Study, Test, Test: A Formula to Distinguish Memory Specificity in Declarative Memory

Authors

Jordan Clark, Brigham Young University
Dr. Brock Kirwan, Brigham Young University

Keywords

human memory, memory mistakes, declarative memory

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The goal of this project was to increase our understanding of how human memory works. Specifically, we wanted to investigate what happens in the brain when we make memory mistakes, and to see if there are regions of the brain whose relative activation levels could be predictive as to whether a memory mistake will be perpetuated or corrected. In response to the first part of that research question, we hypothesized that when a memory mistake is made, the memory trace from the mistake is encoded separately from the original memory, rather than overwriting the original memory. For the second part of the research question, we predicted that there would indeed be differences in brain activation levels when memory mistakes are perpetuated as compared to when the mistake is corrected, particularly within the temporal lobe cortex. Our project was carried out by utilizing fMRI techniques at the BYU MRI Facility.

Recommended Citation

Clark, Jordan and Kirwan, Dr. Brock (2018) "Study, Test, Test: A Formula to Distinguish Memory Specificity in Declarative Memory," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2018: Iss. 1, Article 71.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2018/iss1/71