Your memory on smartphone: Subsequent Memory Effect captured with smartphone EEG
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1
University of Oldenburg, Psychology, Germany
Episodic memory consists of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place. Thus, three elements are inherent in episodic memory: what, when and where. Although numerous studies examined effects of temporal context on episodic memory formation, so far only a few studies considered the neural signatures of episodic memory formation in a natural environment. The present study investigates whether a lab-robust paradigm of episodic memory formation (subsequent memory effect, SME) can be transferred into a vivid outdoor setting. The SME contrasts neural activity during encoding of later recalled to not-recalled stimuli. N = 16 healthy participants (18-27 years) studied words presented at different locations on a university campus, and indoors in a laboratory setting. The order of conditions was counterbalanced across participants. On campus, participants walked approximately 20s between locations. To account for potential effects of physical activity on memory, between stimulus presentations participants walked for 15-25s on a mechanic treadmill indoors. An off-the-shelf Android smartphone was used to record 24 channel EEG wirelessly during encoding. The same phone was used to control experimental events. After studying the words, participants performed a written free recall test indoors. We expect the natural spatial context outdoors to enhance recall performance, despite the number of distracting events that may be encountered on campus. As predicted, a paired t-test showed that participants recalled significantly more words presented outdoors (M = 51.79%, SD = 14.86%) than indoors (M =39.70%, SD = 13.54%, t(15) = 3.01, p = 0.009). Preliminary EEG analysis revealed a clear visual evoked potential for all participants, confirming accurate event timing. Further time-frequency analyses will be conducted with the aim to replicate the SME. In addition, we will classify the words into later recalled and not-recalled words based on the neural activity during encoding. Mobile EEG technology promises to show the relevance of natural environments for memory formation.
Keywords:
subsequent memory effect,
episodic memory,
smartphone EEG,
natural environment,
Real world,
Spatio-temporal context
Conference:
2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference, Philadelphia, PA, United States, 27 Jun - 29 Jun, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Neuroergonomics
Citation:
Jacobsen
N,
Piñeyro Salvidegoitia
M and
Debener
S
(2019). Your memory on smartphone: Subsequent Memory Effect captured with smartphone EEG.
Conference Abstract:
2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.227.00034
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Received:
27 Mar 2018;
Published Online:
27 Sep 2019.
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Correspondence:
Ms. Nadine Jacobsen, University of Oldenburg, Psychology, Oldenburg, Germany, nadine.jacobsen@uol.de