Search

• Compared retention of discourse memory over sleep and wake. • Three pre-registered experiments using naturalistic stories. • Participants completed free recall, cued recall and recognition. • No detectable effect of sleep in free recall or recognition. • Time-related distortion in cued recall was lower after sleep. The episodic context account (Gaskell et al., 2019) proposes that the act of language comprehension gives rise to an episodic discourse representation, and that this representation is prone to sleep-related memory effects. In three experiments, we tested this prediction by asking participants to read/listen to naturalistic stories before their memory was tested after a 12-hr interval, which included either daytime wakefulness or overnight sleep. To assess discourse memory, we used sentence recognition (Experiment 1; N = 386), free story recall (Experiment 2; N = 96), and cued recall (Experiments 2 and 3; N = 192). We found no evidence of sleep-related effects in sentence recognition or free recall, but cued recall (aka fill-in-the-blank) showed that the degree of time-related distortion, as indexed by both a subjective categorisation measure and Latent Semantic Analysis, was lower after sleep than after wake. Overall, our experiments suggest that the effect of sleep on discourse memory is modest but observable and may [1] be constrained by the retrieval processes (recollection vs. familiarity & associative vs. item), [2] lie on a qualitative level that is difficult to detect in an all-or-nothing scoring metric, and [3] primarily situated in the textbase level of the tripartite model of discourse processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The cue-utilization framework of metamemory applies to prospective memory. • An intrinsic manipulation (relatedness) affected prospective metamemory. • An extrinsic manipulation (focality) had no effect on prospective metamemory. • Metamemorial illusions can occur with prospective as well as retrospective memory. Abstract The overwhelming majority of research on metamemory examines retrospective memory – memory for past events. The metamemory of prospective memory – remembering to carry out intentions in the future – is little studied. The cue utilization account is a prominent framework for analyzing retrospective metamemory, here applied to prospective metamemory. This framework predicts that intrinsic cues (e.g., characteristics of the to-be-remembered information) readily impact metamemory whereas extrinsic cues (e.g., features of the general learning environment) have much less impact. The current study examined prospective memory using target-response word pairs. Participants were to remember to interrupt an ongoing task when a target was noticed, and then recall the associated response. Prior to the ongoing task, participants predicted (using judgments-of-learning, JOLs) whether they would notice a given target and whether they would recall the response for that target. This paradigm allows an assessment of metamemory and actual memory for the prospective component (the noticing of the target) and the retrospective component (the retrieval of the response). Four experiments found that prospective-JOLs were affected by an intrinsic cue (target-word association) but not by an extrinsic cue (target focality), as predicted by the cue-utilization account. The same results were found for the retrospective-JOLs. The results provide initial evidence that the cue-utilization framework generalizes to prospective metamemory. These results also revealed two complementary metamemorial illusions: target-response association impacts prospective-JOLs but not actual prospective memory performance, and target focality fails to impact prospective-JOLs but does affect actual prospective memory. This indicates that prospective metamemory may be subject to illusions in ways similar to retrospective metamemory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: • WMC positively correlated with pupillary responses during encoding. • The WMC-pupil encoding relation changed as a function of serial position (E1). • The WMC-pupil encoding relation changed as a function of value manipulation (E2). • Pupil dilation at encoding partly explained the WMC-long term memory relationship. Abstract The present study used pupil dilation as an index of the intensity of attention to determine if variation in attention at encoding partially accounts for the relation between working memory capacity (WMC) and long-term memory (LTM). In Experiment 1, participants completed a delayed free recall task while pupil dilation was simultaneously recorded. Results revealed high WMC individuals displayed an increase in pupil dilation across serial positions, whereas low WMC individuals exhibited a decline in pupil dilation. Experiment 2 employed a similar method but manipulated encoding conditions via value–directed remembering. Results demonstrated when later serial positions were labeled as more important, the pupillary response no longer declined for low WMC individuals. Instead, low WMC individuals increased attention across serial positions, with the caveat being that these individuals devoted less attention than high WMC individuals to all items under these conditions. Overall, results support the notion that high WMC individuals outperform low WMC individuals in delayed free recall, which is partly explained by the amount of attention devoted to items at encoding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three experiments examined the effects of word and phrase frequency on free recall. Word frequency did not affect word recall, but when participants studied and recalled lists of compositional adjective-noun phrases (e.g. alcoholic beverages ), phrase