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Constructive episodic retrieval processes play an adaptive role in supporting divergent thinking (i.e., creatively combining diverse bits of information) and means-end problem solving (i.e., generating steps to solve a social problem). However, the constructive nature of episodic memory that supports these adaptive functions also leads to memory error. In three experiments we aimed to identify a direct link between divergent thinking and means-end problem solving – as assessed in the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) and Means-End Problem Solving (MEPS) task – with the generation of false memories in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. In Experiment 1, we replicated prior findings where false memory was positively correlated with performance on the AUT, and also showed for the first time that increased performance in the MEPS task is associated with increased false recall. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that the link between false recall and performance on the MEPS task did not extend to other forms of problem solving, as assessed with the Everyday Descriptions Task (EDT). In Experiment 3, we showed that when the EDT was preceded by the MEPS task in an attempt to influence participants to engage in a similar episodic-problem solving strategy, performance in both tasks was correlated with false memory. These findings provide evidence for a direct link between the adaptive benefits of constructive episodic processes, in the form of enhanced divergent creative thinking and problem solving, and costs, in the form of increased memory error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivational and emotional influences on memory have been studied extensively; however, despite the link between these constructs, they have been studied in separate lines of research, with very little work examining their effects concurrently. The current study takes a novel approach to manipulate motivational and emotional influences orthogonally, and within the same task, to test their interplay on intentional memory formation. If emotion and reward motivation are tightly linked, they may rely on overlapping cognitive mechanisms, thus we would not expect emotion and reward to interact in memory. Alternatively, they could be distinct constructs and therefore would boost memory when both are included in the same experimental trial, above and beyond additive effects. To test these competing predictions, in Experiment 1, participants (n = 180) completed an old/new recognition memory task with emotional (negative, positive) and neutral words intentionally encoded with high or low reward anticipation cues. In Experiment 2, participants (n = 159) encoded emotional and neutral words with a high or low reward cue, but memory was tested with free recall using study–test blocks. The findings from both experiments converged. There were main effects of emotion and reward in generally hypothesized directions, but no evidence of an interaction between these factors. This is in line with the prediction that emotion and reward motivation are similar constructs. Their combination within a trial does not boost memory above and beyond either of these factors alone perhaps indicating these constructs have similar cognitive mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are commonly characterized by diminished episodic memory, the literature in this area is mixed. We address these inconsistent findings by employing multilevel Bayesian meta-analysis to quantify episodic memory differences between individuals with ASD and typically developing (TD) controls. We used meta-regression to evaluate the effects of test modality (e.g., word list, story recall), delay interval (immediate vs. delayed), retrieval demands (recognition vs. recall), and sensory modality (auditory vs. visual) on episodic memory in ASD. A total of 338 effect sizes from 113 empirical articles, including 5,632 unique participants (ASD = 2,777, TD = 2,855), were included. Results show that the memory deficits associated with ASD were larger for recall (g = -0.52, se = 0.04, 95% CrI [-0.60, -0.43]) compared to recognition (g = -0.25, se = 0.05, 95% CrI [-0.35, -0.14]) and differed based on the testing modality. For example, effect sizes were smallest for words (g = -0.28, se = 0.05, 95% CrI [-0.38, -0.18]), pictures (g = -0.38, se = 0.07, 95% CrI [-0.52, -0.24]), and figure reproduction (g = -0.49, se = 0.11, 95% CrI [-0.70, -0.27]). However, effect sizes for sentences (g = -0.59, se = 0.20, 95% CrI [-1.00, -0.21]), stories (Hedges' g = -0.54, se = 0.08, 95% CrI [-0.69, -0.38]) and staged events (g = -0.75, se = 0.10, 95% CrI [-0.95, -0.55]) were much larger. These findings suggest that ASD is associated with a small to medium reduction in scores on episodic memory tests relative to TD controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies suggest that information about past experience, or episodic memory, is divided into discrete units called "events." Yet we can often remember experiences that span multiple events. Events that occur in close succession might simply be linked because of their proximity to one another, but we can also build links between events that occur farther apart in time. Intuitively, some kind of organizing principle should enable temporally distant events to become bridged in memory. We tested the hypothesis that episodic memory exhibits a narrative-level organization, enabling temporally distant events to be better remembered if they form a coherent narrative. Furthermore, we tested whether post-encoding memory