Episodic Memory Precision and Reality Monitoring Following Stimulation of Angular Gyrus
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Abstract
The qualities of remembered experiences are often used to inform “reality monitoring” judgments, our ability to distinguish real and imagined events. Previous experiments have tended to investigate only whether reality monitoring decisions are accurate or not, providing little insight into the extent to which reality monitoring may be affected by qualities of the underlying mnemonic representations. We used a continuous-response memory precision task to measure the quality of remembered experiences that underlie two different types of reality monitoring decisions: self/experimenter decisions that distinguish actions performed by participants and the experimenter and imagined/perceived decisions that distinguish imagined and perceived experiences. The data revealed memory precision to be associated with higher accuracy in both self/experimenter and imagined/perceived reality monitoring decisions, with lower precision linked with a tendency to misattribute self-generated experiences to external sources. We then sought to investigate the possible neurocognitive basis of these observed associations by applying brain stimulation to a region that has been implicated in precise recollection of personal events, the left angular gyrus. Stimulation of angular gyrus selectively reduced the association between memory precision and self-referential reality monitoring decisions, relative to control site stimulation. The angular gyrus may, therefore, be important for the mnemonic processes involved in representing remembered experiences that give rise to a sense of self-agency, a key component of “autonoetic consciousness” that characterizes episodic memory.
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The left AG is involved in the retrieval of semantic and personally relevant information.
“whereas the left AG is involved in the retrieval of semantic and personally relevant information. 40,41”
From 20 years of the default mode network: A review and synthesis. (2023) · cites this paper as [41]
The Brain Stimulation Methods section identifies the target as the left angular gyrus, and the Introduction discusses its possible role in retrieving self-generated personal experiences. The Discussion reports an effect on the link between memory precision and self-referential decisions. The paper does not establish a role in retrieving semantic information; its semantic task tested object recognition during study, not semantic retrieval. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
20 years of the default mode network: A review and synthesis.
Menon, V. (2023) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2023.04.023 · Cited by 934 · see citing works
“40,41 In summary, the mPFC, PCC, and left AG constitute a core self-referential system within the DMN, sustained by activity in the PCC and regulated by feedback from the mPFC whose influ-ence is enhanced with more effortful self-directed cognition.”
Background
- Authors
- Kwon, S., Richter, F. R., Siena, M. J., & Simons, J. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Leiden University (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Simons, Jon S.
- Venue
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Publisher
- MIT Press
- Published
- 2022-03-05
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 687-698
- ISSN
- 0898-929X (ISSN-L)
- 1530-8898
- OpenAlex
- W4221080994
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 1.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Apollo (cc-by)
- Funders
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Medical Research Council
- James S. McDonnell Foundation (Center for Blast Injury Studies)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- episodic memory, memory precision, reality monitoring, angular gyrus, transcranial magnetic stimulation, self-referential memory, autonoetic consciousness, self-agency, recollection
- MeSH terms
- Consciousness, Humans, Judgment, Parietal Lobe, Mental Recall, Memory, Episodic
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