frequency had a consistently beneficial effect: both words from frequent phrases were more likely to be recalled than for infrequent phrases, providing evidence that long-term memory for phrases can aid in pattern completion, or redintegration. We explain these results and those of a previous study of phrase frequency effects in recognition memory (Jacobs, Dell, Benjamin, & Bannard , 2016) by assuming that the language processing system provides features that are linked to episodic contexts. Recall tasks map from these contexts to linguistic elements, and recognition maps from linguistic elements to contexts. Word and phrase frequency effects in both memory tasks emerge both within the language processing system and from multiple stored episodes, and the fact that the representations of phrases are tied to knowledge of their component words, rather than being representational islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that rating words for their relevance to a survival scenario leads to better retention of the words than rating them for self-reference. Past studies have, however, relied exclusively on an autobiographical self-reference task in which participants rate how easily a common noun brings to mind a personal experience. We report five experiments comparing survival processing to a descriptive self-reference task in which participants rated how well trait words described them. Rating trait adjectives for survival value led to higher levels of recall and recognition than rating them for their relevance to a moving home scenario. Rating the adjectives for self-reference, however, led to higher levels of recall (Experiments 1 and 3) and recollection (Experiment 2) than survival rating. Experiment 4 replaced trait adjectives with trait nouns and found that self-reference led to greater recognition accuracy than survival processing. Experiment 5 used trait nouns followed by tests of free recall and found a memory advantage following self-reference that was not influenced by the imageability of the stimuli. The findings are discussed in terms of theories of the survival processing and self-reference effects and the relationship between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-generated information is often better remembered than non-self-generated information. This effect has been robust for item memory (i.e., the content of information) across many different experiments, but inconsistent for context memory (e.g., memory for the extraneous details of information, such as source). Previous studies examining the generation effect, however, have often applied constraints on the generation task possibly limiting the memory benefit from self-generation. In three experiments, we compared item and context memory for a lower-constraint generation task (i.e., free response to a cue word) relative to higher-constraint generation tasks (Exp. 1 & 2: scramble; Exp. 3: word fragment). Results showed that participants had better item and context memory in the lower-constraint compared to higher-constraint generation tasks. Overall, these experiments suggest that that the mnemonic benefits of self-generation depend on the level of task constraint. This study further advances the idea that self-generation is a powerful mnemonic that leads to enriched memory representations for both the item and context, especially when fewer generation constraints are imposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of encoding variables are moderated by experimental design, such that an effect (e.g., the generation effect) on free recall is larger in mixed-list than pure-list designs. Experiments 1 through 4 consistently found that the testing effect is moderated by experimental design across differences in materials, list structure, list length, presence of feedback, and rates of retrieval-practice success. In these experiments, each study list was followed by its own free recall test. However, when multiple lists are followed by a single test, the testing effect was equivalent for mixed and pure lists (Experiment 5), a limiting condition on the design effect. Overall, the results represent an important similarity between the testing effect and the other encoding variables moderated by design. More specifically, the results suggest an important parallel between the mnemonic effects of retrieving information from episodic (testing effect) and semantic (generation effect) memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies of unconscious plagiarism have asked participants to recall their own ideas from a previous group-problem solving session, and have typically reported that people mistakenly include a partner’s responses when trying to recall their own. To date, there has been little research looking at the propensity to include one’s own responses when trying to recall a partner’s previous contribution to the group. Experiment 1 demonstrated that people make both kinds of source-error during recall, but source errors are more common in the recall-partner task. This pattern was replicated in Experiments 2a and 2b with source-errors and intrusions increasing over a delay. Experiment 3 used an extended version of each recall task, in which participants reported all items that came to mind, whilst indicating which responses were goal-relevant. The tendency for source-errors to occur more for the recall-partner task was shown to be a function of both idea availability and output monitoring, whereas the tendency for source-errors to increase over a delay was shown to be due solely to output monitoring. Thus, unconscious plagiarism errors are one instantiation of the more general problem of source-specified recall, which is influenced jointly by processes at generation and output monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored how learning during an initial study-test experience with text materials shapes future encoding, recall, and metamemory. Differential recall of targets from generate and read sentences on a fill-in-the-blank test led participants to shift their encoding strategies such that differential recall was eliminated on a second study-test block using different materials. This shift was not contingent on experiencing a generation advantage on the first test: recall also improved across tests when groups studied and recalled only one target type, did not receive the initial test, or showed a null or negative generation effect on the initial test. Strategy reports suggest that a sentence-target linking strategy increased across tests. Importantly, metamemory measures failed to reveal awareness of differential performance for read and generate targets. Contrary to recent claims, then, our findings suggest that individuals can learn, perhaps even tacitly, to modify their study strategies based on an initial study experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although frequently used with recognition, a few studies have used the Remember/Know procedure with free recall. In each case, participants gave Know judgments to a significant number of recalled items (items that were presumably not remembered on the basis of familiarity). What do these Know judgments mean? We investigated this issue using a source memory/free-recall procedure. For each word that was recalled, participants were asked to (a) make a confidence rating on a 5-point scale, (b) make a Remember/Know judgment, and (c) recollect a source detail. The large majority of both Remember judgments and Know judgments were made with high confidence and high accuracy, but source memory was nevertheless higher for Remember judgments than for Know judgments. These source memory results correspond to what is found using recognition, and they raise the possibility that Know judgments in free recall identify the cue-dependent retrieval of item-only information from an episodic memory search set. In agreement with this idea, we also found that the temporal dynamics of free recall were similar for high-confidence Remember and high-confidence Know judgments (as if both judgments reflected retrieval from the same search set). If Know judgments in free recall do in fact reflect the episodic retrieval of item-only information, it seems reasonable to suppose that the same might be true of high-confidence Know judgments in recognition. If so, then a longstanding debate about the role of the hippocampus in recollection and familiarity may have a natural resolution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We investigated the mechanisms by which fillers, such as uh and um, affect memory for discourse. Participants listened to and attempted to recall recorded passages adapted from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The type and location of interruptions were manipulated through digital splicing. In Experiment 1, we tested a processing time account of fillers’ effects. While fillers facilitated recall, coughs matched in duration to the fillers impaired recall, suggesting that fillers’ benefits cannot be attributed to adding processing time. In Experiment 2, fillers’ locations were manipulated based on norming data to be either predictive or non-predictive of upcoming material. Fillers facilitated recall in both cases, inconsistent with an account in which listeners predict upcoming material using past experience with the distribution of fillers. Instead, these results suggest an attentional orienting account in which fillers direct attention to the speech stream but do not always result in specific predictions about upcoming material. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Numerous studies have demonstrated that repeated retrieval boosts later retention. However, recent research has shown that testing can increase eyewitness susceptibility to misleading post-event information (e.g., ). The present study examines the effects of warning on this counterintuitive finding. In two experiments, subjects either took an initial test or performed a filler task after they viewed a video event. They were then given post-event information before they took a final test. Critically, one group of subjects was warned about potential inaccuracies in the post-event narrative and the other group was not. Without a warning, subjects who received an initial test were more likely to endorse misleading post-event information, replicating the retrieval-enhanced suggestibility (RES) effect. However, this RES effect was eliminated when subjects were warned about the veracity of the narrative. These results are consistent with a retrieval fluency account of RES. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The forward testing effect (FTE) means that retrieval practice can boost new learning [85]. • Semantic generation induces an FTE with unrelated, but not with categorized lists [81]. • Prolonged lag before study of new material reduces the FTE with unrelated lists only [84]. • Prolonged delay before test of new material also reduces the FTE with unrelated lists [85]. • Depending on material, strategy change and context change can contribute to the FTE [84]. The forward testing effect (FTE) refers to the finding that retrieval practice of previously studied information can facilitate learning and memory of newly studied information. The goal of the present set of six experiments was to examine whether the FTE is influenced by study material. We replicated prior work by showing that the FTE can arise with both unrelated and categorized item lists. Going beyond the prior work, we found that parallel FTEs