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We often organize objects around both visual and semantic boundaries in space. Across four experiments, we examined how semantically consistent partitions influenced memory for object locations. Participants learned the locations of items in a semantically partitioned display (where each partition contained objects from a single category), as well as a purely visually partitioned display (where each partition contained a random assortment of objects from different categories). While semantic partitions significantly improved location memory over the purely visually partitioned display, this advantage was significantly reduced when participants were cued to the correct partition during recall. Our results suggest that semantic category information benefits memory via strengthening the association between a given category and a spatial region delineated by a partition. Further, there was some indication that this benefit may come with the drawback of reducing memory precision for objects within a partitioned space.

Offloading cognition to external stores is practiced ubiquitously in daily life (e.g., counting on fingers, writing lists), yet is a relatively new area of investigation within cognitive science. Previous experiments have assessed the benefits and downfalls, including participants’ lowered memory for offloaded information that is no longer available (Gardony et al., 2013; Sparrow et al., 2011). In addition, when offloading, individuals appear susceptible to manipulations of their external store (Risko et al., 2019). We report a series of experiments investigating how the perceived reliability of an external store affects individuals’ susceptibility to manipulation of that store. Consistent with previous research, results suggest that the majority of participants do not notice an item inserted into their external store. However, once cued to this event, individuals do become more likely to subsequently notice a manipulation of their external store. Implications of this research for our understanding of distributed memory systems will be discussed.

Memory is reliably enhanced for information read aloud compared with information read silentlythe production effect.Three preregistered experiments examined whether the production effect arises from a time-consuming recollective processoperating at test that benefits items that were produced at study. To accomplish this, participants were required to respondwithin a short deadline under the assumption that a time-consuming recollective process would be less able to operatewhen less time is available. If so, the production effect under speeded responding instructions should be reduced relativeto a standard nonspeeded condition. Results generally supported this prediction. However, even under speeded respondinginstructions, there was a robust production effect, potentially suggesting that other, more rapid, processes also contributeto the production effect.

Offloading to-be-remembered information is a ubiquitous memory strategy, yet in relying on external memory stores,our ability to recall from internal memory is often diminished. In the present investigation, we examine how offloadingimpacts true and false recall. Across three preregistered experiments, participants studied and wrote word lists that wereeach strongly associated with an unstudied critical word. We compared recall in the offloading condition (i.e., when theyexpected to have access to their written lists during recall) with a no-offloading condition (i.e., when they did not expectto have access to their written lists during recall). In the absence of the written external stores, offloading decreased truerecall of the presented words while increasing false recall for the unpresented critical words. Results are discussed in termsof offloadings differential effects on the formation of gist and verbatim traces during encoding.

Regions of homozygosity (ROH) could implicate uniparental disomy (UPD) on specific chromosomes associated with imprinting disorders. Though the algorithms for ROH detection in exome sequencing (ES) have been developed, optimal reporting thresholds and when to pursue confirmatory UPD testing for imprinting disorders remain in ambiguity. This study used a data-driven approach to assess optimal reporting thresholds of ROH in clinical practice. ROH analysis was performed using Automap in a retrospective cohort of 8,219 patients and a prospective cohort of 1,964 patients with ES data. Cases with ROH on imprinting-disorders related chromosomes were selected for additional methylation-specific confirmatory testing. The diagnostic yield, the ROH pattern of eventually diagnosed cases and optimal thresholds for confirmatory testing were analyzed. In the retrospective analysis, 15 true UPD cases of imprinting disorders were confirmed among 51 suspected cases by ROH detection. Pattern of ROH differed between confirmed UPD and non-UPD cases. Maximized yield and minimized false discovery rate of confirmatory UPD testing was achieved at the thresholds of >20 Mb or >25 % chromosomal coverage for interstitial ROH, and >5 Mb for terminal ROH. Current recommendation by ACMG was nearly optimal, though refined thresholds as proposed in this study could reduce the workload by 31 % without losing any true UPD diagnosis. Our refined thresholds remained optimal after independent evaluation in a prospective cohort. ROH identified in ES could implicate the presence of clinically relevant UPD. This study recommended size and coverage thresholds for confirmatory UPD testing after ROH detection in ES, contributing to the development of evidence-based reporting guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of shape memory alloy (SMA) in shape memory fabric (SMF) has revolutionized thermal protective clothing, significantly enhancing its thermal protection. However, the cost- and time-consuming process of SMA shape memory training and performance testing can be optimized for improved efficiency. This study addresses this challenge by developing machine learning models to predict the thermal protection of a smart fabric system (SFS) with a SMF. The training data was sourced from the previous experimental studies, and six features significantly impacting thermal protection were identified. Results demonstrated that gradient boosting regressor (GBR) model exhibited the highest accuracy, with the SMA interval emerging as the most critical feature in determining thermal protection. Moreover, the GBR model predicted that SFS presented the best thermal protection when the dry SMF was woven by SMA of 2 cm interval and aramid 1414 of 20 roots/cm density, located between the moisture barrier and thermal liner vertically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]