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International audience; Since the end of the 20th century, the notion of collective memory has been the subject of keen interest in disciplines concerned with the functioning of individual memory and its effects on the way in which past events are recalled in society. The recall of past events raises questions about the interactions that can take place between the information contained in an individual's memory and the interference of the social environment in which that person evolves over time.However, the notion of collective memory is still being debated about its definition and the methods used to study this phenomenon. This contribution proposes to compare the contributions of two disciplines interested in memory at the individual and collective levels, namely psychology and history. The experimental approach developed in particular in psychology has effectively made it possible to highlight the convergence of recollections of the same event by individuals belonging to the same group, for example by measuring the influence of conversation on recall with the comparison of a group having exchanged memories and a group not having exchanged; The method of source analysis applied in history has been used in a wide variety of studies that seek to deconstruct the evolution and uses of a form of narrative of an event as it may be promoted in the public space and within a group.By reporting on the practices and debates that animate studies on collective memory in psychology and history, this synthetic review of the literature of two fields that are not often associated underlines the richness of a cross-disciplinary approach to continue to invest the field of collective memory.; Depuis la fin du XXe siècle, la notion de mémoire collective fait l’objet d’un vif intérêt dans les disciplines s’intéressant au fonctionnement de la mémoire des individus et à ses effets sur la façon dont des faits du passé sont rappelés en société. Le rappel d’événements passés interroge notamment dans les interactions qui peuvent se jouer entre les informations contenues en mémoire par un individu et les interférences de l’environnement social dans lequel cette personne évolue dans le temps.Cette notion de mémoire collective fait cependant aujourd’hui encore débat au sujet de sa définition et des méthodes utilisées pour étudier ce phénomène. Cette contribution propose ainsi de mettre en regard les apports de deux disciplines intéressées par la mémoire au niveau individuel comme collectif, à savoir la psychologie et l’histoire. L’approche expérimentale développée notamment en psychologie a effectivement permis de mettre en évidence la convergence de récits de souvenirs d’un même événement par des individus faisant partie d’un même groupe, par exemple en mesurant l’influence de la conversation sur le rappel avec la comparaison d’un groupe ayant échangé sur le souvenir et un groupe n’ayant pas échangé; la méthode d’analyse de sources appliquée en histoire a quant à elle été employée dans une grande variété d’études s’attachant à déconstruire l’évolution et les usages d’une forme de récit d’un événement tel qu’il peut être promu dans l’espace public et au sein d’un groupe.En faisant état des pratiques et des débats qui animent les études sur la mémoire collective en psychologie et en histoire, cette revue synthétique de la littérature de deux domaines peu souvent associés souligne ainsi la richesse d’une approche croisée, interdisciplinaire, pour continuer à investir le champ de la mémoire collective.

The current overview provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of autobiographical and collective memory studies, focusing on history and cognitive psychology, to help other scholars bridge the disciplinary gap. We describe the various interpretative frameworks used to build theoretical knowledge on how autobiographical memory and collective memory are intertwined. We expose how research exploring self, social and directive functions of autobiographical memory echoes three main functions that can be identified for collective memory, that is, social identity, social schemata, and means for actions, or a political decision tool of research in these fields. In doing so, we hope to stimulate opportunities for more interdisciplinary research. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Memory Psychology > Theory and Methods

A complex pattern of preservation and deterioration in metacognition in aging is found, especially regarding predicting future memory retrieval (i.e., feeling-of knowing, FOK). While semantic FOK (sFOK) is preserved with age, studies on episodic tasks (eFOK) produce equivocal findings. We present a meta analysis of 20 studies on eFOK and sFOK, analyzing the difference in metacognitive sensitivity between 922 younger and 966 older adults, taking into account the difference in memory performance. The sFOK studies yielded no overall age effect (8 effects, g = -0.10 [-0.29, 0.10]). However, we found a reliable age-group difference on eFOK (22 effects, g = 0.53 [0.28, 0.78]), which was moderated when considering recognition performance. Moreover, using aggregated data of 134 young and 235 older adults from published and unpublished studies from our lab, we investigated memory performance as an explanation of the eFOK deficit. We show that older adults are less metacognitively sensitive than younger adults for eFOKs which is, at least partly, due to the age related memory decline. We highlight two non-exclusive explanations: a recollection deficit at play in the first and second order tasks, and a confound between first order performance and the measure used to assess metacognitive sensitivity.

Objective:In neurological diseases, metacognitive judgements have been widely used in order to assess the degree of disease awareness. However, as yet little research of this type has focused on multiple sclerosis (MS).Method:We here focused on an investigation of item-by-item metacognitive predictions (using feeling-of-knowing judgements) in episodic and semantic memory and global metacognitive predictions in standard neuropsychological tests pertinent to MS (processing speed and verbal fluency). Twenty-seven relapsing–remitting MS (RR-MS) patients and 27 comparison participants took part.Results:We found that RR-MS patients were as accurate as the group of comparison participants on our episodic and semantic item-by-item judgements. However, for the global predictions, we found that the MS group initially overestimated their performance (ds = .64), but only on a task on which performance was also impaired (ds = .89; processing speed). We suggest that MS patients, under certain conditions, show inaccurate metacognitive knowledge. However, postdictions and item-by-item predictions indicate that online metacognitive processes are no different from participants without MS.Conclusion:We conclude that there is no monitoring deficit in RR-MS and as such these patients should benefit from adaptive strategies and symptom education.

According to neuropsychological models of anosognosia, there is a failure to transfer on-line awareness of dysfunction into a more generalised long term belief about memory function in Alzheimer's disease. This failure results in specific metamemory deficits for global predictions: patients overestimate their performance before the task but are able to monitor their memory performance after having experienced the task. However, after a delay, they are still not able to make accurate predictions. As previous work has mainly focused on long-term memory, the present study investigates this issue in short-term and working memory. Using both global and item-by-item metacognitive judgements in a digit span task, we showed that Alzheimer's disease patients are as accurate as older adults in monitoring their performance despite impaired memory. When they have the opportunity to test themselves, or when they have already performed the task, patients are able to use feedback to adjust their metacognitive judgements. Overall, these results show that even for a relatively complex task, patients with Alzheimer's disease are aware of their difficulties in the here-and-now.

Although a large range of literature on awareness and metacognition focuses on different neurological populations, little attention has been paid to Multiple Sclerosis (MS). This paper gathers literatures related to studies of anosognosia and the theoretical construct of metacognition which both offer a means to operationalize and measure awareness in MS. We focused on both a clinical concern, regarding the relationship between subjective and objective evolution of cognitive performance, and the theoretical issue of metacognitive processes implicated in disease awareness. We identified 26 papers with findings related to awareness of cognitive impairment in MS using questionnaire-based or performance-based methods. We found support for the idea that the relationship between subjective evaluation and neuropsychological evaluation depends on disease duration and is strongly modulated by other variables, such as mood state. We propose that the metacognitive deficit for memory tasks in this population arises from memory impairment. Finally, we discuss methodological issues, variability in MS patients, and the domain specificity of metacognitive impairment.

International audience; Our senses are constantly stimulated in our daily lives but we have only a limited understanding of how they affect our cognitive processes and, especially, our autobiographical memory. Capitalizing on a public science event, we conducted the first empirical study that aimed to compare the relative influence of the five senses on the access, temporal distribution, and phenomenological characteristics of autobiographical memories in a sample of about 400 participants. We found that the access and the phenomenological features of memories varied as a function of the type of sensory cues, but not their temporal distribution. With regard to their influence on autobiographical memory, an overlap between some senses was found, with on one hand, olfaction and taste and, on the other, vision, audition, and touch. We discuss these findings in the light of theories of perception, memory, and the self, and consider methodological implications of the sensory cuing technique in memory research, as well as clinical implications for research in psychopathological and neuropsychological populations.

22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS), also known as velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) is the most common copy number variant (CNV) in humans caused by a microdeletion on chromosome 22q11.2. The phenotype encompasses heart anomalies, cleft palate and cognitive difficulties. Alongside brain differences in VCFS, such as reduced hippocampal volume, different cognitive developmental trajectories can be observed. The aim of this study was to explore the developmental trajectories of cognitive inhibition in memory using longitudinal data acquired in a large cohort of individuals with 22q11DS and the brain correlates to those developmental changes. 51 participants with 22q11DS (mean age: 13.75 ± 4.26, mean IQ score: 70.50 ± 10.75) and 43 typically developing individuals matched for age (M = 13.50 ± 4.91) and gender were recruited. To explore inhibition in memory, the Directed Forgetting paradigm was used. 30 words were presented, half were ‘To be remembered items’(TBR) and the other half ‘To be forgotten items’ (TBF). To measure source memory, participants were asked during the recognition stage to say if the world was a TBR or a TBF item. Participants were tested during two consecutive visits, with a mean interval of 3 years. T1-weighted images were acquired using a 1.5 T Philips or a 3 T Siemens scanner at both visits. Both groups recognized more TBR than TBF items (Directed forgetting effect), however, participants with 22q11DS recognized fewer TBR items and did not show an increased recognition of TBR items with age. Furthermore, in participants with VCFS increased source memory errors with age was associated with a decline in hippocampal volume.

The study of the self in neuropsychological patients raises not only theoretical questions on the relationships between the self, autobiographical memory (AM), and episodic future thinking but also clinical issues for patients’ daily life and care. We addressed this issue in Parkinson’s disease patients for whom AM and future thinking impairments have been documented. All patients and controls generated and dated up past and future self-images and provided associated past and future events. Our findings suggest a subtle pattern of preservation/impairment of different dimensions (quantitative and qualitative) of self-images, which rely partially on the episodic quality of past and future events.

International audience; Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show impairment of episodic memory and related metacognitive processes. The present study examined subjective metacognitive judgments preceding objective memory retrieval and investigated the neural correlates of pessimistic predictions for successfully retrieved memories in AD patients. AD patients and healthy older (HO) participants provided predictive judgments on their recognition performance before retrieval of famous (semantic) and recently learned (episodic) names. Correlations between gray matter volume (GMV) in T1 images and behavioral scores were examined with multivariate (partial least square - PLS) and univariate (general linear model - GLM) analyses in AD patients. AD patients showed a significant proportion of successful name recognition preceded by pessimistic prediction in episodic memory. PLS revealed that the behavioral pattern in AD patients was related with a mainly right lateralized pattern of GMV decrease including medial temporal lobe and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), but also right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). GLM further confirmed that pessimistic prediction negatively correlated with GMV in VLPFC. Thus, impaired monitoring processes (possibly influenced by inaccurate beliefs) allowing inferences about one's own memory performance are primarily related to decrease GMV in VLPFC in AD patients.

PurposeCognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for common mental health problems that affect children, young people and adults. The suitability of CBT for children has been questioned because it requires children to think about their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to investigate which cognitive and affective capacities predict children’s ability to relate thoughts, feelings and behaviours.Design/methodology/approachA total of 59 typically developing children aged between 8 and 11 years took part in the study. CBT skills were assessed on a story task that required children to relate the character’s thoughts to their feelings and behaviours. Children also completed an assessment of IQ, a feeling-of-knowing metamemory task that assessed metacognition, and a higher-order theory of mind task. Furthermore, parents rated their child’s empathy on the children’s empathy quotient.FindingsThe findings suggest that CBT is developmentally appropriate for 8–11 year old children; however, young children and children with mental health problems may have impaired metacognition and CBT skills. Metacognition and empathy may moderate the efficacy of child CBT and warrant further investigation in clinical trials.Originality/valueThis study provides evidence for the cognitive and affective skills that might predict the outcome of CBT in children. Metacognition and empathy predict children’s ability to relate thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and therefore may moderate the efficacy of CBT.

This study investigated whether young and older adults can predict their future performance on an event-based prospective memory (PM) task. Methods: Metacognitive awareness was assessed by asking participants to give judgments-of-learning (JOLs) on an item-level for the prospective (remembering that something has to be done) and retrospective (remembering what to do) PM component. In addition, to explore possible age differences in the ability to adapt predictions to the difficulty of the task, encoding time and the relatedness between the prospective and the retrospective PM component were varied. Results: Results revealed that both age groups were sensitive to our task manipulations and adapted their predictions appropriately. Moreover, item-level JOLs indicated that for the retrospective component, young and older adults were equally accurate and slightly overconfident. For the prospective component, predictions were fairly accurate in young adults, while older adults were overconfident. Thus, results suggest that general overconfidence is increased in older adults and concerns both components of PM. Discussion: Findings regarding the conceptual differences between the prospective and retrospective components of a PM task, as well as the link between aging and metamemory in PM are discussed.

Is metacognition a general resource shared across domains? Previous research has documented consistent biases in confidence judgments across tasks. However, the ability to discriminate between correct and incorrect answers (metacognitive sensitivity) is often held to be domain-specific, based on non-significant correlations across domains. Such null findings may be due to low statistical power and differences in task structure or performance, thereby masking a latent domain-generality in metacognition. We examined across-domain correlations in bias and sensitivity in a large sample (N=181). Participants performed four two-alternative-forced-choice tasks (episodic memory, semantic memory, executive function, and visual perception) with trial-by-trial confidence judgments. We found significant correlations between metacognitive biases across tasks. By applying a hierarchical Bayesian model to estimate cross-task covariance, we found significant correlations in metacognitive efficiency (meta-d’/d’) across tasks, even for pairs of tasks in which first-order performance was not correlated. This suggests a domain-general resource supporting metacognitive sensitivity in retrospective confidence.

International audience; This study investigated whether individuals can predict their future prospective memory (PM) performance in a lab-based task and in a naturalistic task. Metacognitive awareness was assessed by asking participants to give judgments-of-learning (JOLs) on an item-level for the prospective (that something has to be done) and retrospective (what to do) PM component. In addition, to explore whether giving predictions influences PM performance, we compared a control group (without predictions) to a prediction group. Results revealed that giving predictions did not change PM performance. Moreover, participants were underconfident in their PM performance in the lab-based task, while they were overconfident in the naturalistic task. In addition, item-level JOLs indicated that they were inaccurate in predicting what items they will recall or not, but only for the prospective component of the PM task. As for the retrospective component, they were equally accurate in both task settings. This study suggests a dissociation of metacognitive awareness for PM according to both task setting and processing component.

This research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council Studentship awarded to Radka Jersakova [ES/J500215/1]. This study employed the delayed judgment-of-learning (JOL) paradigm to investigate the content of metacognitive judgments; after studying cue-target word-pairs, participants predicted their ability to remember targets on a future memory test (cued recognition in Experiments 1 and 2 and cued recall in Experiment 3). In Experiment 1 and the confidence JOL group of Experiment 3, participants used a commonly employed 6-point numeric confidence JOL scale (0–20–40–60–80–100%). In Experiment 2 and the binary JOL group of Experiment 3 participants first made a binary yes/no JOL prediction followed by a 3-point verbal confidence judgment (sure-maybe-guess). In all experiments, on a subset of trials, participants gave a written justification of why they gave that specific JOL response. We used natural language processing techniques (latent semantic analysis and word frequency [n-gram] analysis) to characterize the content of the written justifications and to capture what types of evidence evaluation uniquely separate one JOL response type from others. We also used a machine learning classification algorithm (support vector machine [SVM]) to quantify the extent to which any two JOL responses differed from each other. We found that: (i) participants can justify and explain their JOLs; (ii) these justifications reference cue familiarity and target accessibility and so are particularly consistent with the two-stage metacognitive model; and (iii) JOL confidence judgements do not correspond to yes/no responses in the manner typically assumed within the literature (i.e. 0–40% interpreted as no predictions). Postprint

