Orthographic Distinctiveness and Semantic Elaboration Provide Separate Contributions to Memory

Orthographic distinctiveness and semantic elaboration both enhance memory. The present behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies examined the relationship between the influences of orthographic distinctiveness and semantic elaboration on memory, and explored whether they make independent contributions. As is typical for manipulations of processing levels, words studied during semantic encoding were better remembered than words studied during nonsemantic encoding. Notably, orthographically distinct words were better recalled and received more remember responses on recognition memory tests than orthographically common words regardless of encoding task, suggesting that orthographic distinctiveness has an additive effect to that of semantic elaboration on memory. In the fMRI study, ortho-graphic distinctiveness and semantic elaboration engaged separate networks of brain regions. Semantic elaboration modulated activity in left inferior prefrontal and lateral temporal regions. In contrast, orthographic distinctiveness modulated activity in distinct bilateral inferior prefrontal, extrastriate, and parietal regions. Orthographic distinctiveness and semantic elaboration appear to have separate behavioral and functional-anatomic contributions to memory.

[1]  Joseph T Devlin,et al.  The pro and cons of labelling a left occipitotemporal region: “the visual word form area” , 2004, NeuroImage.

[2]  C. Fiebach,et al.  fMRI Evidence for Dual Routes to the Mental Lexicon in Visual Word Recognition , 2002, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[3]  S. Edelman,et al.  Cue-Invariant Activation in Object-Related Areas of the Human Occipital Lobe , 1998, Neuron.

[4]  S. Kinoshita,et al.  The orthographic distinctiveness effect on fragment completion: Not implicit , 2000 .

[5]  E. T. Possing,et al.  Neural Correlates of Lexical Access during Visual Word Recognition , 2003, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[6]  David B. Mitchell,et al.  Independent effects of semantic and nonsemantic distinctiveness , 1982 .

[7]  T. S. Hyde,et al.  Differential effects of incidental tasks on the organization of recall of a list of highly associated words. , 1969 .

[8]  G. Mandler.  Recognizing: The judgment of previous occurrence. , 1980 .

[9]  F. Craik,et al.  Levels of Pro-cessing: A Framework for Memory Research , 1975 .

[10]  G Jobard,et al.  Evaluation of the dual route theory of reading: a metanalysis of 35 neuroimaging studies , 2003, NeuroImage.

[11]  S. Rajaram.  The effects of conceptual salience and perceptual distinctiveness on conscious recollection , 1998 .

[12]  J. Millichap,et al.  Brain Activity During Reading , 1995 .

[13]  Jemett L. Desmond,et al.  Semantic encoding and retrieval in the left inferior prefrontal cortex: a functional MRI study of task difficulty and process specificity , 1995, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[14]  K. Grill-Spector,et al.  The dynamics of object-selective activation correlate with recognition performance in humans , 2000, Nature Neuroscience.

[15]  S Lehéricy,et al.  The visual word form area: spatial and temporal characterization of an initial stage of reading in normal subjects and posterior split-brain patients. , 2000, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[16]  L. Chalupa,et al.  Organization of Visual Areas in Macaque and Human Cerebral Cortex , 2002 .

[17]  J. Desmond,et al.  Making memories: brain activity that predicts how well visual experience will be remembered. , 1998, Science.

[18]  J. Logan,et al.  Under-Recruitment and Nonselective Recruitment Dissociable Neural Mechanisms Associated with Aging , 2002, Neuron.

[19]  Eugene B. Zechmeister,et al.  Orthographic Distinctiveness as a Variable in Word Recognition. , 1972 .

[20]  F. Craik,et al.  Depth of processing and the retention of words , 1975 .

[21]  Jeffrey M. Zacks,et al.  Rapid Self-Paced Event-Related Functional MRI: Feasibility and Implications of Stimulus- versus Response-Locked Timing , 2001, NeuroImage.

[22]  R. Buckner,et al.  Neural correlates of verbal memory encoding during semantic and structural processing tasks , 2001, Neuroreport.

[23]  John D. Bransford,et al.  Levels of processing versus transfer appropriate processing , 1977 .

[24]  R. Buckner,et al.  Functional Dissociation among Components of Remembering: Control, Perceived Oldness, and Content , 2003, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[25]  E. Tulving.  Memory and consciousness. , 1985 .

[26]  S. Petersen,et al.  Characterizing the Hemodynamic Response: Effects of Presentation Rate, Sampling Procedure, and the Possibility of Ordering Brain Activity Based on Relative Timing , 2000, NeuroImage.

[27]  Jeffrey P. Toth,et al.  Perceptual identification, fragment completion, and free recall: concepts and data. , 1990, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[28]  R N Henson,et al.  Depth of processing effects on neural correlates of memory encoding: relationship between findings from across- and within-task comparisons. , 2001, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[29]  D. V. van Essen,et al.  Windows on the brain: the emerging role of atlases and databases in neuroscience , 2002, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[30]  Jeffrey M. Zacks,et al.  Neural correlates of incongruous visual information An event-related fMRI study , 2003, NeuroImage.

