In a talk recently done by Melissa Hebscher, the topic of memory and how we remember different events affects the vividness and accuracy of them. The subject of Hebschers research is that of episodic autobiographical memory and in what ways allocentric (third person) and egocentric (first person) have distinct differences in what is recalled. These two different views represent spatial information in many different ways. Part of this has to do with the different structures in the brain that contribute to each of these functions. For the allocentric view, the hippocampus is what takes responsibility for the recall of memories from a third person perspective. On the other hand, the posterior parietal neocortex supports the egocentric view. Hebscher and her team looked at the volumes of the brains in their participants after cueing them with familiar locations and also familiar non-location words.
Similarly to the study done by Hebscher, a group of researchers at Saarland University in Germany, looked at the differences in episodic memory. They compared the quality of memory in a testing experiment, where participants were asked to retrieve words and in a restudying experiment. The researchers Cheng-Hua Bai, Emma Bridger, Hubert Zimmer, and Axel Mecklinger saw that participants were able to recall more of the testing words when compared with the restudying words. They believe that this has to do with the fact that the testing scenario requires participants to retrieve words rather than just look over them.
Both of these studies are similar in the sense that they are asking participants to recall words. Different scenarios produce different results that show the recalling of words is very complex. In Hebschers study the location-related words were able to be recalled the most. This is showing that in order to most accurately recall a memory or a word as in some studies, the participant has to have a connection to it. Like with the accuracy of those words that were tested, there is a connection in having to remember and recall specific words over and over for the most accurate results.
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