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One of the best-known demonstrations of long-term learning through repetition is the Hebb effect: Immediate recall of a memory list repeated amidst nonrepeated lists improves steadily with repetitions. However, previous studies often failed to observe this effect for visuospatial arrays. Souza and Oberauer (2022) showed that the strongest determinant for producing learning was the difficulty of the test: Learning was consistently observed when participants recalled all items of a visuospatial array (difficult test) but not if only one item was recalled, or recognition procedures were used (less difficult tests). This suggests that long-term learning was promoted by increased testing demands over the short term. Alternatively, it is possible that lower testing demands still lead to learning but prevented the application of what was learned. In four preregistered experiments (N = 981), we ruled out this alternative explanation: Changing the type of memory test midway through the experiment from less demanding (i.e., single item recall or recognition) to a more demanding test (i.e., full item recall) did not reveal hidden learning, and changing it from the more demanding to a less demanding test did not conceal learning. Mixing high and low demanding tests for nonrepeated arrays, however, eventually produced Hebb learning even for the less demanding testing conditions. We propose that testing affects long-term learning in two ways: Expectations of the test difficulty influence how information is encoded into memory, and retrieval consolidates this information in memory.

Attention is a multifaceted mechanism operating on space, features, and memory. Previous studies reported both decline and preservation of attention in aging. Yet, it is unclear if healthy aging differentially affects attentional selection in these domains. To address these inconsistencies, we evaluated the ability to focus attention using a battery of 11 tasks in a large sample of younger and older adults (n = 172/174). We addressed whether (a) individual differences and aging effects are consistent across different attention tasks and (b) there is a domain-specific or domain-general age-related decline in focused attention. Both younger and older adults benefited from focusing attention on space, features, and memory representations. Confirmatory factor analysis showed substantial commonalities in baseline performance across all tasks, indicating shared variance in decision-making and memory processes. Focused-attention effects, however, formed separate factors reflecting spatial-, feature-, and memory-based attentional efficiency. Correlations between these factors were generally low and inconsistent for both age groups. This supports the view that focused attention is not a single ability. Within the same domain, some tasks showed a decline, whereas others showed improvement with aging, and, on average, attentional benefits were similar across age groups. Accordingly, our results are inconsistent with the claim that aging is associated with either domain-specific or domain-general decline in focused attention. Public Significance Statement: Longevity has boomed, confronting society with the need to foster the quality of life of the growing aging population. Being able to independently perform daily tasks is essential for well-being, and this depends critically on the fitness of our attentional abilities. Well-tuned perceptual attention abilities are needed to efficiently navigate our crowded sensory environment, and we also need an attention mechanism to select among thoughts, memories, and actions. Studies have pointed either to decline or preservation of attention in aging, creating an inconsistent picture. Our study provides a comprehensive assessment of the ability to focus attention on spatial locations, features, and memory representations in a large sample of younger and older adults. We found no evidence that attentional functions decline as people age: Younger and older adults could efficiently focus attention on all domains assessed, thereby improving their performance. The focus of attention remains sharp as people age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the best-known demonstrations of long-term learning through repetition is the Hebb effect: Immediate recall of a memory list repeated amidst nonrepeated lists improves steadily with repetitions. However, previous studies often failed to observe this effect for visuospatial arrays. Souza and Oberauer (2022) showed that the strongest determinant for producing learning was the difficulty of the test: Learning was consistently observed when participants recalled all items of a visuospatial array (difficult test) but not if only one item was recalled, or recognition procedures were used (less difficult tests). This suggests that long-term learning was promoted by increased testing demands over the short term. Alternatively, it is possible that lower testing demands still lead to learning but prevented the application of what was learned. In four preregistered experiments (N =981), we ruled out this alternative explanation: Changing the type of memory test midway through the experiment from less demanding (i.e., single item recall or recognition) to a more demanding test (i.e., full item recall) did not reveal hidden learning, and changing it from the more demanding to a less demanding test did not conceal learning. Mixing high and low demanding tests for nonrepeated arrays, however, eventually produced Hebb learning even for the less demanding testing conditions. We propose that testing affects long-term learning in two ways: Expectations of the test difficulty influence how information is encoded into memory, and retrieval consolidates this information in memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working memory performance is often assumed to benefit from different maintenance control strategies such as rehearsal, refreshing, elaboration, and grouping. In studies assessing strategy self-reports, some strategies were indeed associated with better recall. Nevertheless, experimental studies assessing the effect of instructing maintenance strategies compared to a no-instruction baseline lend no evidence for the effectiveness of these strategies for working memory. Explanations for this contradiction could be that instruction implementation engenders dual-task costs or that strategy instructions reduce adaptive strategy switching. Across two experiments, we investigated the frequency and variability of strategy use with trial-wise self-reports in serial recall of word lists. Furthermore, we examined potential instruction costs by comparing performance in trials with self-reported versus instructed use of the same strategies. Self-reported strategy use varied from trial to trial, with elaboration and rehearsal being the most frequent. Self-reported elaboration was correlated with better performance than reading and rehearsal. For the most prevalent strategies-elaboration and rehearsal-there were no costs of instructed strategy implementation. Our results speak against dual-task costs and for the advantage of adaptively choosing one's own strategy from trial to trial. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).