Understanding Context-binding in Visual Episodic Memory

We live in a perceptually rich world, encountering vast amounts of
information daily. Extensive research has been conducted regarding our
ability to form and retrieve detailed memories, and the myriad factors that
determine whether an item will be successfully stored in/retrieved from the
long-term memory stores. Whilst memory can be broken down into two main
types (semantic and episodic), the present thesis focuses on episodic
memories (i.e., memories which are temporally grouped together and contain
elements of personal relevance). It is within this memory network that two
main factors are examined, namely congruency (i.e., does the item belong in
the context) and context-binding (i.e., how well has an individual component
in a scene been associated into one cohesive memory trace).

The present thesis aimed to address three main research aims. The
influence of semantic congruency and context-binding on episodic memory
were examined using behavioural techniques (Chapters 2 and 5). The
behavioural findings from Chapter 2 were replicated in Chapter 5, and
neuroimaging techniques were used to further examine the neuronal
mechanisms underlying such processes. Chapter 3 aimed to examine whether
the congruency and context effects observed in visual episodic memory
operated in the same manner when applied to a verbal episodic memory
paradigm. Finally, the relationship of an object to the scene was examined in
Chapter 4, testing classical animacy effects to examine how context-binding
operates in visual episodic memory. This thesis provides novel contributions
to the field not only in terms of its findings, but in the experimental paradigm
used to test the research aims. The key theme emerging throughout the
experimental results presented is that context can serve both to facilitate and
hinder memory, depending on the relationship of the target to its context and
depending on task requirements.