Failure to recall an item from memory can be accompanied by the subjective experience that the item is known but currently unavailable for report. The feeling of knowing (FOK) task allows measurement of the predictive accuracy of this reflective judgement. Young and older adults were asked to provide answers to general knowledge questions both prior to and after learning, thus measuring both semantic and episodic memory for the items. FOK judgements were made at each stage for all unrecalled responses, providing a measure of predictive accuracy for semantic and episodic knowledge. Results demonstrated a selective effect of age on episodic FOK resolution, with older adults found to have impaired episodic FOK accuracy while semantic FOK accuracy remained intact. Although recall and recognition measures of episodic memory are equivalent between the two age groups, older adults may have been unable to access contextual details on which to base their FOK judgements. The results suggest that older adults are not able to accurately predict future recognition of unrecalled episodic information, and consequently may have difficulties in monitoring recently encoded memories.

International audience; Objective: 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, also known as velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) is a genetic disorder caused by a microdeletion on chromosome 22q11.2 and characterized by marked impairment in visual attention and executive function. The present study examined if this cognitive deficit extends to prospective memory (the type of memory involved in remembering to perform actions in the future). Method: 20 participants with 22q11.2DS aged between 6 and 14 were included in the study as well as 22 typically developing individuals (TDC) aged 6–12. To measure prospective memory, participants were asked to play a driving game (the Dresden Cruiser). This time-based prospective memory task required children to remember to refuel their car when the fuel level was low by pressing a refuel button while driving. Results and discussion: Participants with 22q11.2DS remembered less often to refuel the car. Furthermore, participants with 22q11.2DS checked the fuel gage significantly less often than the controls. Conclusions: Participants with 22q11.2DS therefore demonstrate difficulties completing a time-based prospective memory task. This can be explained by a generally less frequent time checking behavior in comparison to TDC.

International audience; IntroductionAvez-vous déjà eu l’impression d’oublier quelque chose ? Le sentiment d’oubli est très commun dans la vie quotidienne mais a été très peu étudié expérimentalement.ObjectifsL’objectif de cette étude est d’évaluer les jugements d’oubli sur des tâches de mémoire sémantique et épisodique dans le vieillissement normal et dans la maladie d’Alzheimer.Patients et méthodesCinquante jeunes adultes, 35 personnes âgées et 33 patients Alzheimer ont été testés. Les participants effectuaient soit des jugements d’oubli, soit des jugements de rappel sur 2 tâches de mémoire. Pour la tâche de mémoire sémantique, les participants devaient rappeler toutes les régions de France et devaient ensuite estimer le nombre de régions qu’ils pensaient avoir oublié ou rappelé. Pour la tâche de mémoire épisodique, la même procédure était employée avec une liste de 22 mots.RésultatsLes résultats montrent que les jeunes adultes et les personnes âgées sont plus imprécis dans les jugements d’oubli que dans les jugements de rappel sur les deux tâches de mémoire. Dans la maladie d’Alzheimer, les précisions des jugements varient selon la mémoire sollicitée. Sur la tâche de mémoire sémantique, les patients sont aussi précis pour les jugements de rappel que pour les jugements d’oubli. En mémoire épisodique, seuls les jugements de rappel sont précis.DiscussionLes résultats montrent qu’il est plus difficile d’estimer l’oubli que le rappel. Juger l’oubli est plus complexe et nécessite de passer par un jugement de rappel (prise en compte du nombre de mots rappelés - le nombre total de mots présentés), mais l’inverse n’est pas nécessaire. Ce raisonnement peut donc expliquer le manque de précision des participants pour évaluer l’oubli.ConclusionCes résultats montrent qu’il est possible de mesurer l’oubli de manière expérimentale et que les patients présentent un pattern de résultats différents en fonction de la mémoire sollicitée.

International audience; We present a translation of Arnaud's (1896) case report of Patient Louis, a case he describes as having a pathological form of déjà vu. Louis has the delusional belief that the present moment is a repetition of an exact same previous event. Arnaud's paper is critical for two reasons. Firstly, it is amongst the first articles in the scientific literature to describe the déjà vu experience using the term 'déjà vu'. Secondly, the case report of someone with delusional and persistent déjà vu, anticipates recently reported cases with similar symptoms, which are beginning to gain interest as a particular form of memory disorder. We offer a contemporary analysis of Louis and conclude that, whilst the article was critical in the development of déjà vu as a scientific concern, Louis's distorted memory is not best described as déjà vu, but rather as a form of reduplicative paramnesia described as recollective confabulation.

International audience; The emergence of life-logging technologies has led neuropsychologist to focus on understanding how this new technology could help patients with memory disorders. Despite the growing number of studies using life-logging technologies, a theoretical framework supporting its effectiveness is lacking. This review focuses on the use of life-logging in the context of memory rehabilitation, particularly the use of SenseCam, a wearable camera allowing passive image capture. In our opinion, reviewing SenseCam images can be effective for memory rehabilitation only if it provides more than an assessment of prior occurrence in ways that reinstates previous thoughts, feelings and sensory information, thus stimulating recollection. Considering the fact that, in memory impairment, self-initiated processes are impaired, we propose that the environmental support hypothesis can explain the value of SenseCam for memory retrieval. Twenty-five research studies were selected for this review and despite the general acceptance of the value of SenseCam as a memory technique, only a small number of studies focused on recollection. We discuss the usability of this tool to improve episodic memory and in particular, recollection.

