The role of spatial location in remembering and forgetting peripheral words.

This study examined whether spatial location mediates intentional forgetting of peripherally presented words. Using an item-method directed forgetting paradigm, words were presented in peripheral locations at study. A recognition test presented all words at either the same or a different location relative to study. Results showed that while recognition of Remember words was unaffected by test location, when Forget words were presented in the same location at test as at study, recognition accuracy was significantly greater than when presented in a different location. Experiment 2 showed that the speed to localize a previously studied word was faster when it was presented in the same rather than a different study-test location but that the magnitude of this spatial priming was unaffected by memory instruction. We suggest that the location of peripherally presented words is represented in memory and can aid the retrieval of poorly encoded words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The production effect in memory: Evidence that distinctiveness underlies the benefit.

The production effect is the substantial benefit to memory of having studied information aloud as opposed to silently. MacLeod, Gopie, Hourihan, Neary, and Ozubko (2010) have explained this enhancement by suggesting that a word studied aloud acquires a distinctive encoding record and that recollecting this record supports identifying a word studied aloud as “old.” This account was tested using a list discrimination paradigm, where the task is to identify in which of 2 studied lists a target word was presented. The critical list was a mixed list containing words studied aloud and words studied silently. Under the distinctiveness explanation, studying an additional list all aloud should disrupt the production effect in the critical list because remembering having said a word aloud in the critical list will no longer be diagnostic of list status. In contrast, studying an additional list all silently should leave the production effect in the critical list intact. These predictions were confirmed in 2 experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The production effect: Delineation of a phenomenon.

In 8 recognition experiments, we investigated the production effect—the fact that producing a word aloud during study, relative to simply reading a word silently, improves explicit memory. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 showed the effect to be restricted to within-subject, mixed-list designs in which some individual words are spoken aloud at study. Because the effect was not evident when the same repeated manual or vocal overt response was made to some words (Experiment 4), producing a subset of studied words appears to provide additional unique and discriminative information for those words—they become distinctive. This interpretation is supported by observing a production effect in Experiment 5, in which some words were mouthed (i.e., articulated without speaking); in Experiment 6, in which the materials were pronounceable nonwords; and even in Experiment 7, in which the already robust generation effect was incremented by production. Experiment 8 incorporated a semantic judgment and showed that the production effect was not due to “lazy reading” of the words studied silently. The distinctiveness that accrues to the records of produced items at the time of study is useful at the time of test for discriminating these produced items from other items. The production effect represents a simple but quite powerful mechanism for improving memory for selected information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Directed forgetting: Comparing pictures and words.

The authors investigated directed forgetting as a function of the stimulus type (picture, word) presented at study and test. In an item-method directed forgetting task, study items were presented 1 at a time, each followed with equal probability by an instruction to remember or forget. Participants exhibited greater yes–no recognition of remember than forget items for each of the 4 study–test conditions (picture–picture, picture–word, word–word, word–picture). However, this difference was significantly smaller when pictures were studied than when words were studied. This finding demonstrates that the magnitude of the directed forgetting effect can be reduced by high item memorability, such as when the picture superiority effect is operating. This suggests caution in using pictures at study when the goal of an experiment is to examine potential group differences in the magnitude of the directed forgetting effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Manipulation of attention at study affects an explicit but not an implicit test of memory

We investigated the impact of attention during encoding on later retrieval. During study, participants read some words aloud (ignoring the print color) and named the print color of other words aloud (ignoring the word). Then one of two memory tests was administered. The explicit test--recognition--required conscious recollection of whether a word was studied. Previously read words were recognized more accurately than were previously color named words. This contrasted sharply with performance on the implicit test--repetition priming in lexical decision. Here, words that were color named during study showed priming equivalent to words that were read during study; both were responded to faster than unstudied words. Thus, an attentional manipulation during study had a strong effect on an explicit test of memory, but almost no effect on an implicit test. Focal attention during study is crucial for remembering consciously but not necessarily for remembering without awareness.     

Recall and stem-completion priming have different electrophysiological correlates and are modified differentially by directed forgetting.

The notion that different aspects of memory are assessed by explicit and implicit memory tests was supported by behavioral and electrophysiological results. In a study–test procedure, 24 Ss were instructed to remember some words and to forget other words. Free recall and cued recall were better for words associated with the remember instruction, whereas directed forgetting did not influence stem completion (an implicit memory test). Event-related brain potentials elicited during study differed as a function of subsequent memory performance for free recall and cued recall, but not for stem completion. These results implicate encoding differences in the distinction between the 2 types of memory test. Factors governing whether explicit retrieval affects performance on an implicit memory test, mechanisms that may underlie directed-forgetting effects, and the importance of electrophysiological correlates of memory are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cease remembering: Control processes in directed forgetting.

On the premise that committing a word to memory is a type of covert action capable of being stopped, this study merged an item-method directed forgetting paradigm with a stop signal paradigm. The primary dependent measure was immediate recall. Indicating that participants were able to countermand the default instruction to remember, there was an overall directed forgetting effect, the magnitude of which varied as a function of forget signal delay. The results suggest that the covert act of intentionally forgetting may engage cognitive control processes at encoding that are analogous to those required to prevent the execution of prepotent overt responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of fast-rate, slow-rate, and silent previewing interventions on reading performance

Researchers investigated the effects of three different previewing interventions on the oral reading rates of 12 junior and senior high school students with learning disabilities. Under fast-rate listening previewing (FRLP), students were instructed to follow silently as experimenters read from a text at an average rate that was 77.7% faster than the students' current oral reading rate. During slow-rate listening previewing (SRLP), students followed along as experimenters read at an average rate that was 22.5% faster than the students' reading rate. Students were instructed to read passages silently under silent previewing (SP). Immediately following each previewing intervention, students read the same passage aloud. The number of words read correctly per minute and the number of errors per minute served as dependent variables. The results showed statistically significant decreases in error rates under SRLP and SP. The results also showed that SRLP resulted in statistically significantly fewer errors per minute than FRLP. These results suggest that orally reading while students follow along at a rate much higher than their current reading rates may not be as beneficial as reading aloud at slower rates.     

Directed forgetting in implicit and explicit memory tests: A comparison of methods.

Directed forgetting has been studied by instructing Ss to forget either (1) an initial list or (2) individually selected words. Differential encoding was hypothesized to be responsible for word-method directed forgetting, and retrieval inhibition for list-method directed forgetting. In Exps 1 and 2, directed forgetting was observed in recognition with the word method but not with the list method. Release from directed forgetting occurred in final recall after recognition but only with the list method. These results are interpreted in terms of a theoretical framework that integrates distinctive-relational processing theory with revised generation-recognition theory. In Exps 1–3, predictions from that framework were generally well supported on implicit and explicit retention tests that provided the same stimulus conditions. Consistent with processing theory, list-method directed forgetting was absent on data-driven or conceptually driven implicit tests, and word-method directed forgetting was absent on data-driven implicit tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategic processing during comprehension.

This study addresses 3 questions: How flexible are readers when reading strategically? How is strategic processing affected by properties of the text? and Do some strategies lead to better text retention than others? Participants read short narratives and thought aloud with an instruction to either explain, predict, associate, or understand. The think-aloud protocols were used to predict sentence reading times for other participants who read silently with the same strategies. The results indicated that readers are capable of strategically controlling the inferences that they generate. However, strategic control comes at some cost in that it limits the resources devoted to other inferences. Furthermore, strategic processing is heavily constrained by a text. Text-based explanations occurred when there was an identifiable causal antecedent in the prior text. Knowledge-based inferences occurred when there were no antecedents and when new characters and objects were introduced. These effects occurred across reading strategies. Reading to explain led to better memory, but only when reading silently. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Directed forgetting between, but not within, dissociative personality states.

