Misleading postevent information and recall of the original event: Further evidence against the memory impairment hypothesis.

Evaluated the hypothesis that misleading postevent information impairs memory for the original event using 174 undergraduates in Exp I and 228 Ss in Exp II. Ss were assigned either to a recall test condition or an original recognition test condition. Ss viewed a sequence of slides depicting an event, read a postevent narrative that presented neutral or misleading information about critical details, and were tested on their ability to recall the critical details. No difference in recall performance between misled and control conditions was found. These results, in conjunction with the finding of M. McCloskey and M. Zaragoza (see record 1986-03053-001) that misleading information did not affect Ss' ability to recognize original information, argue strongly against the memory impairment hypothesis. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unsolicited interpretation and recall of interpersonal events.

Conducted 4 experiments with a total of 246 undergraduates to examine the variables that influence interpretations and cued recall of interpersonal events. In Exp I, Ss were given a set to empathize with or to be detached from a couple who were shown having an intimate discussion on videotape. The discussion culminated in either a seriously or a moderately negative outcome (SO or MO). A greater amount of attribution (AT) and more accurate recall were found for the empathy set vs the detached set. Greater AT was also found for SO vs MO conditions. In Exp II with a different videotaped event, an SO version and a set to remember the event led to more AT than did an MO version or no set, respectively. Memory-set Ss showed greater recall than no-memory set Ss. In Exp III, Ss given a set to anticipate interaction with 1 of the stimulus persons showed more AT and more accurate recall (R) than did Ss given no such set and an SO led to more AT than did an MO. In Exp IV, Ss given a set about the emotional condition of a stimulus person before observing the event exhibited greater AT and more accurate recall than did Ss given the same set after observing the event or Ss given no set at all. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review, recitation, and memory monitoring.

Investigated memory monitoring during the learning of word lists in 110 undergraduates in 2 experiments. Both experiments used a procedure in which the list was presented twice prior to each recall with Ss predicting recall during either the 1st or 2nd presentation. Ss who predicted during the 2nd presentation had the opportunity to review the entire list prior to making their predictions. Results of both experiments suggest that successful monitoring to decide the items that are already encoded (e.g., assessment through covert recall) did not occur during presentation of material but was restricted to recall trials. Reviewing the list had no effect on prediction accuracy when the material was homogeneous (Exp I) but was effective with heterogeneous materials (Exp II). The data from Exp II also show modest learning-to-predict and learning-to-learn effects (i.e., improvement over lists) for Ss predicting recall on the 2nd presentation. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disorganized recall during suggested amnesia: Fact not artifact.

In 3 experiments and a reanalysis of previous data, hypnotic and nonhypnotic Ss learned a 9-item categorized word list and were then given an amnesia suggestion for the list. Clustering of recall was measured on the recall trials immediately before the suggestion, during it, and after it was cancelled. In Exp I with 173 undergraduates, hypnotic Ss showed more amnesia than task-motivated Ss. However, partial nonrecallers in both of these treatments showed disorganized (i.e., less clustered) recall during the suggestion as compared to before it or after cancelling it. Exp II, with 100 university students, disconfirmed the hypothesis that the greater amnesia of hypnotic as compared to task-motivated Ss, was due to high levels of relaxation in the hypnotic Ss. Disorganization was again found in partial nonrecallers. The reanalysis of clustering data from previous experiments with 196 Ss demonstrated that the disorganization effect was not an artifact produced by reduced recall during the suggestion period, and Exp III (with 166 18–42 yr old Ss) indicated that Ss who followed instructions and faked partial amnesia when explicitly asked to do so (simulators) showed no disorganization effect. An inattention–encoding specificity hypothesis was developed to account for these findings. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reorganization and the recall of prose.

The hypothesis that reorganizing written material while taking notes would aid free recall was evaluated in 2 experiments with high school juniors. 82 Ss read a passage on anthropology organized either by society or by topic. They were then instructed to take notes either (a) in the same order as the material was presented or (b) by reorganizing the information according to specified categories. Free recall was higher for Ss who reorganized the material. In Exp II, with 146 Ss, the effect persisted when the categories were given to Ss in all conditions. Ss of average verbal aptitude benefited from reorganizing to a greater extent than did Ss of higher verbal aptitude. Results are discussed in terms of the encoding variability hypothesis. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facilitation of social interaction through deindividuation of the target.

Hypothesized that actors want their perception of a target to be consistent with the type of interaction they expect. It was predicted that Ss expecting to aggress would deindividuate their target through the selective recall of deindividuating information. Conversely, Ss expecting a prosocial interaction should individuate the target. Further, angry Ss should deindividuate the individual who angered them. 124 male undergraduates were either angered or not angered by an experimental confederate and then given the opportunity to either shock, reward, or have no interaction with him. Ss recalled information about the confederate either prior to or after the learning task. Ss expecting to aggress deindividuated the target, whereas Ss expecting a prosocial interaction individuated him. Angry Ss deindividuated the target; nonangry Ss did not. Since the selective recall of information occurred prior to the interaction, the deindividuation (individuation) was aimed at facilitating future behavior rather than justifying it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-focus, felt responsibility, and helping behavior.

Two experiments, each with 55 female undergraduates, investigated whether juxtaposing self-focus and salient distressed others would (a) increase self-attribution of responsibility for those needy others and (b) increase willingness to help those others. In Exp I, Ss were exposed to their images on a TV screen 4 min before, immediately before, immediately after, or 4 min after seeing a videotape of victims of a venereal disease epidemic. As predicted, Ss who saw their images immediately before or after felt more responsibility for and were more willing to help the victims than were Ss in other conditions. In Exp II, Ss filled out a biographical questionnaire either 4 min before or immediately before seeing a videotape on poverty-stricken Latin Americans. Results confirm predictions. Ss who filled out the questionnaire immediately before the videotape felt more responsibility toward the distressed group than Ss who completed the questionnaire 4 min prior to the tape. Additional evidence indicates that this effect is probably not mediated by the sole operation of the self-evaluative mechanism posited by S. Duval and R. Wicklund (1972) or by change in attitudes regarding the distress of and/or necessity of helping distressed others. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Copying and reproducing pictures in relation to subjects' operative levels.

Past Piagetian memory research has established that Ss' operative levels influence their recall of operatively derived stimuli. To determine the locus of operative influence, children from Grades 1–5 with immature, transitional, or mature concepts of verticality were asked to copy and/or to reproduce verticality stimuli. Stimuli were either operatively advanced (a vertical tree on a hillside) or primitive (a tipped tree). Memory was tested immediately (Exp I, 96 Ss), 1 wk (Exp II, 168 Ss), or 5 mo (Exp III, 46 Ss) after the initial viewing. In each study there was a significant relationship between operative level and performance on the operatively advanced stimulus only. For the tipped stimulus, more distortion was evident in memory than in copy drawings. Contrary to predictions, however, there was no difference between distortion in copy and memory drawings for the straight stimulus regardless of Ss' operative levels. Results suggest that progressive distortion increases over time but that regressive distortion occurs before the stimulus is removed from sight. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of limited recall of variability on intuitive judgments of change.

Two studies tested the hypothesis that reduced recall of variability will alter intuitive judgments of change. In the 1st study, 53 undergraduates received a series of values said to represent the mental health of several individuals and were asked to remember either the average or the range of values for each of the individuals. Either immediately thereafter or 1 wk later, Ss assessed the degree of change represented by a new value, based on their recall of the prior series. It was predicted that when recall was delayed, Ss who had been instructed to remember the average would make greater change judgments than those who had been instructed to remember the variability. Results support the hypothesis. Exp II (81 Ss) replicated these effects with a different type of change judgment (change in a city) and provided evidence that natural encoding operated similarly to average encoding. Implications for a variety of social perception processes are discussed. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Face recall: An examination of some factors limiting composite production accuracy.