This study investigated metacognitive monitoring abilities in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder in two experiments using the judgment-of-learning paradigm. Participants were asked to predict their future recall of unrelated word pairs during the learning phase. Experiment 1 compared judgments-of-learning made immediately after learning and judgments-of-learning made after a delay. We found that both groups overestimated their memory performance but that overall there were no group differences in judgment-of-learning accuracy. Additionally, both groups displayed the standard delayed judgment-of-learning effect (yielding greater judgment accuracy in delayed compared to immediate judgments), suggesting that both groups were able to use appropriate information in making their judgments-of-learning. Experiment 2 assessed whether adolescents with autism spectrum disorder could regulate their study time according to their judgments-of-learning using a self-paced learning procedure. Results showed that both groups spent more time learning items given lower judgments-of-learning. Finally, Experiment 2 showed that judgments-of-learning and study time varied according to item difficulty in both groups. As a whole, these findings demonstrate that adolescents with autism spectrum disorder can accurately gauge their memory performance while learning new word associations and use these skills to control their study time at learning.

There are differences in the ways in which younger and older adults remember the past and imagine the future. However, little research has examined this finding in relation to the self. Older and younger adults described current and future self-images and generated associated memories and future events. Age differences in the generation of past and future events were paralleled in self-images: Older adults' future self-images were closer to the present, whereas their current self-images were formed longer ago. Both groups' memories and future events clustered temporally around times of self-image formation. We propose that the self governs event construction in both younger and older adults, and discuss the role of self-related processing in imagining the future and remembering the past.

The recognition of whether someone, something or somewhere has been experienced before rests on a decisionmaking process. In humanmemory, information is not reproduced as it would be in a computer, but is a reflective, conscious process. This is more so the case when encountering the same scene, environment or idea for a second time. When we recognize something as having been encountered before we arguably make a comparison between what is represented in the cognitive system and what is currently perceived. Consider that somebody uses the word ‘loquacious’, a word which you have only just encountered recently, and up until then, you did not know its meaning, or even existence. When encountering the word a second time, a number of processes and sources of information bring to bear on your processing of the word: how fluently you can process it, its distinctiveness in the perceptual trace, the feelings generated when encountering it a second time, the effort involved in retrieving its meaning, and whether you can recall the specifics of your first encounter with the word. This information can be used to retrieve the meaning of the word, or to gauge the certainty with which you have encountered the word before, and so on. Recent advances in human decision making suggest that complex tasks requiring problem solving and judgement rely on two categories of information, giving rise to dual process models of reasoning and judgement (Evans, 2008; Kahneman, 2011). The dual process account explains how people make decisions based on two separable streams of information: a fast, intuitive feeling and a slower, more deliberative evaluation, captured in the quote fromCharles Darwin, above. These separable processes in cognition are arguably at play in memory decision making too (e.g., Arango-Munoz, 2010; Hintzman and Curran, 1994; Koriat and Levy-Sadot, 2001) and map neatly onto the concepts of familiarity and recollection (for reviews see Mandler, 2008; Yonelinas, 2002), two key concepts which we describe below. In fact, the neurosciences have long had dual process theorists who posit two separate processes in the mind, probably inspired by the division of the brain into two hemispheres. Many early scholars posited that the brain was a ‘double organ’ (e.g., Holland, 1840). Wigan’s influential text (1844), The Duality of the Mind was an extreme position: that there were literally two separate brains which could work with each other or against each other. It was this kind of physiological view of the dual brain that Ribot drew upon in his early conceptions of human memory and its disorders (Taylor and Shuttleworth, 1998) and it undoubtedly influenced early theories of memory. In time, Stewart in the mid nineteenth century developed a distinction between recollectione the ability to consciously retrieve specific information e and memory more generally e a store of experiences and information which is not necessarily available for conscious report (Taylor and Shuttleworth, 1998). These dual process ideas of the mind have undoubtedly been influential in early neuroscientific works, but they have also helped shape the general public’s thinking on this matter: we can talk about being ‘in two minds’ about an issue, and many lay people’s conceptualization of deja vu e an infrequent but striking memory error e is that it arises from a mismatch between separate

International audience; There is a debate about the ability of patients with Alzheimer's disease to build an up-to-date representation of their memory function, which has been termed mnemonic anosognosia. This form of anosognosia is typified by accurate online evaluations of performance, but dysfunctional or outmoded representations of function more generally.; We tested whether people with Alzheimer's disease could adapt or change their representations of memory performance across three different six-week memory training programs using global judgements of learning.; We showed that whereas online assessments of performance were accurate, patients continued to make inaccurate overestimations of their memory performance. This was despite the fact that the magnitude of predictions shifted according to the memory training. That is, on some level patients showed an ability to change and retain a representation of performance over time, but it was a dysfunctional one. For the first time in the literature we were able to use an analysis using correlations to support this claim, based on a large heterogeneous sample of 51 patients with Alzheimer's disease.; The results point not to a failure to retain online metamemory information, but rather that this information is never used or incorporated into longer term representations, supporting but refining the mnemonic anosognosia hypothesis.

