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Assessing Neurocognitive Hypotheses in a Likelihood-Based Model of the Free-Recall Task

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An Introduction to Model-Based Cognitive Neuroscience

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Abstract

In the free-recall task, a participant studies a list of words, and then reports those words in whatever order they come to mind. As such, the behavioral dynamics of free recall are revealed by the recall sequences produced by participants. A variety of cognitive models have been designed to account for these behavioral dynamics. These models describe the cognitive operations that give rise to the observed recall sequences. This chapter provides a tutorial overview of a likelihood-based free-recall model designed to connect these cognitive operations with neural signals recorded as participants search their memories during a free-recall task.

This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation to SMP (#1756417).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This model comparison may not have been strictly necessary: The neurally naive model is nested within the neurally informed model (in that the neurally informed model becomes identical to the naive model when \(\nu =0\)). As such, a statistical technique demonstrating that the best-fit value of \(\nu \) is reliably above zero would allow us to draw similar conclusions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Sean M. Polyn

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  1. Sean M. Polyn
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Correspondence to Sean M. Polyn .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Birte U. Forstmann

  2. Psychology Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Brandon M. Turner

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Polyn, S.M. (2024). Assessing Neurocognitive Hypotheses in a Likelihood-Based Model of the Free-Recall Task. In: Forstmann, B.U., Turner, B.M. (eds) An Introduction to Model-Based Cognitive Neuroscience. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45271-0_12

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