Output interference in long-term memory.

Reports 2 experiments, with 70 and 140 undergraduates, concerning the role of output interference on the recall of organized material. Groups of Ss received blocked presentation of a 49-item list consisting of 7 items in each of 7 categories. At recall, the category name served as the retrieval cue. In Exp. I, a 20-sec recall interval was allowed for each category and 10 Ss were assigned to each group. In Exp. II, this interval was increased to 90 sec. and 20 Ss were assigned to each group. Results of both studies indicate that the number of words recalled from a category is dependent on the position of the category in the output sequence. In general, the earlier a category appears in the output sequence, the greater the number of words recalled from that category. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recall of pleasant and unpleasant words in depressed subjects.

In Exp I, 20 clinically depressed inpatients (mean age 39.9 yrs), 20 nondepressed inpatients (mean age 42.65 yrs), and 20 nonpatients (mean age 44 yrs) were shown a word list containing pleasant and unpleasant words. One-half of Ss in each group were given free-recall instructions, the other half were asked to rate each word on a pleasantness scale prior to recall. Results show that only depressed Ss given free-recall instructions recalled more unpleasant words than pleasant words. In Exp II, 30 clinically depressed inpatients (mean age 39.33 yrs) were shown a word list consisting of either (1) pleasant and unpleasant words, (2) unpleasant words, or (3) pleasant words. Results show that only Ss receiving the mixed list recalled more unpleasant than pleasant words. Findings support the hypothesis that depressed Ss selectively process unpleasant words and that this processing is at the expense of attention to pleasant words. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal conditioning of value-related material.

Studied verbal conditioning as a function of the interaction between content of stimulus material and S's personal value orientation. 2 groups of 20 undergraduates each were conditioned to select words either consistent or inconsistent with their value orientations as measured by the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values. 20 additional Ss were conditioned to select words unrelated to values. As predicted, those Ss conditioned to select words consistent with their value orientations produced a steeper acquisition curve than those Ss conditioned to select inconsistent words. However, there was no difference between the acquisition curves of the former group and the control group. Results are related to verbal conditioning in psychotherapy. It is suggested that the therapist who plans to use such a tool should consider the personal and relational aspects of the therapeutic process as important determinants of conditionability. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conscious and preconscious influences on recall: Another example of the restricting effects of awareness.

2 groups of 34 and 36 Ss were asked to recall a list of 27 words—10 associates to the word cheese, 10 unrelated words matched for frequency, 6 buffer words, and the stimulus word "Cheese," embedded in the center of the list. The pattern of recall was studied (a) before "Cheese" was recalled, (b) after "Cheese" was recalled, and (c) when "Cheese" was forgotten. As predicted, a significantly greater number of associates than control words were recalled before "Cheese" was recalled; after "Cheese" was recalled and when "Cheese" was forgotten, an equal number of associates and control words were recalled. Findings were substantially the same in the 2 groups of Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of affective meaningfulness and self-concept in the verbal learning styles of White and Black children.

White and Black 5th graders, representing 2 social class and 2 self-concept (Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale) levels, recalled nouns which they had prerated for likability in a multitrial free recall format. While self-concept failed to have any noticeable influence on the total sample, it interacted significantly with race. As predicted, the high self-concept White Ss recalled positively rated words more readily than negatively rated words, while their low self-concept peers showed no memory predilection. Although the low self-concept Black Ss also reflected no preference for their affective evaluations, the high self-concept Black Ss showed a greater propensity to recall their negatively rated words. Social class had a negligible effect on affective learning styles. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of hunger on the learning and recall of food related words.

To test the effect of drive state on learning in humans, Ss were presented with paired associates consisting of food and nonfood words, either before or after the evening meal. It was found that the premeal group learned faster, particularly when the paired associates was a food word, and the premeal group recalled food words, but failed to recall nonfood words. The effect of drive on learning was demonstrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relative importance of informational units and their role in long-term recall by closed-head-injured patients and control groups.

Applied qualitative analysis to the information recalled by control Ss and closed-head-injured (CHI) patients. The Logical Memory subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) was administered to 40 CHI and 40 control Ss. Recall was tested immediately after administration, 40 min later, and 24 hrs later. The analysis took into account the importance of recalled information as determined by a prior rating according to 3 levels of importance. Results suggest that CHI patients have difficulty selectively retrieving the most important information after a long delay. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal conditioning as a function of experimenter characteristics.

An investigation was conducted to test the hypothesis that differences in the characteristics of experimenters can lead to differential learning effects when the experimental session involves verbal conditioning without awareness. "Two experimenters of different sex and markedly different height, weight, age, appearance, and personality ran separate groups of Ss." Results indicated that "the response 'Good' was reinforcing for the class of behavior consisting of the use of hostile words in sentences. In addition, it was found that the rates of learning for the Ss of the two experimenters differed significantly, with a steeper slope for the female experimenter's group." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suggested amnesia and disorganized recall in hypnotic and task-motivated subjects.

Submitted 52 undergraduates to task motivation or hypnotic treatment. Ss were then given an amnesia suggestion for a previously learned list of categorized words. The number of words recalled and the extent to which they were recalled in clusters were compared before, during, and after lifting the amnesia suggestion. Results show that more hypnotic Ss than task-motivated Ss showed amnesia. Furthermore, hypnotic Ss, but not task-motivated Ss, showed less clustering during the suggestion than they did before or after the suggestion. The Ss who showed at least partial failure to recall during the suggestion were classified into 3 groups: (a) those who remembered but did not verbalize the words, (b) those who experienced amnesia as an effortful process involving distraction or forceful suppression, and (c) those who simply relaxed and experienced amnesia as an effortless process. A theoretical model is tentatively advanced to account for these data. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of concomitant colored and uncolored pictorial representations on the learning of stimulus words.

