Event comprehension and memory in the predictive brain
Dr. Jeff Zacks, Washington University in St. Louis
Monday, March 18th at 6:30 p.m., 118 Psychology
Abstract
Everyday activity is continuous, dynamic, and high bandwidth—yet we seem to have the subjective experience of a modest number of meaningful events that stand in structured relations to each other. In this talk, I will describe a theory that relates the subjective experience of events to computational mechanisms of prediction error monitoring and memory updating. Briefly, Event Segmentation Theory proposes that perceivers maintain a working memory representation of the current event and use it to guide predictions about what will happen in the near future. When prediction error spikes, they update their model. Data from individual differences, neuropsychology, and neuroimaging suggest that this mechanism is functionally significant for memory and that it can be impaired by neurological injury or disease. New results indicate that it is possible to improve the encoding of event structure and that this may improve subsequent memory. Such results have implications for technology design and for the remediation of memory disorders in conditions including healthy aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Suggested Readings
Flores, S., Bailey, H. R., Eisenberg, M. L., & Zacks, J. M. (2017). Event segmentation improves event memory up to one month later. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 43(8): 1183-1202. [pdf]
Richmond, L. L., & Zacks, J. M. (2017). Constructing experience: Event models from perception to action. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(12): 962-980. [pdf]
Kurby, C. A., & Zacks, J. M. (2018, February 15). Preserved Neural Event Segmentation in Healthy Older Adults. Psychology and Aging. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pag0000226 [pdf]