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Virtual memory
Psychology research project utilizes virtual reality system.
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With a background in artificial intelligence, Kenneth Malmberg was always
fascinated with the thought that people might remember like computers.
"That's just not the case," the assistant professor of psychology
says. "For instance, a computer never forgets, but humans are constantly
forgetting things.
"On the other hand, people are much more flexible and adaptable to
their environments than computers."
Malmberg's research at Iowa State investigates the processes and representations
involved in human memory, striking a simple balance between empirical
investigations and mathematical and computational modeling.
Currently his lab is pursuing several interrelated projects that investigate
context-dependent memory, encoding and retrieval processes, prior-frequency
effects, and models of episodic memory and decision-making.
Malmberg says that central to any theory of episodic memory is the distinction
between item and context information. Item information is the focus of
encoding and retrieval, and context is the situation in which encoding
or retrieval occurs. The distinction allows people to remember specific
encounters with items, even though they might have seen them many times.
A corollary of this assumption is that memory for past events should be
facilitated when memory is tested in the same context as learning occurs,
and it should be harmed when memory is tested in a different context.
This aspect of memory is known as context dependency.
"It's somewhat surprising how few people investigate context-dependent
memory given its central role in extant theory," he said. "One
reason for this is because context is relatively difficult to manipulate
in a laboratory in a well-controlled manner."
Malmberg plans to manipulate context in a totally different way by utilizing
Iowa State's C6 laboratory, the 360-degree immersion device, and virtual
reality technology. Such virtual reality technology holds the promise
of allowing for the well-controlled and robust manipulations of context
that are otherwise difficult or impossible to achieve in a traditional
memory laboratory.
With funding from an Iowa State Special Research Initiation Grant (SPRIG),
Malmberg and Carolina Cruz-Neira, associate director of the Virtual Reality
Applications Center (VRAC), are investigating context-dependent memory
using virtual reality technology.
The SPRIG is valued at $15,840 and will fund work by two undergraduate
students on the project. The purpose of these grants is to provide "seed"
money to begin research or scholarship or to fund a new direction in an
existing program.
"Our first experiment will attempt to extend the findings of a famous
study that manipulated whether memory was tested on land or underwater
in order to demonstrate the viability of the virutal reality technology,"
Malmberg said. "To do so, we plan on making the underwater and terrestrial
virtual environments as realistic as possible so that our subjects will
be participating in a totally immersive environment."
Virtual reality might in the future allow Malmberg to conduct tests on
humans that haven't been done before. Whereas previous studies have looked
at how rats work their way through mazes, virtual reality programs can
be created so that humans can maneuver their way through a city in an
automobile.
Initial plans call for the virtual reality environments to be completed
at the end of the semester. Experiments will begin this summer and continue
throughout next academic year.
Despite the potential for the project in terms of context-dependent memory,
Malmberg isn't sure what the investigation will discover.
"Nobody has ever done this before," he said. "Our primary
goal is to show that this type of investigation will work because this
could open up a whole new area of memory research."
Kenneth Malmberg, assistant professor of psychology;
Dan Peterson, senior psychology and computer engineering major; Carolina
Cruz-Neira, associate director of VRAC; and Jeff Russell, junior computer
engineering major
Around LAS
March 22 to April 4, 2004
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