Our objective was to explore metamemory in short-term memory across the lifespan. Five age groups participated in this study: 3 groups of children (4-13 years old), and younger and older adults. We used a three-phase task: prediction-span-postdiction. For prediction and postdiction phases, participants reported with a Yes/No response if they could recall in order a series of images. For the span task, they had to actually recall such series. From 4 years old, children have some ability to monitor their short-term memory and are able to adjust their prediction after experiencing the task. However, accuracy still improves significantly until adolescence. Although the older adults had a lower span, they were as accurate as young adults in their evaluation, suggesting that metamemory is unimpaired for short-term memory tasks in older adults.•We investigate metamemory for short-term memory tasks across the lifespan. •We find younger children cannot accurately predict their span length. •Older adults are accurate in predicting their span length. •People's metamemory accuracy was related to their short-term memory span.

International audience; Learning disabilities (LDs) are a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of diseases. Array-CGH and high-throughput sequencing have dramatically expanded the number of genes implicated in isolated intellectual disabilities and LDs, highlighting the implication of neuron-specific post-mitotic transcription factors and synaptic proteins as candidate genes. We report a unique family diagnosed with autosomal dominant learning disability and a 6p21 microdeletion segregating in three patients. The 870 kb microdeletion encompassed the brain-expressed gene LRFN2, which encodes for a synaptic cell adhesion molecule. Neuropsychological assessment identified selective working memory deficits, with borderline intellectual functioning. Further investigations identified a defect in executive function, and auditory-verbal processes. These data were consistent with brain MRI and FDG-PET functional brain imaging, which, when compared with controls, revealed abnormal brain volume and hypometabolism of gray matter structures implicated in working memory. We performed electron microscopy immunogold labeling demonstrating the localization of LRFN2 at synapses of cerebellar and hippocampal rat neurons, often associated with the NR1 subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). Altogether, the combined approaches imply a role for LRFN2 in LD, specifically for working memory processes and executive function. In conclusion, the identification of familial cases of clinically homogeneous endophenotypes of LD might help in both the management of patients and genetic counseling for families.

International audience; Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) is mainly defined as a condition affecting perception and the mental representation of the environment. However, nothing is known about its impact on the ability to mentally represent one's past and on personal identity. We addressed these questions in a case of chronic USN, DR, a 59-year-old right-handed woman, who underwent a variety of measures exploring the self and autobiographical memory (AM). DR showed preserved self-images and her AM performance was only preserved when memories were prompted by her own self-images and not by self-unrelated cues. Our findings are discussed in light of the interconnection between the self and AM.

International audience; We examined the hypothesis that feeling-of-knowing judgments rely on recollection as well as on familiarity prompted by the cue presentation. A remember-know-no memory procedure was combined with the episodic FOK procedure employing a cue-target pair memory task. The magnitude of FOK judgments and FOK accuracy were examined as a function of recollection, familiarity, or the "no memory" option. Results showed that the proportion of R and K responses was similar. FOK accuracy and magnitude of FOK judgments were higher for R and K responses than for N responses. FOK accuracy related to R and K responses were above chance level, but FOK was not accurate in the "no memory" condition. Finally, both FOK magnitude and FOK accuracy were related more to recollection than to familiarity. These results support the hypothesis that both recollection and familiarity are determinants of the FOK process, although they suggest that recollection has a stronger influence.

International audience; Previous research has pointed to a deficit in associative recognition in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Associative recognition tasks require discrimination between various combinations of words which have and have not been seen previously (such as old-old or old-new pairs). People with TLE tend to respond to rearranged old-old pairs as if they are “intact” old-old pairs, which has been interpreted as a failure to use a recollection strategy to overcome the familiarity of two recombined words into a new pairing. We examined this specific deficit in the context of metacognition, using postdecision confidence judgements at test. We expected that TLE patients would show inappropriate levels of confidence for associative recognition. Although TLE patients reported lower confidence levels in their responses overall, they were sensitive to the difficulty of varying pair types in their judgements and gave significantly higher confidence ratings for their correct answers. We conclude that a strategic deficit is not at play in the associative recognition of people with TLE, insofar as they are able to monitor the status of their memory system. This adds to a growing body of research suggesting that recollection is impaired in TLE, but not metacognition.

International audience; In animal studies, extensive data revealed the influence of culture medium on embryonic development, foetal growth and the behaviour of offspring. However, this impact has never been investigated in humans. For the first time, we investigated in depth the effects of embryo culture media on health, growth and development of infants conceived by In Vitro Fertilization until the age of 5 years old. This single-centre cohort study was based on an earlier randomized study. During six months, in vitro fertilization attempts (No. 371) were randomized according to two media (Single Step Medium—SSM group) or Global medium (Global group). This randomized study was stopped prematurely as significantly lower pregnancy and implantation rates were observed in the SSM group. Singletons (No. 73) conceived in the randomized study were included (42 for Global and 31 for SSM). The medical data for gestational, neonatal and early childhood periods were extracted from medical records and parental interviews (256 variables recorded). The developmental profiles of the children in eight domains (social, self-help, gross motor, fine motor, expressive language, language comprehension, letter knowledge and number knowledge – 270 items) were compared in relation to the culture medium. The delivery rate was significantly lower in the SSM group than in the Global group (p

This study explored how memory for actions in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children might benefit from self-performance and experimenter demonstration, and whether these groups possess metamemory knowledge of their performance levels in this task. Children with autism were less accurate on the action memory task when they carried out each action themselves during encoding, or when no actions were implemented during this phase, but this difference was abolished when the experimenter demonstrated each action during encoding. Despite clear difficulties in the self-performed condition relative to typical children, the group with ASD also showed a beneficial effect of performing the actions themselves during instruction. Finally, children with autism were as accurate as typical children in judging the accuracy of their own memory performance, indicating an absence of metamemory difficulties for this task.

