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In reward-based learning and value-directed remembering, many different value structures for the to-be-remembered information have been used by researchers. I was interested in whether different scoring structures used in a value-directed remembering task impact measures of memory selectivity. Participants studied lists of words paired with point values and some lists included words paired with values ranging from 1 to 20, 1 to 10 (repeating twice), either a high value (10 points) or a low value (1 point), and either a high value (10 points), a medium value (5 points) or a low value (1 point). Results suggest that (1) in tests of free recall, if using a continuous value scale, the range of values matters in terms of selective memory, (2) analysing the selectivity index can yield different results than modelling item-level recall using point values (and the latter may be a preferable approach), (3) measures of selectivity using different value structures may lack construct validity when testing memory via recognition tests, and (4) the effect of value on memory is much larger on recall than recognition tests. Thus, I suggest that researchers carefully consider and justify the value structure used when examining selective memory for valuable information in list learning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-nine US states authorize recall elections, but the incentives they create are not well understood. We examine how changes in the perceived threat of recall alter the behavior of one set of officials: judges. In 2016, outrage over the sentence imposed on a Stanford athlete following his sexual assault conviction sparked a drive to recall the presiding judge. Using disposition data from six California counties and arrest records for a subset of defendants, we find a large, discontinuous increase in sentencing severity associated with the recall campaign's announcement. Additional tests suggest that the observed shift may be attributed to changes in judicial preferences over sentencing and not strategic adjustment by prosecutors. We also demonstrate that the heterogeneous effects of the announcement did not mitigate preexisting racial disparities. Our findings are the first to document the incentive effects of recall and suggest that targeted political campaigns may have far-reaching, unintended consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term Recall indicates an Anglo-Saxon legal rule which allows the electors to revoke the mandate of an elected official, by means of a popular petition, before the natural expiration of his/her representative mandate. Created firstly in California, at the beginning of the nineteen century, said institution was later extended to other states of the Union. Recently, it became once again the focus of particular attention following the revocation by a Recall Election in 2003 of the democratic governor of California, whose post was later occupied by Arnold Shwarzenneger. On the proposal of Liberal-democrat party, in United Kingdom 2012 saw the beginning of the parliamentary procedure proposing the bill aimed at introducing the revocation of the elected members of Westminster and the European Parliament, and all mayors directly elected by the citizens. Contemporary Recall is a by-product of the changes in political representation, which are giving birth to an unprecedented type of democracy: the "democracy of the public" (B. Manin). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]