Changes in Events Alter How People Remember Recent Information

■ Observers spontaneously segment larger activities into smaller events. For example, “washing a car” might be segmented into “scrubbing,” “rinsing,” and “drying” the car. This process, called event segmentation,separates“what is happeningnow” from“what just happened.” In this study, we show that event segmentation predicts activity in the hippocampus when people access recent information. Participants watched narrative film and occasionally attempted to retrieve from memory objects that recently appeared in the film. The delay between object presentation and test was always 5 sec. Critically, for some of the objects, the event changed during the delay whereas for others the event continued. Using fMRI, we examined whether retrieval-related brain activity differed when the event changed during the delay. Brain regions involved in remembering past experiences over long periods, including the hippocampus, were more active during retrieval when the event changed...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: JOCN
• Authors: Khena M. Swallow, Deanna M. Barch, Denise Head, Corey J. Maley, Derek Holder, Jeffrey M. Zacks
• Keywords: Brain Regions, JOCN 2011, Memory Objects, Object Presentation