Resume Introduction Cette revue a pour objectif principal de presenter une synthese des etudes portant sur les effets de la maladie d’Alzheimer sur la memoire. Pour cela, une conception actuelle dans la litterature portant sur la memoire est proposee. La recuperation d’une information peut se faire soit sur la base de la familiarite (i.e. familiarity ), soit sur la base de la rememoration (i.e. recollection ), ces deux types de recuperation correspondant a deux etats de conscience lies a la recuperation bien distincts (consciences noetique et autonoetique). Etat des connaissances La rememoration, contrairement a la familiarite, requiert la recuperation des details contextuels lies a l’episode encode et elle est particulierement alteree dans la maladie d’Alzheimer, comparee a la familiarite qui est relativement preservee. Par ailleurs, la maladie d’Alzheimer s’accompagne d’une alteration de la metamemoire. Les resultats mettent en evidence que le deficit de rememoration dans la maladie d’Alzheimer pourrait etre a l’origine des plus grandes difficultes de metamemoire et de rappel d’une information. Le deficit de rememoration dans la maladie d’Alzheimer semble resulter d’une disconnection entre les aires mediales temporales et les aires frontales. Perspectives Cette approche novatrice de la memoire semble prometteuse en ouvrant de nouvelles perspectives de recherche sur le diagnostic precoce de la maladie d’Alzheimer et sur la rehabilitation cognitive. Conclusion Cette revue de question a permis de decrire un profil de deficit chez les patients Alzheimer impliquant la relation entre conscience de ses capacites mnesiques (metamemoire) et les etats de conscience associes a l’acte mnesique et en particulier la rememoration.

This research investigated the effect of divided attention at encoding on feeling-of-knowing (FOK). Participants had to learn a 60 word-pair list under two experimental conditions, one with full attention (FA) and one with divided attention (DA). After that, they were administered episodic FOK tasks with a cued-recall phase, a FOK phase and a recognition phase. Our results showed that DA at encoding altered not only memory performance, but also FOK judgments and FOK accuracy. These findings throw some light on the central role of the quality of memory encoding to make accurate FOK judgments and provide new evidence supporting the relationship between memory and metamemory judgments.

Human memory can be split into familiarity and recollection processes which contribute to different aspects of memory function. These separate processes result in different experiential states. In this review, we examine how this dominant theoretical framework can explain the subjective experience of people with Alzheimer's disease, the profile of their memory impairments and their inability to reflect on their performance metacognitively. We conclude with a brief overview of the brain regions supporting conscious experience of memory, and propose that the memory and awareness deficits seen in Alzheimer's disease could be conceived of as a deficit in autonoetic consciousness. A future priority for research is to take these robust constructs into research programmes examining rehabilitation and pharmacological intervention.

Memory strategy usage and awareness of memory performance are both crucial for memory rehabilitation. We explored Alzheimer's patients' ability to apply and control learning strategies and also their ability to predict the effect of these strategies on subsequent performance. In a rehearsal condition, participants were explicitly asked to overtly rehearse words and were given as long as they liked at study. In a control condition, participants read the words passively at a fixed presentation rate. In all groups, recall was superior in the rehearsal condition than in the reading condition. Alzheimer's patients showed different strategy usage. Overall, people with Alzheimer's disease spend longer studying to-be-remembered words under unpaced conditions, but they do not use this time to rehearse to the same extent as controls. We hypothesize that this failure to rehearse could be based on the inability to use effortful executive mechanisms involved during study.

International audience; While metacognition and anosognosia have long been studied as distinct concepts, more recently we have endeavored to construct a theoretical framework for exploring how metacognition can contribute to our understanding of anosognosia and vice versa. Following this approach, with a particular focus on Alzheimer's disease (AD), this chapter first gives an overview of the key experimental findings and issues on metacognition in AD patients: in particular, overconfidence and absolute awareness; the sensitivity approach; the fractionation of metacognition in AD; the neural substrates of metacognition in the Alzheimer brain; and metacognitive control in these patients. Second, the chapter discusses the concept of anosognosia in AD patients from a cognitive neuropsychological viewpoint. It addresses models such as the cognitive awareness model and evidence from metacognition studies, and how they contribute to disentangle the issue of measuring anosognosia in AD patients. Finally, it develops the emerging concept of "implicit awareness" in AD patients

This study investigated the effect of the emotional nature of to-be-retrieved material on semantic retrieval monitoring. Across 2 groups, participants were either asked whether they have experienced a tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state or to make a feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgment. We examined the overall reporting rate as well as subjective (not accompanied by partial information recall) TOT and FOK reporting, comparing whether these differed between emotional (negatively valenced and arousing) and neutral items. The results demonstrated that emotion does not impact semantic TOT and FOK reports, a conclusion supported by Bayesian analysis of the results. The outcomes extend other findings in the metamemory literature, and are discussed with a focus on future research avenues concerning interactions between emotion and metamemory.

