Episodic-semantic linkage for $1000: New semantic knowledge is more strongly coupled with episodic memory in trivia experts.

ABSTRACT: Some people exhibit impressive memory for a wide array of semantic knowledge. What makes these trivia experts better able to learn and retain novel facts? We hypothesized that new semantic knowledge may be more strongly linked to its episodic context in trivia experts. We designed a novel online task in which 132 participants varying in trivia expertise encoded "exhibits" of naturalistic facts with related photos in one of two "museums." Afterward, participants were tested on cued recall of facts and recognition of the associated photo and museum. Greater trivia expertise predicted higher cued recall for novel facts. Critically, trivia experts but not non-experts showed superior fact recall when they remembered both features (photo and museum) of the encoding context. These findings illust

SUBMITTER: Thieu MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11317545 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature