage for opinion consistent trials ideologically justified, while neuromodulation of TPJ should increase the accurate deception of personally justified consistent opinions
Discussion:Self-representation can interfere with the detection of deception (Sowden et al. 2015). While the involvement of self-representation was previously examined as agreement on ideological opinions between deceivers and detectors, we hypothesize that equally important is the agreement based on personal experience. We expect an opposite effect of ideologically-based vs experience-based agreement, which would show that self-referencing does not have an univocal role in detecting deception. Greater accuracy is expected in deception detection when the agreement is ideologically justified, and lower accuracy when the agreement is personally justified. By inhibiting TPJ activity via TMS, we will understand if with stimulation personally justified lies are more likely to be accepted as truth
Taking the middle stance in the debate on the nature of traumatic memories
No full textThe discussion on the degree of similarity and continuity between more neutral memories and
genuine traumatic memories lies at the core of the (at times too heated) debate on the
possibility vs impossibility of having declarative memories for traumatic personal events. As
an exercise in some of my classes, students had to themselves debate the issue taking
documented opposite stances in whether traumatic memories can be declarative, whether
trauma involves amnesia or involves the creation of false memories. The starting point of this
exercise is an agreed evidence-based definition of trauma. As in the students’ exercise, in this
paper we will first discuss the problems in current definitions of trauma and present a
possible operational definition that narrows its boundaries. We will then examine similarities
and differences in phenomenology and cognitive/physiological processes between memories
for traumatic and non-traumatic personal experiences, and the possibility to have false
memories for them. The conclusion is that there are some genuine specificities in the nature
of traumatic memories, due mainly to the physiological processes involved in encoding, but
also many common processes that help assimilate traumatic memories to a substantial degree
to non-traumatic memories
Positive and negative touch differentially modulate metacognitive memory judgements for emotional stimuli
No full textTouch plays a crucial role in providing humans with information from the external environment and can be perceived by humans as positively or negatively valenced. It is well documented that touch can differentially influence social functions, but very little is known about how touch can modulate (meta)cognition. Utilizing a within-subject design, participants were exposed to (a) positive, (b) negative, and (c) no touch, alongside encoding of emotionally valenced (positive and negative) images. After a 20-minute delay, participants completed a Yes/No recognition task to investigate how touch influenced memory-related decision components (e.g. criterion, confidence). Results showed that, compared to the control condition, both positive and negative touch were associated with overall lower confidence ratings, a less liberal response bias and slower response times. Interestingly, for correct recognitions, only negative touch (vs. no touch) led to inappropriately lower confidence and slower response times while both confidence and response time remained unaltered in positive touch. Our findings provide the first evidence that positive and negative touch differentially interact with metacognitive memory-related decisions. Altered metacognitive judgements after being touched could have significant consequences in applied settings, such as situations of eyewitness testimony
Collateral effects: the role of sensorimotor simulation on the creation of false memories
No full textThe main assumption for our studies on perceptiona and memory for actions is that the observation
of an action creates a sensorimotor activation/resonance that creates a mental representation of that
action that is ‘moved forward’ in time. The prediction is thus that seeing a person getting ready to
perform an action might also create, after a delay, the memory of having seen the forward part of
the action. The same effect should not be observed for backward parts of the action. Specifically,
memory for actions have been investigated using images representing an actor acting on a series
of objects of common use. Participants in a first experiment saw a series of photos of actions being
performed on objects (eg. blowing one’s nose) and 15 minutes later performed a recognition task.
At recognition, they were presented with photos representing backward and forward moments of
the action they saw at encoding. Results have shown that participants tended to accept as ‘seen’
photos of the forward parts of the action seen, rather than photos of backward parts of that action,
confirming the hypothesis. In a pilot study, we have also explored the role of temporal distance
between encoding and recognition. Results have shown that 3 days after encoding participants did
no longer tend to accept as ‘seen’ forward photos more than backward photos, indicating that the
effect is short-lived
An exploration of Italian laypeople’s belief in how human memory works
No full textWe present the first study to measure the beliefs held by Italian laypeople about how human memory works, using a newly developed tool: the Italian Memory Belief Questionnaire (IMBQ). Research conducted in other countries has demonstrated that beliefs about memory vary widely between different professional and non-professional groups, indicating that limitations exist regarding the dissemination of empirically researched scientific knowledge. To ascertain what Italian people understand about memory-related topics, including eyewitness testimony, repression of traumatic memories and factors influencing memory recall, 301 native Italian participants completed the IMBQ in Study 1. In Study 2, 346 additional participants completed the IMBQ, alongside various additional measures, to examine the construct validity of our new instrument and investigate socio-demographic predictors of memory beliefs. Exploratory factor analysis in Study 1 identified three distinct belief factors that were present in the dataset: eyewitness and memory reliability, trauma and remembering and aspects that improve remembering. Study 2 partially confirmed this factor structure and found IMBQ scores to correlate with existing memory belief questionnaires. Correlations were also found between the IMBQ subscales and measures of fantasy proneness, but not dissociation. In both studies, many Italian laypeople strongly endorsed the notion that controversial topics (i.e., repression) are possible. Contrastingly, Italian laypeople do appear to understand the conceivable inaccuracies of memory in eyewitness settings. Sex, age and education were shown to predict beliefs about memory. Findings are discussed in relation to the importance of addressing misinformation about memory, especially in clinical and forensic settings
