Schedule of Events | Symposia

Dissociating forward versus backward transitions in free recall: Re-analysis of oscillatory EEG activity from a large open data set (PEERS)

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

Jeffrey Johnson¹ (johnsonjeffre@missouri.edu), Roman Gutierrez¹, Alliya Padiak¹, Brittney Bishop-Chrzanowski¹; ¹University of Missouri

Free recall tasks have been instrumental to our understanding of the strategies and search processes involved in episodic memory retrieval. In particular, these tasks have revealed ways in which memories are organized on the basis of temporal, contextual, and associative factors, and how subjects might capitalize on this organization to maximize the likelihood of retrieval. Although recent EEG studies have begun to characterize the neural correlates of correct recall versus errors (intrusions), little attention has been given to distinguishing neural activity according to forward and backward transitions in free recall. In the current study, we reanalyzed scalp EEG data from the openly available Penn Electrophysiology of Encoding and Retrieval Study (PEERS; Kahana et al., 2024), consisting of about 200 subjects tested across multiple sessions, to investigate the possible oscillatory signatures of these transitions. EEG from about 1.5 seconds just prior to verbal report of each item was used to assess the deliberation period leading to recall. Our results indicated enhanced low-frequency (theta and alpha) activity for forward compared to backward transitions but enhanced high-frequency (gamma) activity for the reverse contrast. These findings provide novel evidence for dissociable neurocognitive processes related to deliberation in free recall and potentially reflect direction-based strategies that guide memory retrieval.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic