Dr Arika O'Connor (University of St Andrews) - Dissociating expectation from retrieval during memory decision-making

Over the past 20 years, great efforts have been made to identify the neuroscientific markers of memory retrieval. Surprisingly, brain regions identified using neuroimaging (e.g. parietal and frontal cortex) do not always correspond to those identified using traditional neuropsychological approaches. I will present three neuroscientific experiments (two fMRI, one pupillometry) in which I demonstrate that successful completion of memory tasks recruits both memory- and attention-linked brain regions. These regions play separate roles within adaptive memory decision-making--even decision-making as simple as basic word recognition--evident as dissociable markers of fast expectation-linked signalling, and slower retrieval-linked signalling. These findings illustrate the importance of considering memory tasks as complex decision-making tasks in which many sources of information contribute to the eventual judgement.