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Negative priming refers to the delayed response to a probe target that was previously a prime distractor. Memory retrieval has been proposed as one critical mechanism for the manifestation of negative priming. This perspective perpetuates that the contextual similarity between prime and probe trials should modulate memory retrieval, and therefore, affect negative priming. However, evidence for the contextual similarity effect in negative priming is mixed. The present study tested the hypothesis that attended contextual cues are more likely to be encoded into a distractor representation, and thus, are more likely to modulate the negative priming effect. By manipulating whether the contextual cues were relevant to the task demand in Section 1, and by manipulating whether cues had an abrupt or simultaneous onset, and by analysing reaction time (RT) distributions of the data in Section 2, our results demonstrated that attended cues produced the contextual similarity effect in negative priming, especially when RTs were long. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Age of Acquisition (AoA) effect results in early-acquired words being processed more quickly and accurately than later-acquired words. This effect is argued to result from a gradual development of semantic representations and a changing neural network throughout development (Chang, Y.-N., Monaghan, P., & Welbourne, S., 2019). Some forms of the Recognition Without Identification (RWI) effects have been observed at a perceptual level. The present study used the RWI paradigm to examine whether the AoA effect is located at the perceptual loci. A total of 174 participants were presented a list of pictures (Experiment 1) or words (Experiment 2) followed by a list of mixed early- and late-acquired picture or word fragments that participants had to identify; half of which corresponded to studied words and half of which to unstudied words. Irrespective of whether the item was identified, participants then rated the likelihood that the item appeared in the study phase. In both experiments, results showed that studied items were recognised more accurately than unstudied items, even when they could not be identified and late-acquired items were recognised more than early-acquired items, even when they were not identified. Finally, RWI interacted with the AoA effect only in pictorial stimuli, suggesting that the RWI and AoA effects are located at the perceptual level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has focused on assessing either event- or time-based prospective memory (PM) using laboratory tasks. Yet, the findings pertaining to PM performance on laboratory tasks are often inconsistent with the findings on corresponding naturalistic experiments. Ecologically valid neuropsychological tasks resemble the complexity and cognitive demands of everyday tasks, offer an adequate level of experimental control, and allow a generalisation of the findings to everyday performance. The Virtual Reality Everyday Assessment Lab (VR-EAL), an immersive virtual reality neuropsychological battery with enhanced ecological validity, was implemented to comprehensively assess everyday PM (i.e., focal and non-focal event-based, and time-based). The effects of the length of delay between encoding and initiating the PM intention and the type of PM task on everyday PM performance were examined. The results revealed that everyday PM performance was affected by the length of delay rather than the type of PM task. The effect of the length of delay differentially affected performance on the focal, non-focal, and time-based tasks and was proportional to the PM cue focality (i.e., semantic relationship with the intended action). This study also highlighted methodological considerations such as the differentiation between functioning and ability, distinction of cue attributes, and the necessity of ecological validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study adopted the retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) effect to determine whether semantic representation might favour the enactment effect, in which noun-verb phrases are remembered better by enacting during learning (subject-performed tasks, SPTs) than by studying verbally (verbal tasks, VTs). Experiment 1 controlled the semantic category to investigate the RIF effect in SPT vs. VT conditions. The RIF effect was similar irrespective of the mode of encoding (SPT vs.VT), indicating that semantic representation was not the main factor for favouring the enactment effect. Furthermore, Experiment 2 added motor physical properties to simultaneously control the semantic category and one category by motor features. The results of Experiment 2 showed stronger cooperative representation of semantic and motor information under the VT condition, indicating that the processing of action memory may be conceptual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distinctiveness effect refers to the memorial benefit of processing unique or item-specific features of a memory set relative to a non-distinctive control. Traditional distinctiveness effects are accounted for based on qualitative differences in how distinctive items are encoded and subsequently retrieved. This study evaluates whether a separate species of distinctiveness – statistical distinctiveness – may provide an additional benefit to memory beyond traditional task-based processes. Statistical distinctiveness refers to the relative frequency with which a specific memory item or set is processed. The current study examined the presence of statistical distinctiveness through a series of levels-of-processing mixed groups in which related lists were studied using two of the following three tasks to promote either shallow ("E" identification), neutral (reading silently), or deep/distinctive (pleasantness ratings) processing followed by a recognition test. Participants studied lists in which these tasks were used frequently (80% of lists), equally (50% of lists), or infrequently (20% of lists). No recognition advantage was found when tasks were completed infrequently versus frequently. Instead, recognition was greatest for the deeper/more distinctive task – a pattern consistent with an encoding but not a statistical distinctiveness account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technological advancement that is rapidly taking place in today's society allows increased opportunity for "cognitive offloading" by storing information in external devices rather than relying on internal memory. This opens the way to fundamental