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Sketchpad Series

An EEG examination of the timing of neural recapitulation during retrieval of positive, negative, and neutral images

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Allison F. Cline¹ (clinaf52@westminster.edu), Luvada R. Mayle¹, Holly J. Bowen², Elizabeth A. Kensinger³, Eric C. Fields¹; ¹Westminster College, ²Southern Methodist University, ³Boston College

The feeling of re-experiencing an event is a defining feature of episodic memory and is supported by the recapitulation of patterns of neural activity generated when originally experiencing the event. Previous research suggests that negative memories are more vivid and are associated with greater neural recapitulation. The current study uses EEG to investigate the timing of these valence effects on recapitulation. Specifically, we examine whether valence effects reflect a post-retrieval phenomenon or whether they emerge during retrieval (and may affect the retrieval process). Participants complete an encoding task where an abstract line-drawing of an image is followed by the full-color image. In a memory test, participants are shown the line drawing and asked to recall the full image. Analyses will examine representational similarity of the neural response when viewing the full image at encoding and when recalling it at retrieval. We will examine how this similarity changes over time during retrieval (i.e., the time course of recapitulation). Based on results of previous studies, we expect that recapitulation will be greater in the negative than the positive or neutral condition. The key question is whether this difference emerges early in retrieval or is primarily a post-retrieval effect.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic