Schema-driven prediction effects on episodic memory across the lifespan

Abstract

The predictive processing framework holds that the brain constantly anticipates future events using internal models, comparing predictions against incoming evidence and adjusting for the resulting prediction error. In this study, we used visual narratives presented in a comic-book format to build action schemas, with each sequence of actions ending in a way that was expected, neutral, or unexpected. We measured different components of the memory trace for these endings across three age groups — children, young adults, and older adults — to explore how schema-driven predictions affect episodic memory across the lifespan. Expected endings were well remembered by connecting seamlessly with prior knowledge (schema integration), while unexpected endings were also remembered accurately, but through a different mechanism: the prediction error they generated signaled the need to encode the new information, also benefiting memory for other elements of the narrative. These results support the existence of two complementary — rather than competing — memory mechanisms, and the differences observed across age groups help dissociate how these processes develop and change with age.

Recommended citation: Ortiz-Tudela, J., Turan, G., Vilas, M., Melloni, L., & Shing, Y. L. (2024). "Schema-driven prediction effects on episodic memory across the lifespan." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 379(1913), 20230401.
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