To investigate amnesia between identities in dissociative identity disorder (DID), the authors assessed explicit and implicit memory performance on a directed-forgetting task in 12 DID patients who switched from one state to an "amnesic" state between presentation and memory testing. DID patients were instructed either to remember or to forget neutral and emotional words. Besides an overall decrease in explicit memory, patients demonstrated selective forgetting of to-be-forgotten, but not of to-be-remembered words in the amnesic state. Patients did not exhibit any directed forgetting within the same state. Implicit memory was fully preserved across states. Independent of state, patients recalled more emotional than neutral information. These results may extend the conceptualization of memory processes in DID, suggesting an important role for retrieval inhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of varying stimulus rate and duration on brain activity during reading

The effect of the presentation rate and exposure duration of visually presented words on brain activity was investigated using positron emission tomography. Subjects either read aloud or silently mouthed the names of words. In regions associated with early visual analysis, activity increased with both rate and duration; in regions associated with response generation, activity increased with increasing rate but was unaffected by duration; and in regions associated with word recognition, activity decreased with increasing duration. The variable responses of different brain regions illustrate the functional segregation of these regions. Of particular interest was the dissociation between activity in the posterior fusiform gyri and that in the medial lingual gyrus--in the former, activity increased with rate and duration but the latter was unaffected by either variable. This finding suggests that word processing in the lingual gyrus during reading is distinct from that in the posterior fusiform gyri. A further observation was that during reading aloud, when subjects can hear the sound of their own voice, the response in the primary auditory cortices increased with stimulus rate, demonstrating that subjects process the sound of their own voice in a qualitatively similar way to words spoken by another.     

The effect of imagery on explicit and implicit tests of memory in young and old people: A double dissociation.

Examined the effect of imagery on implicit and explicit tests of memory in young and old adults. 48 undergraduates (mean age 21 yrs) and 64 adults (mean age 72.48 yrs) in Canada were presented with 2 separate word lists in a random order and were assigned to imagery or no-imagery instruction conditions. Ss in the imagery instruction condition read the words to themselves, formed a mental image of it, and rated their ability to do so. Ss in the no-imagery instruction condition simply read the words. All Ss were tested on explicit or implicit memory tests and asked to describe the mnemonic strategies used. Results show that imaging the referent of a visually-presented word improved the performance of the young Ss on the explicit memory test, but reduced their performance on the implicit test. Results of the elderly Ss showed a similar trend but did not reach the level of significance observed for young adults. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Directed forgetting of emotional words.

Emotional material may induce processing limitations affecting memory performance. In the present study, the authors investigated how the emotional content of words influences the degree to which participants can be directed to forget them. In Experiment 1, the authors found that negative-valence words were recalled better when participants were told to forget them than when they were told to remember them. This effect was only obtained when a study-list of negative words was presented after the cue to remember or forget the first list. The effect was correlated with negative mood as assessed by the PANAS. Similar results were obtained in Experiment 2, in which the induction of negative arousal by a mild stressor abolished the directed forgetting of words when the following study list was comprised of negative words. These results support the idea that directed forgetting relies on cognitive control processes that may be disrupted by negative emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading lexically without semantics: evidence from patients with probable Alzheimer's disease

Recent modifications of the lexical model of oral reading make the prediction that under conditions where sublexical reading processes alone cannot achieve the target pronunciation (i.e., when words have exceptional spellings or when sublexical processes are impaired), patients with severe semantic impairment should have more difficulty reading aloud semantically impaired words than semantically retained words. In a battery of lexical-semantic and reading tasks, two neurologically normal control subjects and two subjects with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and only moderate semantic impairment read aloud all words accurately. One AD subject with severe semantic impairment was impaired in word reading but demonstrated no difference in reading words with regular and exceptional spellings. Another AD subject with severe semantic impairment read aloud without error virtually all regular and exception words. Neither severely impaired AD subject demonstrated any relationship between oral reading accuracy and semantic knowledge of exception words. These findings support a model of word reading incorporating lexical, nonsemantic processes by which lexical orthographic input representations directly activate lexical phonological output representations without the necessity of semantic mediation.     

Development of the interplay between automatic processes and cognitive resources in reading.

