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Gain-Loss Framing Enhances Mnemonic Discrimination in Preschoolers

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Gain-Loss Framing Enhances Mnemonic Discrimination in Preschoolers Child Development, xxxx 2019, Volume 00, Number 0, Pages 1–10 Gain-Loss Framing Enhances Mnemonic Discrimination in Preschoolers Chi T. Ngo , Nora S. Newcombe, and Ingrid R. Olson Temple University Episodic memory relies on discriminating among similar elements of episodes. Mnemonic discrimination is relatively poor at age 4, and then improves markedly. We investigated whether motivation to encode items with fine-grain resolution would change this picture of development, using an engaging computer-adminis- tered memory task in which a bird ate items that made her healthier (gain frame), sicker (loss frame), or led to no change (control condition). Using gain-loss framing led to enhanced mnemonic discrimination in 4- and 5-year-olds, but did not affect older children or adults. Despite this differential improvement, age-related dif- ferences persisted. An additional finding was that loss-framing led to greater mnemonic discrimination than gain-framing across age groups. Motivation only partially accounts for the improvement in mnemonic dis- crimination. 1994). A subfield of the hippocampus called the Mnemonic Discrimination Development dentate gyrus (DG) is thought to perform this func- Memories for everyday events share a great deal of tion by assigning distinct representations to highly overlap, as our experiences often take place in simi- overlapping inputs, reducing catastrophic interfer- lar places and involve similar objects and people ence among similar experiences. One behavioral with similar characteristics. Therefore, episodic expression of pattern separation is the ability to memory requires successful mnemonic discrimina- remember similar, but not identical items, memories tion of people, places and objects, and the ability to as distinct from one another, that is, lure discrimi- encode and store past events with a high degree of nation (reviewed in Yassa & Stark, 2011). specificity. For example, if you went mushroom Recent findings indicate that mnemonic discrimi- picking and ate a mushroom that made you vio- nation is quite poor during preschool ages, and lently ill, it is important to be able to remember improves markedly throughout early and middle and later discriminate the sickness-inducing mush- childhood (Canada, Ngo, Newcombe, Geng, & Rig- room from the good mushrooms. In instances in gins, 2018; Ngo, Newcombe, & Olson, 2018; Rollins which the outcomes of consuming two different & Cloude, 2018), coinciding with the developmental types of mushrooms are undifferentiated, mnemo- window in which episodic memory shows the most nic discrimination between these similar experi- robust gains (reviewed in Ghetti & Bunge, 2012; ences may be less behaviorally important. Olson & Newcombe, 2014). One paradigm designed Mnemonic discrimination may involve a process to test mnemonic discrimination is the Mnemonic called pattern separation, a hippocampal computa- Similarity Task (MST), in which studied objects tion that reduces the degree of overlap between must be discriminated from perceptually similar similar inputs to circumvent catastrophic interfer- objects at test (reviewed in Yassa & Stark, 2011). At ence (Complementary Learning Systems theory: encoding, participants first view a series of object Norman & O’Reilly, 2003; O’Reilly & McClelland, images. Subsequently, another series of objects are shown, including some that are identical to previ- ously studied items (old), some that are similar We thank Ying Lin, Elizabeth Eberts, Jelani Mumford, Jessica Palmarini, and Ai Leen Oon, for their help with stimuli develop- exemplars of the studied objects (lure), and some ment and data collection, and Maria Brucato for the voice record- that are dissimilar to the rest of the studied objects ing of the memory task. We acknowledge support from the (novel). Participants made “old,”“similar,” and National Institutes of Health (F31HD090872 to Chi T. Ngo), “ ” although the content is solely the responsibility of the authors new memory judgments for each test object. and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Mnemonic discrimination is index by participants’ National Institute of Mental Health. The authors declare no com- peting or conflicting financial interests. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Chi T. Ngo, Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701 © 2019 Society for Research in Child Development N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122. Electronic mail may be All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2019/xxxx-xxxx sent to [email protected]. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13297 2 Ngo, Newcombe, and Olson abilities to correctly identify lures as similar, while encoding may enhance subsequent mnemonic dis- correcting for the frequency of misidentifying lures crimination in young adults (Balderston et al., 2017; as old items. Four-year-old children consistently Segal, Stark, Kattan, Stark, & Yassa, 2012). However, showed poorer mnemonic discrimination than 6- there have been no studies investigating the role of year-olds and young adults, whereas only subtle motivation on mnemonic discrimination in children. differences were detected between 6-year-olds and It has been found that an age-appropriate cover young adults in a child-friendly version of the MST story may sufficiently motivate children in other (Ngo et al., 2018). Similarly, in a 4-alternative- cognitive domains. For examples, one study exam- forced-choice task that includes targets and similar ined the impact of the use of reward with an age- lures, 4-year-olds chose similar lures more often appropriate cover story (combatting an alien inva- than 6-year-olds and young adults (Ngo, Lin, New- sion) to motivate children aged 7–10 in a working combe, & Olson, 2019). The development of mne- memory task (Atkinson, Waterman, & Allen, 2019). monic discrimination may play an important role in Children showed higher accuracy for the valued the lifting of childhood amnesia (Canada et al., items, suggesting that they are able to engage in 2018; Keresztes et al., 2017; Ngo et al., 2018). executive control in order to prioritize high-reward These findings raise the question: why do young items when sufficiently motivated to do so. Interest- children perform poorly on mnemonic discrimina- ingly, the prioritizing effects for high-value items tion tasks? One reason may be neurobiological—be- were not observed using a task developed for fore the age of 6, late-developing subfields of the adults without an adequate adaptation (earning hippocampus (i.e., DG), limiting optimal pattern stickers for a reward at the end of each session to separation, thereby resulting in poor mnemonic dis- make a task age appropriate (Berry, Waterman, crimination. Canada et al. (2018) found that (a) per- Baddeley, Hitch, & Allen, 2018). Note that explicit formance on the MST improved from ages 4 to 8, reward was used in both studies to probe prioriti- (b) C2-4/DG gray matter volume waxed and then zation, thus the main difference is in the implemen- waned in this age range (i.e., showed a quadratic tation of a compelling cover story that engages relation to age), and (c) crucially, in younger chil- children in the task. Taken together, these findings dren, greater volume was related to better discrimi- support the idea that employing engaging and the nation, whereas in older children, the opposite was age-appropriate tasks is crucial (Atkinson et al., true. Discrimination performance on the MST also 2019; Light, Buckingham, & Robbins, 1979). correlated linearly with age in a sample of children This study sought to investigate the malleability aged 6–14. Furthermore, discrimination was associ- of age-related differences in mnemonic discrimina- ated with hippocampal maturation characterized by tion during early and middle childhood. We asked the multivariate patterns of age-related differences whether motivating children to encode items with in gray matter volumes of hippocampal subfields high specificity using a gain-loss framing paradigm (Keresztes et al., 2017). would affect subsequent mnemonic discrimination. When young children perform poorly on a task, it In an adaptive memory system, experiences should is always important to ensure that they compre- be prioritized based on their significance. If we think hended the task demands. Previous studies imple- an event may be important for guiding future mented pretest practice sessions to facilitate behaviors, there is a strong incentive to remember it. children’s understanding of the task (Canada et al., 2018; Ngo et al., 2018; Rollins & Cloude, 2018). Even Current Study the youngest group of children (age 4) showed effects of the level of similarity between lures and Here we asked whether gain-loss framing would targets, demonstrating an understanding of the task motivate children to encode and/or retrieve past procedure (Ngo et al., 2018). However, children’s experiences with high resolution. One prediction is abilities to spontaneously form memories with high that poor mnemonic discrimination in preschoolers resolution may not reflect what they can do when is due to low motivation. Thus when sufficiently motivated to encode and retrieve the specific details motivated, they should perform comparably to of the studied objects. In fact, signals from extra-hip- older children. An alternative prediction is that pocampal structures that carry information about motivation may boost mnemonic discrimination to behavioral significance—emotional, motivational, or a certain degree; however, it would not abolish attentional signals—can influence pattern separation
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