TY - JOUR

T1 - The effect of glucose administration on the recollection and familiarity components of recognition memory.

AU - Sünram-Lea, Sandra I.

AU - Dewhurst, Stephen A.

AU - Foster, Jonathan K.

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Biological Psychology 77 (1), 2008, © ELSEVIER.

PY - 2008/1

Y1 - 2008/1

N2 - Previous research has demonstrated that glucose administration facilitates long-term memory performance. The aim of the present research was to evaluate the effect of glucose administration on different components of long-term recognition memory. Fifty-six healthy young individuals received (a) a drink containing 25 g of glucose or (b) an inert placebo drink. Recollection and familiarity components of recognition memory were measured using the ‘remember-know’ paradigm. The results revealed that glucose administration led to significantly increased proportion of recognition responses based on recollection, but had no effect on the proportion of recognition responses made through participants’ detection of stimulus familiarity. Consequently, the data suggest that glucose administration appears to facilitate recognition memory that is accompanied by recollection of contextual details and episodic richness. The findings also suggest that memory tasks that result in high levels of hippocampal activity may be more likely to be enhanced by glucose administration than tasks that are less reliant on medial temporal lobe structures.

AB - Previous research has demonstrated that glucose administration facilitates long-term memory performance. The aim of the present research was to evaluate the effect of glucose administration on different components of long-term recognition memory. Fifty-six healthy young individuals received (a) a drink containing 25 g of glucose or (b) an inert placebo drink. Recollection and familiarity components of recognition memory were measured using the ‘remember-know’ paradigm. The results revealed that glucose administration led to significantly increased proportion of recognition responses based on recollection, but had no effect on the proportion of recognition responses made through participants’ detection of stimulus familiarity. Consequently, the data suggest that glucose administration appears to facilitate recognition memory that is accompanied by recollection of contextual details and episodic richness. The findings also suggest that memory tasks that result in high levels of hippocampal activity may be more likely to be enhanced by glucose administration than tasks that are less reliant on medial temporal lobe structures.

KW - Glucose

KW - Aspartame

KW - Recognition memory

KW - Recollection

KW - Familiarity

KW - Healthy young adults

U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.09.006

DO - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.09.006

M3 - Journal article

VL - 77

SP - 69

EP - 75

JO - Biological Psychology

JF - Biological Psychology

SN - 0301-0511

IS - 1

ER -