questions regarding the interplay between internal and external memory and the potential benefits and costs of placing information in the external environment. This article reports the results of three pre-registered online experiments investigating the consequences of prior cognitive offloading on A) subsequent unaided ability, and B) strategic decisions whether to engage in future cognitive offloading. We administered a web-based task requiring participants to remember delayed intentions for a brief period and manipulated the possibility of setting reminders to create an external cue. Earlier cognitive offloading had little effect upon individuals' subsequent unaided ability, leading to a small and nonsignificant drop in subsequent performance. However, there was a strong effect on participants' subsequent likelihood of setting reminders. These findings suggest that the short-term impact of cognitive offloading is more likely to be seen on individuals' strategy choices rather than basic memory processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Words that represent animate entities (e.g., dog) are recalled from long-term memory more accurately than words representing inanimate entities (e.g., pan). In this research, we examined whether the animacy effect extends to working memory (WM). The potential roles of WM maintenance strategies (rehearsal and directed attention) were also examined. Participants performed serial order recall tasks with sets of 3, 4, 5 or 6 words that were either animate or inanimate. In stage 1 of Experiment 1, participants received no instructions regarding how to maintain the words. In stage 2, participants received either no instructions, sub-vocal rehearsal or directed attention instructions. In all instruction groups and at both stages, significant animacy effects were observed at set sizes of 4, 5 and 6 but not set size 3. The animacy effect was larger at set size 5 than other set sizes. In Experiment 2, participants completed the task with and without articulatory suppression. In both conditions, animacy effects were observed at set sizes 4, 5 and 6, but not at set size 3. The magnitude of the animacy effect declined as set size increased from 4 to 6. Animacy appears to enhance serial recall, but the effect is not dependent on rehearsal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By saving and storing information, we use digital devices as our external memory stores, being able to offload and temporarily forget saved contents. Storm and Stone [2015. Saving-enhanced memory: The benefits of saving on the learning and remembering of new information. Psychological Science, 26(2), 182–188] showed that such memory offloading can be beneficial for subsequent memory performance. Saving already encoded items enhanced recall of items encoded after saving. In the present study, we did not only replicate saving-enhanced memory but found saving-enhanced performance for unrelated cognitively demanding tasks. Participants solved more modular arithmetic problems when they were able to offload a previously studied word list, compared to trials without the possibility to offload. Thus, saving of recently encoded items entailed a general benefit on subsequent cognitive performance, beyond encoding and retrieving word lists. We assume that offloading frees participants from the need to maintain offloaded items. Gained resources can then be used for subsequent tasks with high cognitive demands. In a nutshell, memory offloading can help to reduce the amount of information that has to be processed at a given time, efficiently delegating our limited cognitive resources to the most relevant tasks at hand while currently irrelevant information are safely stored outside our own memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of metacognition in prospective memory (PM) has received relatively little attention. This study combined data from several experiments to identify the strategy repertoire employed during a classic laboratory PM task and to determine whether self-reported strategy was related to performance. Participants (N = 668) completed either a focal or nonfocal PM task embedded in an ongoing lexical decision task. The results indicated that participants reported the same strategy repertoire regardless of PM task focality. Participants who reported using a strategy performed better than those who did not report using one, and this was especially true under nonfocal conditions. Self-reported strategy use was also associated with more cost to the ongoing task when the opportunity to complete the PM task was present. These findings add to what is known about the metacognitive components of PM and underscore the need for additional research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of research show that people are susceptible to developing false memories. But if they do so in one task, are they likely to do so in a different one? The answer: "No". In the current research, a large number of participants took part in three well-established false memory paradigms (a misinformation task, the Deese-Roediger-McDermott [DRM] list learning paradigm, and an imagination inflation exercise) as well as completed several individual difference measures. Results indicate that many correlations between false memory variables in all three inter-paradigm comparisons are null, though some small, positive, significant correlations emerged. Moreover, very few individual difference variables significantly correlated with false memories, and any significant correlations were rather small. It seems likely, therefore, that there is no false memory "trait". In other words, no one type of person seems especially prone, or especially resilient, to the ubiquity of memory distortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was previously shown that words representing living things are better remembered than those representing nonliving things. Here we address the influence of animacy on novel word memory formation in adults, dissecting its effect on semantic and orthographic learning. Participants received training on a set of new picture-name-description mappings corresponding to animate or inanimate items, simulating word learning in the first language. The integration of novel words was indexed in a semantic judgment task, performed at 30 min or 48 h after learning. Results show that novel word forms and meanings corresponding to animate items are better recalled than inanimate ones. In addition, animate items are processed faster than inanimate items in a semantic judgment task 30 min after learning, while the speed