Contemporary face composite systems require scrutiny of many alternative features during the construction phase and judgments of similarity based on viewing features divorced from a facial context. The present study assessed the role of these factors in limiting composite production accuracy. In Exp I, 60 students observed a target face and made similarity judgments on sample eyes or mouths drawn from a Photo-fit Kit before attempting to identify the same features of the target. Exp II with 60 Ss was a replication, except that the interpolated judgments were made on the features in the context of a complete Photo-fit face resembling the target. In neither experiment did the Photo-fit components significantly interfere with recognition of the corresponding features of the target. In Exp III, the similarity ratings from memory provided by Ss in the previous experiments were compared with parallel sets of ratings furnished by 30 Ss in the presence of the target. Mean judgments of similarity made from memory on isolated features were discrepant from all other ratings. Results are interpreted as suggesting that whereas interference is not a major problem, judging resemblance from features seen in isolation may be a serious source of distortion in composite production. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cue familiarity but not target retrievability enhances feeling-of-knowing judgments.

Two hypotheses concerning people's ability to predict later memory performance for unrecalled items were investigated. The target retrievability hypothesis states that feeling-of-knowing judgments (FKJs) are based on partial target information, and the cue familiarity hypothesis asserts that they are based on recognition of the cues. In Exps 1 and 2, Ss either generated or read the targets of paired associates. Half of the cues had been primed in a pleasantness-rating task. The generation manipulation increased recall but had no effect on FKJs. Cue priming had no effect on recall but increased FKJs. In Exp 3, using general information questions primed after the initial recall attempt, both cue and target priming increased FKJs. Exp 4, which remedied difficulties in Exp 3, showed no effect of target priming, whereas cue priming increased FKJs. The results favor the cue familiarity hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exact and conceptual repetition dissociate conceptual memory tests: Problems for transfer appropriate processing theory.

Tested whether a conceptual implicit memory test exhibited repetition effects similar to those found in free recall. 555 Ss participated in 3 experiments. In Exp 1, Ss rated a series of target words and their associates according to their degree of pleasantness in the implicit word-fragment completion and cued recall, and category cued and free recall tests. In Exp 2, Air Force recruits were tested on the category instance generation (CIG) and 4 additional tests in Exp 1. Exp 3 tested the Ss for CIG or category cued recall using instructions for relational process. Both CIG and category cued recall exhibited conceptual repetition effects. Category cued recall showed important differences between CIG and free recall. Theoretical implications are discussed. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Echoic memory processes in good and poor readers.

Conducted 4 experiments to determine whether echoic memory plays a role in differences between good and poor readers. In Exp I, with 9 poor (mean age 11.05 yrs) and 9 good (mean age 10.9 yrs) readers, and Exp II, with 12 poor (mean age 10.85 yrs) and 12 good (mean age 10.7 yrs) readers, a suffix procedure was used in which the S was read a list of digits with either a tone control or the word go appended to the list. For lists that exceeded the length of the Ss' memory span by 1 digit (i.e., that avoided ceiling effects), poor readers showed a larger decrement in the suffix condition than did good readers. In Exp III, with 14 poor (mean age 10.64 yrs) and 14 good (mean age 10.83 yrs) readers, Ss shadowed words presented to 1 ear at a rate determined to give 75–85% shadowing accuracy. The item presented to the nonattended ear were words and an occasional digit. At various intervals after the presentation of the digit, a light signaled that the S was to cease shadowing and attempt to recall any digit that had occurred in the nonattended ear recently. Whereas good and poor readers recalled the digit equally if tested immediately after presentation, poor readers showed a faster decline in recall of the digit as retention interval increased. In Exp IV, using Ss from Exp II, bursts of white noise were separated by 9–400 msec of silence, and the S was to say whether there were 1 or 2 sounds presented. There were no differences in detectability functions for good and poor readers. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit processing in the cued recall of young and old adults.

