Behavioral, neuroimaging, and computational evidence for perceptual caching in repetition priming

Repetition priming (RP) is a form of learning, whereby classification or identification performance is improved with item repetition. Various theories have been proposed to understand the basis of RP, including alterations in the representation of an object and associative stimulus-response bindings. There remain several aspects of RP that are still poorly understood, and it is unclear whether previous theories only apply to well-established object representations. This paper integrates behavioral, neuroimaging, and computational modeling experiments in a new RP study using novel objects. Behavioral and neuroimaging results were inconsistent with existing theories of RP, thus a new perceptual memory-based caching mechanism is formalized using computational modeling. The model instantiates a viable neural mechanism that not only accounts for the pattern seen in this experiment but also provides a plausible explanation for previous results that demonstrated residual priming after associative linkages were disrupted. Altogether, the current work helps advance our understanding of how brain utilizes repetition for faster information processing.

[1]  Risto Miikkulainen,et al.  Convergence-Zone Episodic Memory: Analysis and Simulations , 1997, Neural Networks.

[2]  Roger Ratcliff,et al.  A Theory of Memory Retrieval. , 1978 .

[3]  Anthony D. Wagner,et al.  Neural Priming in Human Frontal Cortex: Multiple Forms of Learning Reduce Demands on the Prefrontal Executive System , 2009, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[4]  Jordan Grafman,et al.  Handbook of Neuropsychology , 1991 .

[5]  D. Schacter.  Searching for memory: The brain, the mind, and the past. , 1996 .

[6]  Keith J. Worsley,et al.  Statistical analysis of activation images , 2001 .

[7]  James L. McClelland,et al.  On the control of automatic processes: a parallel distributed processing account of the Stroop effect. , 1990, Psychological review.

[8]  P. Thorndyke.  Cognitive structures in comprehension and memory of narrative discourse , 1977, Cognitive Psychology.

[9]  A M Dale,et al.  Optimal experimental design for event‐related fMRI , 1999, Human brain mapping.

[10]  Jamie I. D. Campbell.  Handbook of mathematical cognition , 2004 .

[11]  E Tulving,et al.  Priming and human memory systems. , 1990, Science.

[12]  Daniel L. Schacter,et al.  Specificity of priming: a cognitive neuroscience perspective , 2004, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[13]  Stephen M. Smith,et al.  Functional MRI : an introduction to methods , 2002 .

[14]  R. Henson.  Neuroimaging studies of priming , 2003, Progress in Neurobiology.

[15]  D. Schacter,et al.  Priming and the Brain , 1998, Neuron.

[16]  Geoffrey E. Hinton,et al.  A general framework for parallel distributed processing , 1986 .

[17]  R. Henson,et al.  Priming, response learning and repetition suppression , 2008, Neuropsychologia.

[18]  A. Dale,et al.  Functional-Anatomic Correlates of Object Priming in Humans Revealed by Rapid Presentation Event-Related fMRI , 1998, Neuron.

[19]  D. Schacter,et al.  Rapid response learning in amnesia: Delineating associative learning components in repetition priming , 2006, Neuropsychologia.

[20]  D. Schacter,et al.  Cortical activity reductions during repetition priming can result from rapid response learning , 2004, Nature.

[21]  A. Damasio.  Time-locked multiregional retroactivation: A systems-level proposal for the neural substrates of recall and recognition , 1989, Cognition.

[22]  Barbara Hayes-Roth,et al.  The use of schemata in the acquisition and transfer of knowledge , 1979, Cognitive Psychology.

[23]  J. Lewin.  Functional MRI: An introduction to methods , 2003 .

[24]  James L. McClelland,et al.  Parallel distributed processing: explorations in the microstructure of cognition, vol. 1: foundations , 1986 .

[25]  Mark W. Woolrich,et al.  Advances in functional and structural MR image analysis and implementation as FSL , 2004, NeuroImage.

[26]  C. J. Marsolek.  Dissociable Neural Subsystems Underlie Abstract and Specific Object Recognition , 1999 .

[27]  E. Miller,et al.  Effects of Visual Experience on the Representation of Objects in the Prefrontal Cortex , 2000, Neuron.

[28]  Antonio R. Damasio,et al.  The Brain Binds Entities and Events by Multiregional Activation from Convergence Zones , 1989, Neural Computation.

[29]  Alex Martin,et al.  Properties and mechanisms of perceptual priming , 1998, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[30]  H. Roediger.  Implicit memory in normal human subjects , 1993 .

[31]  G. Logan.  Repetition priming and automaticity: Common underlying mechanisms? , 1990, Cognitive Psychology.

[32]  D. Schacter,et al.  A sensory signature that distinguishes true from false memories , 2004, Nature Neuroscience.

[33]  D. Schacter.  Implicit memory: History and current status. , 1987 .

[34]  S. Link.  The relative judgment theory of two choice response time , 1975 .