Katelyn G. Cliver

How new experiences can update a memory has important consequences for its long-term storage, but little is known about how different kinds of re exposure may differentially influence its content. Inspired by theories of memory reconstruction that posit that memory retrieval depends on the integration of idiosyncratic details and relevant general knowledge, we investigated how exposure to a memory through category- or item-level processing may strengthen its episodic and semantic components. Across three behavioral experiments, participants encoded image-location associations in a protocol designed to generate a conflict between memory for specific images and knowledge of the general location of other images from the same category. Following learning of the locations, participants completed manipulations aimed to prioritize category-level or item-level processing of the images. We hypothesized that requiring semantic processing after learning would reinforce prior category knowledge associated with each image and increase category-driven distortions in memory at test. Our findings revealed that memory for images that underwent semantic processing were less precise and more distorted relative to memories that underwent item-level processing and relative to those that were not re-exposed after encoding. Furthermore, post-encoding manipulations more strongly updated memories of atypical category members, suggesting that the organization of prior knowledge can govern the extent that new memories can be updated. Together, these results highlight the active role of post‑encoding manipulations in differentially reshaping memory content and provide compelling evidence that episodic memory retrieval is a constructive process that integrates across prior knowledge, discrete experiences, and subsequent re-exposure.

Despite the salient experience of encoding threatening events, these memories are prone to distortions and often non-veridical from encoding to recall. Further, threat has been shown to preferentially disrupt the binding of event details and enhance goal-relevant information. While extensive work has characterised distinctive features of emotional memory, research has not fully explored the influence threat has on temporal memory, a process putatively supported by the binding of event details into a temporal context. Two primary competing hypotheses have been proposed; that threat can impair or enhance temporal memory. We analysed two datasets to assess temporal memory for an in-person haunted house experience. In study 1, we examined the temporal structure of memory by characterising memory contiguity in free recall as a function of individual levels of heart rate as a proxy of threat. In study 2, we replicated marginal findings of threat-related increases in memory contiguity found in study 1. We extended these findings by showing threat-related increases in recency discriminations, an explicit test of temporal memory. Together, these findings demonstrate that threat enhances temporal memory regarding free recall structure and during explicit memory judgments.

Despite the salient experience of encoding emotional events, memories of threatening events are prone to distortions and often non-veridical from encoding to recall. Further, threat states have been shown to preferentially disrupt the binding of item-context relationships and enhance goal-relevant information. While extensive work has characterized distinctive features of emotional memory, research has not fully explored the influence of threat on temporal memory, a process putatively supported by the binding of event features into a temporal context. Two primary competing hypotheses have been proposed; that threat can either impair or enhance temporal memory. We analyzed two datasets to assess temporal memory for an in-person haunted house experience. In study 1 (n = 47), we examined temporal structure of memory by characterizing memory contiguity in free recall as a function of individual levels of physiological arousal as a proxy of threat. In study 2 (n = 53), we replicated marginal findings of threat-related increases in memory contiguity found in study 1 and extended these findings by showing threat-related increases in recency discriminations, an explicit test of temporal order memory. Together, these findings demonstrate that threat experience enhances temporal memory both in terms of free recall structure and during explicit memory judgments.