advantage is not evident in the long-term. Thus, animacy is a pervasive memory enhancer during novel word acquisition but its effects on lexical processing are short-lived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated whether individuals can predict their future prospective memory (PM) performance in a lab-based task and in a naturalistic task. Metacognitive awareness was assessed by asking participants to give judgments-of-learning (JOLs) on an item-level for the prospective (that something has to be done) and retrospective (what to do) PM component. In addition, to explore whether giving predictions influences PM performance, we compared a control group (without predictions) to a prediction group. Results revealed that giving predictions did not change PM performance. Moreover, participants were underconfident in their PM performance in the lab-based task, while they were overconfident in the naturalistic task. In addition, item-level JOLs indicated that they were inaccurate in predicting what items they will recall or not, but only for the prospective component of the PM task. As for the retrospective component, they were equally accurate in both task settings. This study suggests a dissociation of metacognitive awareness for PM according to both task setting and processing component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, we have shown that two types of initial testing (recall of a list or guessing of critical items repeated over 12 study/test cycles) improved final recognition of related and unrelated word lists relative to restudy. These benefits were eliminated, however, when test instructions were manipulated within subjects and presented after study of each list, procedures designed to minimise expectancy of a specific type of upcoming test [Huff, Balota, & Hutchison, 2016. The costs and benefits of testing and guessing on recognition memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42, 1559-1572. doi:10.1037/xlm0000269], suggesting that testing and guessing effects may be influenced by encoding strategies specific for the type of upcoming task. We follow-up these experiments by examining test-expectancy processes in guessing and testing. Testing and guessing benefits over restudy were not found when test instructions were presented either after (Experiment 1) or before (Experiment 2) a single study/task cycle was completed, nor were benefits found when instructions were presented before study/task cycles and the task was repeated three times (Experiment 3). Testing and guessing benefits emerged only when instructions were presented before a study/task cycle and the task was repeated six times (Experiments 4A and 4B). These experiments demonstrate that initial testing and guessing can produce memory benefits in recognition, but only following substantial task repetitions which likely promote task-expectancy processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prospective memory performance can be enhanced by task importance, for example by promising a reward. Typically, this comes at costs in the ongoing task. However, previous research has suggested thatsocial importance(e.g., providing a social motive) can enhance prospective memory performance without additional monitoring costs in activity-based and time-based tasks. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of social importance in anevent-basedtask. We compared four conditions: social importance, promising a reward, both social importance and promising a reward, and standard prospective memory instructions (control condition). The results showed enhanced prospective memory performance for all importance conditions compared to the control condition. Although ongoing task performance was slowed in all conditions with a prospective memory task when compared to a baseline condition with no prospective memory task, additional costs occurred only when both the social importance and reward were present simultaneously. Alone, neither social importance nor promising a reward produced an additional slowing when compared to the cost in the standard (control) condition. Thus, social importance and reward can enhance event-based prospective memory at no additional cost. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Learning and memory abilities tend to decline as people age. The current study examines the question of whether a learning situation that emphasises collaborative social interaction might help older persons overcome age-related learning and memory changes and thus perform similarly to younger persons. Younger and Older participants (n= 34 in each group) completed the Barrier Task (BT), a game-like social interaction where partners work together to develop labels for a set of abstract tangrams. Participants were also administered standard clinical neuropsychological measures of memory, on which the Older group showed expected inferiority to the Younger group. On the BT, the Older group performed less well than the Younger group early on, but as the task progressed, the performance of the Older group caught up and became statistically indistinguishable from that of the Younger group. These results can be taken to suggest that a learning milieu characterised by collaborative social interaction can attenuate some of the typical memory disadvantages associated with being older. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) requires evidence of progressive decline in cognitive function. However, many tests used to assess cognitive function suffer from considerable practice effects, reducing their reliability. Several studies have reported that the ability to do two things at once, or dual tasking, is impaired in AD, but unaffected by healthy ageing. The apparent specificity of this impairment suggests that this assessment may be particularly useful in the early diagnosis of AD, but the reliability of this assessment remains unknown. Therefore, this study investigated simultaneous performance of digit recall and tracking tasks across six testing sessions in eight people with AD, eight healthy older adults and eight healthy younger adults. The results found that dual-task performance was unaffected by healthy ageing, but significantly impaired in AD, with no effect of repeated exposure. The absence of any improvements in performance despite increased familiarity with the task's demands suggests that not only is the dual-task assessment well suited for monitoring progression over time, but also that dual tasking involves a specific cognitive function which is impaired in the AD brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]