consolidation is necessary to integrate temporally distant events. In three experiments, participants learned and subsequently recalled events from fictional stories, in which pairs of temporally distant events involving side characters ("sideplots") either formed one coherent narrative or two unrelated narratives. Across participants, we varied whether recall was assessed immediately after learning, or after a delay: 24 hours, 12 hours between morning and evening ("wake"), or 12 hours between evening and morning ("sleep"). Participants recalled more information about coherent than unrelated narrative events, in most delay conditions, including immediate recall and wake conditions, suggesting that post-encoding consolidation was not necessary to integrate temporally distant events into a larger narrative. Furthermore, post hoc modeling across experiments suggested that narrative coherence facilitated recall over and above any effects of sentence-level semantic similarity. This reliable memory benefit for coherent narrative events supports theoretical accounts which propose that narratives provide a high-level architecture for episodic memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ironically, the presentation of a subset of studied material as retrieval cues at test often impairs recall of the remaining (target) material—an effect known as part-list cuing impairment. Part-list cues are typically provided at the beginning of the recall period, a time when nearly all individuals would be able to recall at least some studied items on their own. Across two experiments, we examined the effects of part-list cuing when student participants could decide on their own when the cues were presented during the recall period. Results showed that participants activated the cues relatively late in the recall period, when recall was already close to asymptote. Critically, such delayed cuing no longer impaired recall performance. The detrimental effect of part-list cuing, as it has been demonstrated numerous times in the memory literature, thus seems to depend on presentating the cue items (too) early in the recall period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does our environment impact what we will later remember? Early work in real-world environments suggested that having matching encoding/retrieval contexts improves memory. However, some laboratory-based studies have not replicated this advantageous context-dependent memory effect. Using virtual reality methods, we find support for context-dependent memory effects and examine an influence of memory schema and dynamic environments. Participants (N = 240) remembered more objects when in the same virtual environment (context) as during encoding. This traded-off with falsely “recognizing” more similar lures. Experimentally manipulating the virtual objects and environments revealed that a congruent object/environment schema aids recall (but not recognition), though a dynamic background does not. These findings further our understanding of when and how context affects our memory through a naturalistic approach to studying such effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective memory is shared by a group and is part of that group's identity. Memory for political leaders is a prototypical case of collective memory. The present study investigated collective memory for Swiss federal councilors in order to test the trajectory of collective memory across four different generations (i.e., Millennials, Generation X, Baby-Boomers, and Silents) in a collaborative government system. In contrast to a presidential system, Switzerland is governed by seven equal councilors who share power and responsibilities. Thus, the individual member of the government is less important, and the number of councilors is larger compared to a presidential system, which may influence collective memory. The results revealed a recency effect as well as a generation-specific reminiscence effect, but no primacy effect as reported for presidential systems. These results indicate that the contribution of semantic memory and autobiographic memory to the trajectory of collective memory vary across government systems. Specifically, for a collaborative government system, autobiographic memory has a stronger contribution to the trajectory of collective memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relative to younger adults, older adults tend to perform more poorly on tests of both free recall and item recognition memory. The age difference in performance is typically larger for recall tasks relative to those involving recognition. However, there have been reports of comparable age-related differences in free recall and item recognition performance. Further, a differential performance cost does not necessarily mean that processes involved in recall are specifically affected by age. Here we present a meta-analysis of 36 articles reporting 89 direct comparisons of free recall and item recognition in younger and older groups of participants. Standardized effect sizes reveal that age differences are larger for recall tasks (Hedges' g = 0.89, 95% confidence intervals [0.75, 1.03]) than for recognition tasks (0.54, [0.37, 0.72]). Further, Brinley analyses of the data suggest that distinct functions are needed to relate younger and older performance for the two tasks. These functions differ in intercept pointing to a disproportionate age difference in recall relative to recognition. This is in line with theories of memory and aging which posit specific deficits in processes related to search and retrieval from memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]