[31]  A. Dale,et al.  Building memories: remembering and forgetting of verbal experiences as predicted by brain activity. , 1998, Science.

[32]  Mark M. Kishiyama,et al.  Stimulus Novelty Effects on Recognition Memory: Behavioral Properties and Neuroanantomical Substrates , 2006 .

[33]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Age effects on the neural correlates of successful memory encoding. , 2003, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[34]  David C. Van Essen,et al.  Application of Information Technology: An Integrated Software Suite for Surface-based Analyses of Cerebral Cortex , 2001, J. Am. Medical Informatics Assoc..

[36]  S. Petersen,et al.  Task-Dependent Modulation of Regions in the Left Inferior Frontal Cortex during Semantic Processing , 2001, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[37]  J. Desmond,et al.  Material‐specific lateralization of prefrontal activation during episodic encoding and retrieval , 1998, Neuroreport.

[38]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Brain activity during reading. The effects of exposure duration and task. , 1994, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[39]  A. Yonelinas.  The Nature of Recollection and Familiarity: A Review of 30 Years of Research , 2002 .

[40]  R. Tootell,et al.  Where is 'dorsal V4' in human visual cortex? Retinotopic, topographic and functional evidence. , 2001, Cerebral cortex.

[41]  L. Jacoby.  A process dissociation framework: Separating automatic from intentional uses of memory , 1991 .

[42]  J. Gardiner.  Functional aspects of recollective experience , 1988, Memory & cognition.

[43]  S. Petersen,et al.  Hemispheric Specialization in Human Dorsal Frontal Cortex and Medial Temporal Lobe for Verbal and Nonverbal Memory Encoding , 1998, Neuron.

[44]  S. Petersen,et al.  Effects of Lexicality, Frequency, and Spelling-to-Sound Consistency on the Functional Anatomy of Reading , 1999, Neuron.

[45]  R. Malach,et al.  Object-related activity revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging in human occipital cortex. , 1995, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[46]  E. Donchin,et al.  Encoding processes and memory organization: a model of the von Restorff effect. , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[47]  Kerry Lee,et al.  Recognition memory for studied words is determined by cortical activation differences at encoding but not during retrieval , 2004, NeuroImage.

[48]  R. R. Hunt,et al.  The role of nonsemantic information in memory: Orthographic distinctiveness effects on retention , 1980 .

[49]  S. R. Schmidt,et al.  Can we have a distinctive theory of memory? , 1991, Memory & cognition.

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

[51]  Lisa Geraci,et al.  The orthographic distinctiveness effect on direct and indirect tests of memory: delineating the awareness and processing requirements , 2002 .

[52]  Steven Graham,et al.  Word frequency and subsequent memory effects studied using event-related fMRI , 2003, NeuroImage.

[53]  David B. Mitchell,et al.  Specificity in Nonsemantic Orienting Tasks and Distinctive Memory Traces. , 1978 .

[54]  E. Donchin,et al.  “P300” and memory: Individual differences in the von Restorff effect , 1984, Cognitive Psychology.

[55]  D. Heeger,et al.  Linear Systems Analysis of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Human V1 , 1996, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[56]  H. Kucera,et al.  Computational analysis of present-day American English , 1967 .

[57]  Alan A. Wilson,et al.  Neuroanatomical correlates of encoding in episodic memory: levels of processing effect. , 1994, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[58]  J. Desmond,et al.  Functional Specialization for Semantic and Phonological Processing in the Left Inferior Prefrontal Cortex , 1999, NeuroImage.

[59]  S. Petersen,et al.  Activation of extrastriate and frontal cortical areas by visual words and word-like stimuli. , 1990, Science.

[60]  R. Buckner,et al.  Common Prefrontal Regions Coactivate with Dissociable Posterior Regions during Controlled Semantic and Phonological Tasks , 2002, Neuron.

[61]  H. V. Restorff.  Über die Wirkung von Bereichsbildungen im Spurenfeld , 1933 .

[62]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Brain Mechanisms for Detecting Perceptual, Semantic, and Emotional Deviance , 2000, NeuroImage.

[63]  Stanislas Dehaene,et al.  Specialization within the ventral stream: the case for the visual word form area , 2004, NeuroImage.

[64]  J. B. Demb,et al.  Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Semantic Memory Processes in the Frontal Lobes , 1996 .

[65]  G. Humphreys,et al.  Segregating Semantic from Phonological Processes during Reading , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[66]  L. Jacoby,et al.  The Relation between Remembering and Knowing as Bases for Recognition: Effects of Size Congruency , 1995 .