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Neural-network models

Predicting spontaneous recovery of memory

Abstract

Long after a new language has been learned and forgotten, relearning a few words seems to trigger the recall of other words. Neural-network models1,2,3 indicate that this form of spontaneous recovery may result from the storage of distributed representations, which are thought to mediate human memory. Here we use a psychomotor learning task to show that a corresponding effect of spontaneous memory recovery occurs in human subjects.

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Figure 1: Reaction time (RTlog) plotted against trial number for three different experimental sessions (solid lines, transfer condition; dashed lines, control condition; error bars, standard errors of bin means; see text).

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References

  1. Hinton, G. E. & Sejnowski, T. J. in Parallel Distributed Processing (eds Rumelhart, D. & McClelland, J.) 282–317 (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1986).

  2. Hinton, G. E. & Plaut, D. Proc. Ninth Annu. Cogn. Sci. Soc. 177–186 (1987).

  3. Harvey, I. & Stone, J. V. Neural Comp. 8, 697–704 (1996).

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  4. Ebbinghaus, H. Über das Gedachtnis (Dunker, Leipzig, 1885).

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Correspondence to James V. Stone.

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Stone, J., Hunkin, N. & Hornby, A. Predicting spontaneous recovery of memory. Nature 414, 167–168 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35102676

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