A new stimulus database to examine the underpinnings of rich and vivid memory recollection

Our memories seldom consist of singular sensory information (Sathian & Ramachandran, 2019). However, with the exception of autobiographical memory experiments, previous studies have focused more heavily on unimodal stimulus sets (Bonnici et al. 2018). Here, we assessed the involvement of multisensory information in memory recollection and predictors of rich and vivid remembering. A novel stimulus set consisting of real-life environment videos was created, including both 1st person perspective (1PP) and 3rd person perspective (3PP). Two separate experiments were conducted to assess the quality of both 1PP and 3PP stimulus sets, respectively, using free and cued recall. In Study 1, the relationship between presence (the extent to which participants felt immersed in the experience they were being shown – “Felt like I was there” – “Completely remote”) and familiarity, as well as between presence and vividness was investigated. Familiar videos yielded significantly higher ratings of sense of presence than non-familiar videos. A significant positive correlation was also found between presence and vividness at recall. When assessing free recall accuracy, participants demonstrated significantly higher accuracy for visual compared to auditory information (Fig. 1). No significant difference was found when assessing cued memory accuracy. In Study 2, videos were split between those filmed using a ‘static’ or ‘moving’ frame. Results showed that videos shot with a moving frame were significantly more likely to be wrongfully recognised as ‘field’ perspective, compared to static videos. Our investigations revealed a clear relationship between sense of presence and familiarity as well as presence and vividness during recollection. In line with existing literature on sensory modality and memory, participants demonstrated better free recall for visual details, compared to auditory. However, this was not the case when participating in a recognition task. Future analyses will assess difference in accuracy across modalities when presented in unison at encoding, as well as compare perspective (1st vs 3rd) and its effect on free recall accuracy. Finally, the relationship of these modalities (unisensory vs multisensory & 1st vs 3rd person perspective) and subjective measures such as vividness and presence will be assessed to provide a wholistic picture of predictors for rich and vivid re-experiencing of events.