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Relational influence is the effect one word has on another by drawing attention to specific features (Caplan et al., 2022). Model simulations showed that this mechanism could help explain spared performance on associative memory tasks in amnesics by positing that relational influence within word-pairs could lead to item-specific features being stored in memory, and thus base associative recognition judgments on similarity at the individual item-level (FOX-RABBIT makes you think of prey; CARROT-RABBIT makes you think of nourishment). Relational influence could be a mechanism present in intact brains as well. In order to test the effects of relational influence on ordinary people, conditions of extreme effects of relational influence (either very low or very large) will be implemented using double-meaning words. From a previous norming experiment, a set of 52 double-meaning words (e.g., BANK) with one dominant meaning (place with money) an one non-dominant meaning (shore) were identified. We intend to manipulate the encoded meaning of these double-meaning words in participants to explore the effects of relational influence in an old/new recognition experiment.

Relational influence is the effect one word has on another by drawing attention to its specific features (Caplan et al., 2022). Model simulations showed that this mechanism could help explain spared performance on associative memory tasks (i.e.; subjects study word pairs A-B, C-D,...; if at test A-B is presented, respond "intact"; if A-C, respond "recombined") in amnesics by positing that relational influence within word-pairs could lead to item-specific features being stored in memory, and thus base associative recognition judgments on similarity at the individual item-level (FOX-RABBIT makes you think of RABBIT as prey; CARROT-RABBIT makes you think of RABBIT as survivalist). Relational influence could be a mechanism present in intact brains as well. In order to test the effects of relational influence on non-lesioned people, conditions of extreme relational influence (either very low or very large) will be implemented using double-meaning words. From a previous norming experiment, a set of 52 double-meaning words (e.g., BANK) with one dominant meaning (place with money) and one non-dominant meaning (shore) were identified. It was reasoned that words that activated the non-dominant meaning (e.g., RIVER) would exert higher relational influence on a double-meaning word to take the attention away from the dominant meaning. Model simulations predicted that studying word pairs with high relational influence (RIVER-BANK) would make individual words (BANK) harder to recognize. Initial results of an old/new recognition experiment showed evidence of a subtle, yet non-significant effect. We devote our attention now to explore how these effects manifest in an associative recognition experiment.

Participants will study a list of word pairs, AB CD …, and will be tested with cued recall (A ?, ? D), and then, order recognition for intact word pairs (AB vs BA) and recombined word pairs (AD vs DA).

Participants will study a list of word pairs, AB CD …, and will be tested with order recognition of intact word pairs (AB vs BA) and recombined word pairs (AD vs DA).

Unpublished findings from our lab indicate a positive correlation between self-reported imagery vividness, as measured by the VVIQ (Marks, 1973) and self-reported wayfinding ability, as measured by the Wayfinding Questionnaire (WQ; van der Ham et al., 2013). Participants reported an extreme absence in mental imagery experience, known as aphantasia, differed substantially on the VVIQ and although significantly, only to a very small degree on the WQ. In addition, the WQ has three subscales that each focus on different aspects of the wayfinding ability (i.e., navigation and orientation (NO), distance estimation (DE), and spatial anxiety (SA)), our unpublished study also investigated the correlation between different subscales and the VVIQ scores. We found correlations between the strengths of the correlations, whereas the correlation between VVIQ and NO and DE are stronger than SA. When further investigation into each subscale, we noticed that a portion of statements in NO and DE are either explicitly or implicitly mentioned in the imagination of imagery while SA statements did not. Hence, we wondered whether the wording of the subjective questionnaires will influence participants’ perception of their ability, leading to covariations in correlations. In the proposed study, we will follow up on this result and investigate whether aphantasia will have a self-perceived deficit in wayfinding ability (as measured by the WQ). We will also examine whether aphantasia’s perception of deficit can be reflected by their objective task performance (i.e., if aphantasia and/or participants scored low in WQ will translate to deficits in objectively scorable spatial orientation via narrative description), as measured by the Taylor & Tversky task (Taylor and Tversky, 1992). Further, we want to investigate into the subscales of the WQ and determine whether participants’ performance in objective spatial tasks (Taylor and Tversky Task) will covary differently with each WQ subscale. As a secondary goal, we will also administer the objectively scored imagery task TAMI (Madan and Singhal, 2013), and assess whether aphantasic individuals differ in their objective imagery ability.

In the present study, we investigate whether using an autobiographical story or a fictional story as a mnemonic scaffold results in higher serial recall accuracy compared to a control group and whether locations mentioned as parts of the stories render them more effective mnemonic scaffolds. Participants type either an autobiographical or a fictional story, and a recall attempt of the story. Then they are asked to use that story as a scaffold for serial recall.

This is a follow-up experiment to “Autobiographical and Fictional Stories as Mnemonic Scaffolds for Serial Recall”, which showed that using neither autobiographical nor fictional stories as mnemonic scaffolds to study lists of fifteen words improves memory. To test whether there is a memory improvement when studying lists of ten words, we re-run the same experiment with list-length ten.

Instructions to form interactive mental images of word pairs at study is an effective way to increase cued-recall performance for verbal associations. Instructions to use the strategy, known as interactive imagery, do not typically ask participants to attend to the within-pair order of items (e.g., AB vs. BA). In the present study, we investigate the possibility that interactive imagery instructions that specifically direct the participant to prioritize within-pair order will improve participants’ ability to remember this information. We will be comparing three different experimental groups which differ by which instructions they are presented with (i.e., either one of the two order-emphasizing (or order-variant) interactive imagery instructions or the standard interactive imagery instructions provided by Thomas et al. (submitted)).

Previous studies have shown that reading backwards or mirrored text is more likely to be remembered in comparison to normal-oriented text (Kolers, 1975; Kolers 1976). Specifically, Kolers (1975) found participants had remembered previously read inverted text for long intervals of time compared to normal-oriented text which was more likely to be categorized as new despite being read previously. Furthermore, participants had remembered the inverted text for long periods of time from up to at least a year (Kolers, 1976). We wondered whether we could leverage the benefits of reading inverted text found in Kolers’ studies to remember within-pair order (e.g., AB vs. BA) except through typing the words within the word pairs in a certain orientation (either backwards or forwards). More directly, by typing only one word backwards and the other forwards within a word pair may improve memory for within-pair order. To note, our lab has not found improvement of order memory through intentional studying of order.