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We tested the validity of two alternative accounts of the Attentional Boost Effect (ABE) - the finding that words associated with to-be-responded targets are recognized better than words associated with to-be-ignored distractors. The distinctiveness hypothesis assumes that, during recognition, participants probe their memories for distinctive information confirming that a word was studied (e.g., "I remember having pressed the spacebar, so I must have studied the word"). This strategy cannot be used in a between-subjects condition in which participants cannot appreciate the differences between target - and distractor-paired words. In agreement, Experiments 1A and 1B found that the ABE was significant in a within-subjects design, whereas it was eliminated in a between-subjects design. On the other hand, the performance anticipation hypothesis assumes that, during the study phase, participants anticipate the need of responding to a subset of target-paired words: this would create a persistent performance anticipation that would prevent them from effectively encoding distractor-paired words. In contrast with this account, we found that, when blocks of five distractor trials were regularly alternated with blocks of five target trials in Experiment 2, recognition accuracy decreased linearly in both conditions. Overall, these results suggest that distinctiveness, but not performance anticipation, might underlie the ABE.

In the Attentional Boost Effect (ABE), words or images encoded with to-be-detected target squares are later recognized better than words or images encoded with to-be-ignored distractor squares. The present study sought to determine whether the ABE enhanced the encoding of the item-specific and relational properties of the studied words by using the multiple recall paradigm. Previous evidence indicates that manipulations fostering item-specific encoding increased the number of item gains, whereas manipulations fostering relational encoding decreased item losses. Across three experiments, participants were presented with lists of semantically related or unrelated words paired with target (red) or distractor (green) squares, under the instructions to remember all the words and press the spacebar when the square was red. Immediately after the study phase, they were involved in four consecutive recall attempts. In all cases, the classical ABE was replicated, in that participants recalled more target- than distractor-paired words. Most importantly, the analyses converged in showing that item gains were significantly greater for target- than for distractor-paired words when participants studied lists of related words (but not when they studied unrelated lists); in contrast, item losses did not differ between the two types of words, irrespective of the nature of the studied list. Taken together, these data suggest that the ABE enhanced the encoding of item-specific information but had no effect on the encoding of relational information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

In the attentional boost effect (ABE), words or images encoded with to-be-responded targets are later recalled better than words or images encoded with to-be-ignored distractors. The ABE has been repeatedly demonstrated to improve item memory, whereas evidence concerning contextual memory is mixed, with studies showing both significant and null results. The present three experiments investigated whether the ABE could enhance contextual memory when using a recognition task that allowed participants to reinstate the original study context, by simultaneously manipulating the nature of the instructions provided at encoding. Participants studied a sequence of colored words paired with target (gray circles) or distractor (gray squares) stimuli, under the instructions to remember either the words and their colors (Exps. 1-2) or only the words (Exp. 3) and simultaneously press the space bar whenever a gray circle appeared on the screen. Then, after a brief interval, they were administered a modified recognition task involving two successive stages. First, participants were presented with two different words and had to decide which word was originally encoded; second, they were presented with five colored versions of the (correct) old words and had to remember the color in which they were studied. Results converged in showing that the ABE enhanced contextual memory, although the effect was more robust with intentional encoding instructions., (© 2022. The Psychonomic Society, Inc.)

In the Attentional Boost Effect (ABE), images or words encoded with unrelated to-be-responded targets are later remembered better than images or words encoded with to-be-ignored distractors. In the realm of short-term memory, the ABE has been previously shown to enhance the short-term recognition of single-feature stimuli. The present study replicated this finding and extended it to a condition requiring the encoding and retention of colour-shape associations. Across four experiments, participants studied arrays of four coloured squares (the colour-only condition), four gray shapes (the shape-only condition) or four coloured shapes (the binding condition), paired with either a target letter (to which participants had to respond by pressing the spacebar) or a distractor letter (for which no response was required). After a short delay, they were presented with a probe array and asked to decide whether it matched or not the encoded array. Results showed that, in all conditions, the recognition of target-paired arrays was significantly better than the recognition of distractor-paired arrays. These findings suggest that the ABE can enhance feature binding.

The distinction between identification and production processes suggests that implicit memory should require more attention resources when there is a competition between alternative solutions during the test phase. The present two experiments assessed this hypothesis by examining the effects of divided attention (DA) at encoding on the high- and low-response-competition versions of perceptual identification (Experiment 1) and lexical decision (Experiment 2). In both experiments, words presented in the high-response-competition condition had many orthographic neighbours and at least one higher-frequency neighbour, whereas words presented in the low-response-competition condition had few orthographic neighbours and no higher-frequency neighbour. Consistent with the predictions of the identification/production distinction, Experiment 1 showed that DA reduced repetition priming in the high-, but not in the low-response-competition version of perceptual identification; in contrast, DA had comparable effects in the two versions of lexical decision (Experiments 2). These findings provide the first experimental evidence in support of the hypothesis that perceptual identification, a task nominally based on identification processes, might involve a substantive production component.

The present study examined predictions of the early-phase-elevated-attention hypothesis of the attentional boost effect (ABE), which suggests that transient increases in attention at encoding, as instantiated in the ABE paradigm, should enhance the recognition of neutral and positive items (whose encoding is mostly based on controlled processes), while having small or null effects on the recognition of negative items (whose encoding is primarily based on automatic processes). Participants were presented a sequence of negative, neutral and positive stimuli (pictures in Experiment 1, words in Experiment 2) associated to target (red) squares, distractor (green) squares or no squares (baseline condition). They were told to attend to the pictures/words and simultaneously press the spacebar of the computer when a red square appeared. In a later recognition task, stimuli associated to target squares were recognised better than stimuli associated to distractor squares, replicating the standard ABE. More importantly, we also found that: (a) the memory enhancement following target detection occurred with all types of stimuli (neutral, negative and positive) and (b) the advantage of negative stimuli over neutral stimuli was intact in the DA condition. These findings suggest that the encoding of negative stimuli depends on both controlled (attention-dependent) and automatic (attention-independent) processes.

The present study reports 2 experiments examining the Attentional Boost Effect (ABE) in schizophrenic patients and matched healthy controls, using visual and verbal materials. The ABE refers to the surprising finding that, in a divided attention condition, images and words encoded with targets are remembered better than images and words encoded with distractors. Unlike controls (who showed the typical ABE), schizophrenic patients reported no memory advantage for stimuli presented together with targets in the divided attention condition. On the other hand, the interference effect on the recognition of stimuli presented with distractors was not exacerbated in patients (as compared with controls). In line with the dual-task interaction model proposed by Swallow and Jiang (2013), the absence of a significant facilitation indicates that schizophrenic patients have a deficit in the process of attentional enhancement triggered by target detection. A number of neural mechanisms potentially underlying this impairment are discussed, as well as implications for the characterization of the attentional deficits involved in schizophrenia., ((c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.)