The Expansion and Further Development of a New Episodic Memory Task

The Expansion and Further Development of a New Episodic Memory Task

Keywords: episodic memory, mnemonic discrimination, naturalistic, emotion

Traditional episodic memory tasks utilize static images of objects, scenes, or words that do not mimic real-world memory experiences (i.e., they lack context). The contextual piece of information that is most frequently overlooked in current episodic memory research is the significance of the memory itself (i.e., why) (Leal et al., 2019). A recent study by Leal and colleagues (2019) developed a modified mnemonic discrimination task (MDT) using a set of naturalistic stimuli that included video clips of everyday experiences (e.g., positive, negative, and neutral stimuli). The current study aims to expand the development of Leal and colleagues’ (2019) modified MDT to establish its future use in an event-related potential (ERP) framework. Thus, we will expand the current data set used in the modified MDT to verify whether the additional videos and photos can elicit similar patterns as what were established in the previous study (Leal et. al, 2019).

Dr. Stephanie Simon-Dack & Dr. Thomas Holtgraves