The Effect of Interhemispheric Communication on Memory: Less Than Meets the Eye Team 4 Project Sarah AhmedJames Karivalis Komal KothariKevin Lee Lisa MaCameron Rogers Sonali SanyalManvir Singh Kevin Tien Steven Tufaro Jennifer Wu Julie Xie 2 Why Memory? 3 Types of Memory Semantic & Episodic Semantic general knowledge Episodic memory for particular event in time 4 bedrestawaketireddreamwakesnoozeblanketdozeslumbersnorenappeaceyawndrowsy 5 DRM Paradigm Semantic with episodic can lead to false memories Participants study list of words Falsely remember associated words Sleep example 6 Semantic Memory General knowledge questions Who invented the telegraph? Trick questions (semantic illusions) Word in question is replaced with similar term Moses Illusion 7 Christmans Research 2003 Tested episodic memory retrieval Horizontal saccadic eye movement 2004 Eye movement lowers false memories (DRM) 8 Interhemispheric Interaction Encoding left hemisphere Retrieval right hemisphere Signals through corpus callosum May increase retrieval 9 Expanding on Christman Test other possible interhemispheric aspects Motor and auditory Test both semantic and episodic memory 10 Methods 11 Participants NJGSS scholars 71 Students 39 male 32 female Aged 16 to 18 years 12 Design Each subject was randomly assigned a condition 1.Control 2.Eye movement 3.Bimanual 4.Binaural 13 What Was Tested Episodic memory False memory Semantic memory Semantic illusions 14 Procedure Episodic study (34 words) Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI) Experimental treatment (30 sec.) Semantic test (46 trivia questions, 4 illusory questions) 15 Procedure (contd) Experimental treatment (30 sec.) Episodic recognition test (60 words) DRM/false memory study (60 words) Filler task (Linda problem) Experimental treatment (30 sec.) DRM recognition test (46 words) 16 Results 17 Results: Episodic Test Hit rate: percentage of studied words correctly recognized False alarm rate: percentage of unstudied words incorrectly recognized Average hit rate = 74% Average false alarm rate= 25% 18 Results: Episodic Test Figure 1. 19 Results: DRM Test False memory rate: percentage of critical missing words incorrectly recognized Average hit rate = 79% Average false alarm rate = 16% False memory rate = 86% 20 Results: DRM Test Figure 2. 21 Results: Semantic Test Percentage correct and incorrect found for 46 general knowledge questions Percentage tricked found for 4 illusory questions Average % correct = 48% Average % incorrect = 15% Average % tricked = 45% 22 Results: Semantic Test Figure 3. 23 Discussion 24 General Findings Christmans findings not verified Precise data despite small sample size 25 Episodic Test similar to Christman et al. No increase in hit rate No decrease in false alarms 26 DRM Results similar to episodic study All groups comparable No difference in critical lures 27 Semantic Control group outscored others Cabeza and Nyberg (2000) Semantic memory left hemisphere Interhemispheric interaction may limit semantic retrieval 28 Conditions Three conditions Each aimed at stimulating interhemispheric interaction Not definite that these conditions stimulated lasting interhemispheric interaction Definitely did not increase memory retrieval 29 Conclusions Qualifiers Subjects were talented students from NJ distraction from headphones The brain is a highly complex system 30 Questions? 31 We would like to thank: Dr. Patrick (the star) Dolan Dr. David Miyamoto Dr. Steve Surace Dr. Paul Victor Quinn Sr. 32 Q: In the biblical story, what was Joshua swallowed by? A: Manvir Singh Q: Who was Batmans butler? A: Jeeves Q: What tree did Lincoln chop down? A: Lincoln chopped down most trees native to Kentucky. Q: What is the proper name of a badminton bird? A: Birdey 33 Q: What is the name of the 3-leaf clover that is the emblem of Ireland? A: Lucky charms Q: What is the name of the ship on which Charles Darwin made his scientific voyage? A: Santa Maria Q: What is the proper name of the North Star? A: North Star Q: What Italian city was destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius was erupted in 79 AD? A: Bombay 34 Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken and very bright. At university she studied philosophy. As a student she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice and also participated in anti-war demonstrations. Now rank each of the following three statements from most to least likely. For the most likely statement, enter 1, for the more likely of the remaining two statements enter 2 and for the least likely statement enter 3. ___ Linda is a bank teller ___ Linda is active in the feminist movement ___ Linda is active in the feminist movement and is a bank teller