Professor Jon Simons | Insights from continuous retrieval measures into the precision of episodic memory

Continuous episodic retrieval tasks have the potential to advance understanding of how we remember previous experiences. Compared with conventional approaches, continuous measures can provide a more detailed and precise characterization of memory processes at behavioural and neural levels, and more sensitive tools for detecting memory vulnerability. In this talk, I will consider recent work in which we have begun to use continuous retrieval measures to explore the precision of episodic memory, and how it declines in healthy ageing. Combining behavioural, computational modelling, functional neuroimaging, and brain stimulation approaches, this new direction promises novel insights into the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie episodic retrieval and highlights the sensitivity of memory precision to age-related cognitive decline.