for the two types of lists arose only for short retention interval and when the lag between study of the previous lists and study of the final critical list was also short. When there was a prolonged retention interval or a prolonged lag, the FTE was observed with categorized lists but disappeared with unrelated lists. Moreover, semantic generation of extra-list items interspersed between study of the single lists produced an FTE with unrelated lists but not with categorized lists. These findings on the critical role of study material for the FTE are consistent with a two-factor explanation of the FTE, which assumes contributions of both strategy change and context change for the FTE. The account suggests that the FTE is mainly driven by strategy change with categorized material and is mainly driven by context change with unrelated material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Do the operating characteristics of memory continue to bear the imprints of ancestral selection pressures? Previous work in our laboratory has shown that human memory may be specially tuned to retain information processed in terms of its survival relevance. A few seconds of survival processing in an incidental learning context can produce recall levels greater than most, if not all, known encoding procedures. The current experiments further establish the power of survival processing by demonstrating survival processing advantages against an encoding procedure requiring a combination of individual-item and relational processing. Participants were asked to make either survival relevance decisions or pleasantness ratings about words in the same categorized list. Survival processing produced the best recall, despite the fact that pleasantness ratings of words in a categorized list has long been considered a “gold standard” for enhancing free recall. The results also help to rule out conventional interpretations of the survival advantage that appeal to enhanced relational or categorical processing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Veridical and false memory were examined in lists that contained 12 words that all converged onto the same meaning of a critical nonpresented word (e.g.. snooze, wake, bedroom, slumber…, for SLEEP) or lists that contained 6 words that converged onto one meaning and 6 words that converged onto a different meaning of a homograph (e.g., stumble, season, trip, autumn…, for FALL). Associative strength from the list items to the critical item was equated across the two types of lists. In Experiments 1–5, patterns of veridical memory differed across the two types of lists; however, false memory of the critical item did not differ. This same pattern occurred regardless of whether the words diverging onto the two meanings of the homograph were presented blocked or intermixed, whether each list item was presented for 80 ms, 200 or 1200 ms during encoding, and whether a recall or recognition test was given. In Experiment 6, critical nonpresented items that followed lists converging onto one meaning were judged as more strongly related to the list. These results suggest that false memory in the DRM paradigm largely reflects lexical/associative activation, rather than the formation of a meaningful thematic representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment analyzed serial position curves in recall, global recognition (comparing probes to whole lists) and local recognition (comparing probes to specific items in a list). Input order, output order, and the spatial order to be memorized were deconfounded by presenting and probing items in random order in different spatial positions. Primacy and recency effects over input position were observed for all three tasks. Only primacy emerged over output position. Spatial position affected only recall and local recognition but not global recognition accuracy. Latency data provided additional information, sometimes deviating from the patterns of accuracy. The results support an attentional gradient as one source of the primacy effect. They are compatible with input and output interference or decay, but are difficult to explain by a temporal distinctiveness account. No support was found for response suppression and edge effects as mechanisms to explain recency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Accurate memory requires both acceptance of correct items and rejection of incorrect items. The concept of distinctive processing has been used to explain both of these contributions to accurate memory, but in previous research the definitions of distinctive processing that services correct acceptance and correct rejection have been quite different. In this paper distinctive processing is defined as the processing of difference within the context of similarity, but a distinction is drawn between item-based distinctive processing and event-based distinctive processing. Two experiments are presented that require participants to perform orienting tasks on a preliminary list of words followed by a list targeted for memory. Either the same or different tasks are performed on the two lists. Furthermore, the tasks are selected such that they either draw attention to similarities or to differences within the lists. The results show that performing different tasks on the two lists facilitates rejection of distracters from the preliminary list in both recognition and recall. Correct recognition and recall of target items was unaffected by the task on the preliminary list but was facilitated by the task that draws attention to differences among items within the target lists. The outcome indicates different effects of item-based and event-based distinctive processing on memory accuracy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]