Skip to main content

Main menu

  • HOME
  • CONTENT
    • Early Release
    • Featured
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
    • Blog
    • Collections
    • Podcast
  • TOPICS
    • Cognition and Behavior
    • Development
    • Disorders of the Nervous System
    • History, Teaching and Public Awareness
    • Integrative Systems
    • Neuronal Excitability
    • Novel Tools and Methods
    • Sensory and Motor Systems
  • ALERTS
  • FOR AUTHORS
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Editorial Board
    • For the Media
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Feedback
  • SUBMIT

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
eNeuro

eNeuro

Advanced Search

 

  • HOME
  • CONTENT
    • Early Release
    • Featured
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
    • Blog
    • Collections
    • Podcast
  • TOPICS
    • Cognition and Behavior
    • Development
    • Disorders of the Nervous System
    • History, Teaching and Public Awareness
    • Integrative Systems
    • Neuronal Excitability
    • Novel Tools and Methods
    • Sensory and Motor Systems
  • ALERTS
  • FOR AUTHORS
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Editorial Board
    • For the Media
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Feedback
  • SUBMIT
Next
New Research, Cognition and Behavior

Memorable audiovisual narratives synchronize sensory and supramodal neural responses

Samantha S. Cohen and Lucas C. Parra
eNeuro 3 November 2016, ENEURO.0203-16.2016; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0203-16.2016
Samantha S. Cohen
1Department of Psychology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York 10016
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Samantha S. Cohen
Lucas C. Parra
2Department of Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, New York, New York 10031
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Lucas C. Parra
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

Our brains integrate information across sensory modalities to generate perceptual experiences and form memories. However, it is difficult to determine the conditions under which multisensory stimulation will benefit or hinder the retrieval of everyday experiences. We hypothesized that the determining factor is the reliability of information processing during stimulus presentation, which can be measured through inter-subject correlation of stimulus evoked activity. We therefore presented biographical auditory narratives and visual animations to 72 human subjects either visually, auditorily, or combined while neural activity was recorded using electroencephalography. Memory for the narrated information, contained in the auditory stream, was tested three weeks later. While the visual stimulus alone led to no meaningful retrieval, this related stimulus improved memory when it was combined with the story, even when it was temporally incongruent with the audio. Further, individuals with better subsequent memory elicited neural responses during encoding that were more correlated with their peers. Surprisingly, portions of this predictive synchronized activity were present regardless of the sensory modality of the stimulus. These data suggest that the strength of sensory and supramodal activity is predictive of memory performance after three weeks and that neural synchrony may explain the mnemonic benefit of the functionally uninformative visual context observed for these real-world stimuli.

Significance Statement: Although multisensory integration is an important part of daily life, the mnemonic influence of one modality on another is not well established. Cross-modal cues may either strengthen or interfere with memory for information imparted through another sensory modality. We establish that during the encoding of a naturalistic auditory stimulus the cross-subject synchrony of neural processing predicts memory performance regardless of stimulus modality. The dominant neural signature of enhanced encoding is supramodal in that it is largely independent of the modality of stimulus presentation. The level of synchrony that a story elicits may help predict the extent to which adding extraneous information benefits memory.

  • Episodic encoding
  • Inter-subject correlation
  • Multisensory integration
  • Naturalistic stimuli

Footnotes

  • Authors report no conflict of interest

  • This work was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA Contract W911NF-14-1-0157).

Back to top
Email

Thank you for sharing this eNeuro article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Memorable audiovisual narratives synchronize sensory and supramodal neural responses
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from eNeuro
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in eNeuro.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
View Full Page PDF
Citation Tools
Memorable audiovisual narratives synchronize sensory and supramodal neural responses
Samantha S. Cohen, Lucas C. Parra
eNeuro 3 November 2016, ENEURO.0203-16.2016; DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0203-16.2016

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero

Share
Memorable audiovisual narratives synchronize sensory and supramodal neural responses
Samantha S. Cohen, Lucas C. Parra
eNeuro 3 November 2016, ENEURO.0203-16.2016; DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0203-16.2016
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Keywords

  • episodic encoding
  • inter-subject correlation
  • multisensory integration
  • naturalistic stimuli

Responses to this article

Jump to comment:

No eLetters have been published for this article.

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

New Research

  • Allopregnanolone effects on inhibition in hippocampal parvalbumin interneurons
  • LINCs are vulnerable to epileptic insult and fail to provide seizure control via on-demand activation
  • Pregabalin silences oxaliplatin-activated sensory neurons to relieve cold allodynia
Show more New Research

Cognition and Behavior

  • Hippocampal neuronal activity preceding stimulus predicts later memory success
  • Absence of VGLUT3 expression leads to impaired fear memory in mice
  • Gender Impacts the Relationship between Mood Disorder Symptoms and Effortful Avoidance Performance
Show more Cognition and Behavior

Subjects

  • Cognition and Behavior

  • Home
  • Alerts
  • Visit Society for Neuroscience on Facebook
  • Follow Society for Neuroscience on Twitter
  • Follow Society for Neuroscience on LinkedIn
  • Visit Society for Neuroscience on Youtube
  • Follow our RSS feeds

Content

  • Early Release
  • Current Issue
  • Latest Articles
  • Issue Archive
  • Blog
  • Browse by Topic

Information

  • For Authors
  • For the Media

About

  • About the Journal
  • Editorial Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Feedback
(eNeuro logo)
(SfN logo)

Copyright © 2023 by the Society for Neuroscience.
eNeuro eISSN: 2373-2822

The ideas and opinions expressed in eNeuro do not necessarily reflect those of SfN or the eNeuro Editorial Board. Publication of an advertisement or other product mention in eNeuro should not be construed as an endorsement of the manufacturer’s claims. SfN does not assume any responsibility for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from or related to any use of any material contained in eNeuro.