Metacognition concerns our monitoring and control of mental operations (knowing what you know). Much thinking about metacognition is liable to fall foul of the classic homunculus problem: Nobody can specify who or what does the "metacognition." We describe how the Active Inference and Epistemic Value (AIEV) model offers an operationalization of epistemic behaviors which can explain two example metacognitive phenomena: Control and monitoring of word learning, and the search for unretrieved information in the feeling of knowing. Curiosity drives a search forward, but it is held in check by considering the utility of what is retrieved from memory.

While metacognition and anosognosia have long been studied as distinct concepts, more recently we have endeavored to construct a theoretical framework for exploring how metacognition can contribute to our understanding of anosognosia and vice versa. Following this approach, with a particular focus on Alzheimer’s disease (AD), this chapter first gives an overview of the key experimental findings and issues on metacognition in AD patients: in particular, overconfidence and absolute awareness; the sensitivity approach; the fractionation of metacognition in AD; the neural substrates of metacognition in the Alzheimer brain; and metacognitive control in these patients. Second, the chapter discusses the concept of anosognosia in AD patients from a cognitive neuropsychological viewpoint. It addresses models such as the cognitive awareness model and evidence from metacognition studies, and how they contribute to disentangle the issue of measuring anosognosia in AD patients. Finally, it develops the emerging concept of “implicit awareness” in AD patients.

Background : An enhancement in recall of simple instructions is found when actions are performed in comparison to when they are verbally presented – the subject-performed task (SPT) effect. This enhancement has also been found with older adults. However, the reason why older adults, known to present a deficit in episodic memory, have a better performance for this type of information remains unclear. In this article, we explored this effect by comparing the performance on the SPT task with the performance on other tasks, in order to understand the underlying mechanisms that may explain this effect. Objective : We hypothesized that both young and older adult groups should show higher recall in SPT compared with the verbal learning condition, and that the differences between age groups should be lower in the SPT condition. We aimed to explore the correlations between these tasks and known neuropsychological tests, and we also measured source memory for the encoding condition. Design : A mixed design was used with 30 healthy older adults, comparing their performance with 30 healthy younger adults. Each participant was asked to perform 16 simple instructions (SPT condition) and to only read the other 16 instructions (Verbal condition – VT). The test phase included a free recall task. Participants were also tested with a set of neuropsychological measures (speed of processing, working memory and verbal episodic memory). Results : The SPT effect was found for both age groups; but even for SPT materials, group differences in recall persisted. Source memory was found to be preserved for the two groups. Simple correlations suggested differences in correlates of SPT performance between the two groups. However, when controlling for age, the SPT and VT tasks correlate with each other, and a measure of episodic memory correlated moderately with both SPT and VT performance. Conclusions : A strong effect of SPT was observed for all but one, which still displayed the expected aging deficit. The correlations and source memory data suggest that the SPT and VT are possibly related in respect to their underlying processes, and SPT, instead of being an isolated process, is in connection with both the episodic memory and executive function processes. Under these circumstances, the SPT seems to contribute to an enhancement of the episodic memory trace, presumably from the multimodality it provides, without involving a separated set of cognitive mechanisms. Future research using more pure measures of other cognitive processes that could be related to SPT is necessary. Keywords : aging; subject performed task; memory for actions; episodic memory (Published: 10 April 2015) Responsible Editor: Mathieu Hainselin, Universite de Picardie Jules Verne, France.

This research investigated adult age differences in a metamemory monitoring task-episodic feeling-of-knowing (FOK) and in an episodic memory task-cued recall. Executive functioning and processing speed were examined as mediators of these age differences. Young and elderly adults were administered an episodic FOK task, a cued recall task, executive tests and speed tests. Age-related decline was observed on all the measures. Correlation analyses revealed a pattern of double dissociation which indicates a specific relationship between executive score and FOK accuracy, and between speed score and cued recall. When executive functioning and processing speed were evaluated concurrently on FOK and cued recall variables, hierarchical regression analyses showed that executive score was a better mediator of age-related variance in FOK, and that speed score was the better mediator of age-related variance in cued recall.

To examine whether aging affects metacognitive control, elderly and young adults carried out a readiness-recall task, in which subjects monitor their own learning procedure, allowing strategy manipulation (study time and rehearsal) to be measured. Age differences were observed in metamemory control performance. Younger adults were found to be better at adjusting study time and rehearsal to the task. Moreover, to determine whether age-related differences in strategy manipulation may mediate age-related differences in memory performance, performance on the readiness-recall task was compared to performance on an experimenter-paced task. Results indicated that younger adults recalled significantly more words in the readiness-recall task than in the experimenter test. This was not the case for older adults. Furthermore, a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that age-related differences in strategy manipulation mediate some age-related differences in memory performance. Our aim was also to determine whether metacognitive control is related to executive functions. Thus, all participants were administered standard neuropsychological tests used to assess executive functioning. Significant partial correlation appeared between metamemory control and executive functioning. Finally, a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that age-related decline in metamemory control may be largely the result of executive limitations associated with aging.