An account was tested of the development of the interplay between automatic processes and cognitive resources in reading. According to compensatory-encoding theory, with advancing skill, readers increasingly keep automatic processes from faltering and provide timely, accurate data to working memory by pausing, looking back, rereading, and compensating in other ways when automatic processes fail. Reading skill profiles (e.g., word naming, semantic access, working memory capacity) were obtained from 71 third graders, 68 fifth graders, and 72 seventh graders from a university lab school or a public school (ages 7 to 15; 146 Caucasians, 61 African Americans, 2 Native Americans, 2 Latino Americans). Children participated in an unrestricted reading task (no time or performance pressure) and were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 levels of 3 experimental manipulations of restriction on reading: time pressure or no pressure, constant reading rate or variable reading rate, read silently or read aloud. Regression analyses revealed that developmental level and restriction moderated the reading skill level-comprehension relationship, and restriction lowered comprehension when it overwhelmed skills, especially for younger readers. Verbally inefficient readers compensated most often, and older readers compensated most efficiently. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Directed forgetting of recently recalled autobiographical memories.

In 6 experiments, the authors investigated list-method directed forgetting of recently recalled autobiographical memories. Reliable directed forgetting effects were observed across all experiments. In 4 experiments, the authors examined the impact of memory valence on directed forgetting. The forget instruction impaired recall of negative, positive, and neutral memories equally, although overall, participants recalled fewer unemotional memories than emotional memories. The preexisting organization of memories enhanced the directed forgetting effect, and a release from forgetting occurred only when the forgotten memories were directly cued. The authors discuss the roles of emotion, retrieval dynamics, and organization in these effects and suggest that the directed forgetting of recently recalled autobiographical memories may reflect the inhibition of recently formed memories of remembering, that is, episodic inhibition. The authors consider the implications of these findings for the control of autobiographical remembering in everyday life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sources of Individual Differences in Reading Comprehension and Reading Fluency.

This study examined the common and distinct contributions of context-free and context reading skill to reading comprehension and the contributions of context-free reading skill and reading comprehension to context fluency. The 113 4th-grade participants were measured in reading comprehension, read aloud a folktale, and read aloud the folktale's words in a random list. Fluency was scaled as speed (words read correctly in 1 min) and time (seconds per correct word). Relative to list fluency, context fluency was a stronger predictor of comprehension. List fluency and comprehension each uniquely predicted context fluency, but their relative contributions depended on how fluency was scaled (time or speed). Results support the conclusion that word level processes contribute relatively more to fluency at lower levels while comprehension contributes relatively more at higher levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is there hypermnesia and reminiscence for information intentionally forgotten?

Memory performance was examined across consecutive tests in three directed-forgetting experiments. Following word-method or list-method cueing to forget, significant directed forgetting was observed for all tests: Free recall for remember cue words always exceeded free recall for forget cue words. Moreover, following either cueing method, similar magnitudes of hypermnesia (improved free recall across tests) and reminiscence (recovery of words across tests) were observed for both word types. Regardless of cueing method, after an initial free recall test, the level of recovery for both word types did not differ significantly. That is, directed forgetting was not observed for the reminiscence data. Taken together, the results suggest that cues to forget impair the encoding of information but, after an initial memory test, they do not interrupt the accessing of that information. These findings are consistent with the selective rehearsal account but not the retrieval inhibition account of directed forgetting. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influences of intentional and unintentional forgetting on false memories.

In 2 experiments, we examined the interplay of 2 types of memory errors: forgetting and false memory--errors of omission and commission, respectively. We examined the effects of 2 manipulations known to inhibit retrieval of studied words--directed forgetting and part--list cuing--on the false recall of an unstudied "critical" word following study of its 15 strongest associates. Participants cued to forget the 1st of 2nd studied lists before studying the 2nd recalled fewer List 1 words but intruded the missing critical word more often than did participants cued to remember both lists. By contrast, providing some studied words as cues during recall reduced both recall of the remaining studied words and intrusions of the critical word. The results suggest that forgetting can increase or decrease false memories, depending on whether such forgetting reflects impaired access to an entire episode or retrieval competition among elements of an episode. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)