Reports 2 cued recall experiments in which younger and older Ss studied target words varying in number of preexperimental associates. In Exp 1, targets were studied in either the absence or presence of meaning-related context cues, with recall always prompted by the cues. In the absence of context, words with smaller sets of associates were easier to recall than those with larger sets, but this effect was reduced for older Ss. The presence of a study context cue facilitated recall and eliminated the effect of associative set size for both ages. In Exp 2, targets were studied and tested in the presence of unrelated words. In this situation, words with smaller sets of associates were less likely to be recalled than words with larger sets; again the effect was reduced for older Ss. The results are interpreted as an age decrement in processing implicitly activated information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of purpose in the organization of information about behavior: Trait-based versus goal-based categories in person cognition.

Three experiments with 120 college students investigated (a) the role of observational purpose in the tendency to employ trait or goal categories in the organization of behavioral information and (b) the effects of goal-based vs trait-based organization of the information on Ss' ability to recall it. Exp I showed that Ss reading and categorizing a series of episodes for the purpose of recalling either the material or empathizing with the main character organized the episodes primarily in terms of the character's goals. In contrast, Ss whose purpose was either to form a personality impression of the character or to predict her future behavior organized the episodes primarily in terms of her traits. Exp II demonstrated that the categorizations produced by recall-oriented Ss in Exp I facilitated the ability of a new sample of Ss to remember the episodes, relative to the categorizations produced by impression-oriented or control Ss. Exp II provided evidence that the relatively goal-based structure of the recall-oriented categories probably mediated the effects observed in Exp II. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit stereotyping in person judgment.

Three experiments demonstrated implicit gender stereotyping. A target's social category determined the use of previously primed stereotyped information, without Ss' awareness of such influence. After unscrambling sentences describing neutral or stereotyped behaviors about dependence or aggression, Ss evaluated a female or male target. Although ratings of female and male targets did not differ after exposure to neutral primes, Ss exposed to dependence primes rated a female target as more dependent than a male target who performed identical behaviors (Exp 1A). Likewise, Ss rated a male, but not a female, target as more aggressive after exposure to aggression primes compared with neutral primes (Exp 1B). Exp 2 replicated the implicit stereotyping effect and additionally showed no relationship between explicit memory for primes and judgment of target's dependence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The low-ball compliance technique: Task or person commitment?

Three experiments with 195 undergraduates examined the mediating process involved in the low-ball procedure for increasing compliance. In Exp I, Ss who agreed to but were not allowed to perform an initial request complied with a more costly version of the same request to a greater extent than did controls only when the 2nd request came from the same person as did the 1st request and not when it came from a different person. In Exp II, Ss who agreed to but were not allowed to carry out an initial low-cost request complied with a larger request from the same person to the same extent, whether the 1st request was related or unrelated to the 2nd. In Exp III, Ss were allowed or not allowed to perform an initial small request after agreeing to do so. Later, these Ss were approached by either the same or a different person with a larger 2nd request. All groups showed increased compliance over a control cell. However, Ss not allowed to perform the initial request who were approached by the same person for the 2nd request showed a higher rate of compliance than Ss in the other experimental conditions. Results suggest that an unfulfilled obligation to the requester, rather than a commitment to the initial target behavior, is responsible for the effectiveness of the low-ball technique. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery and paired-associate learning.

In Exp. I with 20 undergraduates, the rate of paired-associate learning varied with the type of stimulus, from fastest to slowest: pictures (P), object names (ON), and category names (CN). The stimulus materials did not differ in meaningfulness, and ON had shorter imaginal latencies than CN. The ON-CN difference was replicated in Exp. II with 15 Ss, but presentation of the appropriate P together with an ON or CN on the 1st study trial did not facilitate acquisition of either list. Exp. III with 20 Ss involved the short-term retention of pairs. Using a measure of conditional recall (of responses, given stimulus recall), forgetting occurred over 18 sec., primarily in the 1st 3 sec., but was unaffected by the type of stimulus. The data led to a reevaluation of the conceptual peg hypothesis. (French summary) (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)