To study the effect of varying degrees of compounding signs of objects denoted by the words, twenty-five stimulus words were presented under three learning conditions: (a) Words alone, (b) words with their uncolored pictures, (c) words with their colored pictures. It was concluded that support was given the hypothesis that "with the number of presentations… held constant, the number of… words recalled by Ss should vary positively within limits with the number of simultaneously presented additional signs." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery, encoding, and retrieval of information from memory: Some specific encoding-retrieval changes in Huntington's disease.

Used mixed lists of 10 high-imagery and 10 low-imagery words as stimuli in a prompted, free-recall experiment. On each trial, only words not recalled on the previous trial were presented again as stimuli. Normal controls recalled more words on each test of recall than did 8 41–53 yr old patients with Huntington's disease. Controls remembered more high-imagery words after fewer presentation trials and could recall them with greater consistency than low-imagery words. Patients with Huntington's disease required far more trials to remember words, never recalled all 20 words, and did not differentiate high- and low-imagery words with respect to their recall probability. Results indicate that these patients, unlike controls, cannot consistently retrieve responses that were recalled previously. Findings are discussed in terms of the relationship between encoding and retrieval processes. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Free recall by in-school and out-of-school adults: Performance and metamemory.

40 women in 4 groups (university students aged 18–26 or 35–44 yrs and out-of-school Ss aged 36–49 or 60–86 yrs) were asked to study and recall a randomly presented categorized word list. Ss then indicated which of a group of 20 mnemonic strategies they had used to remember the word list and ranked the 20 strategies according to usefulness in the memory task. On almost all measures (number of words recalled, number of words recalled per category, number of strategies employed, use of the various strategies, and perceived usefulness of the strategies), the 2 in-school groups were more similar to each other, and the 2 out-of-school groups were more similar to each other, than were the 2 middle-aged groups. ANCOVA, using years of schooling as the covariate, reduced several of the differences between the 2 middle-aged groups. Years of schooling, as well as actually being in school, may be better predictors than age of differences in metamemory and memory performance. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioning of affective self-references as a function of the discriminative characteristics of experimenter intervention.

This investigation tested the effects of 2 different E interventions on the conditioning of affective verbal behavior. The interview was divided into 3 10-minute periods: operant level, acquisition, and extinction. During acquisition E either echoed S's affective self-reference or paraphrased its content. In a control treatment, E arbitrarily echoed or paraphrased a comparable number of nonaffective comments. Folowing extinction Ss listed all affective words they remembered E saying. Results indicated that the paraphrase was significantly most effective in influencing Ss' verbal behavior. The paraphrase group also recalled a significantly greater number of affective words expressed by E. The results were interpreted as indicating the dominant role of discriminative stimuli in verbal conditioning performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The next-in-line effect: Encoding or retrieval deficit?

The phenomenon that people cannot remember what happens when they are next-in-line to perform was investigated in 2 experiments with 144 undergraduates to determine whether this memory deficit reflects a failure to encode or an inability to retrieve preperformance events. In Exp I, 96 Ss participated in 4 memory trials; in each trial, half the Ss were called on to read words, and the other half merely listened. Before each trial, Ss were told whether they would be readers or listeners and the order in which numbers would be called. Thus, readers could anticipate precisely when they would be called on to perform. After hearing the 28 words in random order, all Ss wrote down the recalled words on cued or noncued sheets. Although the semantic cues strongly facilitated access to memories, they did not moderate the next-in-line effect. In Exp II, Ss were told—either before or after performing—to make a special effort to remember preperformance events. If instructed afterward, Ss displayed the usual memory deficit. If instructed beforehand, they reversed the deficit and showed a superior preperformance recall. It is concluded that the next-in-line effect is a failure at encoding, not at retrieval. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for music: Effect of melody on recall of text.

The melody of a song, in some situations, can facilitate learning and recall. The experiments in this article demonstrate that text is better recalled when it is heard as a song rather than as speech, provided the music repeats so that it is easily learned. When Ss heard 3 verses of a text sung with the same melody, they had better recall than when the same text was spoken. However, the opposite occurred when Ss heard a single verse of a text sung or when Ss heard different melodies for each verse of a song; in these instances, Ss had better recall when the text was spoken. Furthermore, the experiments indicate that the melody contributes more than just rhythmic information. Music is a rich structure that chunks words and phrases, identifies line lengths, identifies stress patterns, and adds emphasis as well as focuses listeners on surface characteristics. The musical structure can assist in learning, in retrieving, and if necessary, in reconstructing a text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediated stimulus generalization and words connoting mood.

90 words connoting mood were scaled for degree of elation or depression. 70 of the words were selected as the stimuli in a study of mediated stimulus generalization. For 2 groups of men and 2 groups of women the training stimuli were extremely elated words, and for 2 different groups of men and women, the training stimuli were extremely depressed words. In each of the 2 groups for both sexes, one group was reinforced for whispering and the other for shouting. After training all groups received a generalization series consisting of words varying in degree of elation or depression. Ss trained to shout elated and whisper depressed stimuli produced steeper mediated stimulus generalization gradients than Ss trained to whisper elated and shout depressed stimuli. The Shout-Depressed group produced partially inverted gradients. The results were consistent with an asymmetrical Matching Principle: with connotative stimuli there is a strong tendency to make an intense response to an intense stimulus and a moderate tendency to make a weak response to a weak stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in incidental learning.

Examined the effects of age and of incidental-learning tasks on recall of a categorized word list. Ss were 50 18-30 yr old college students and 50 55-65 yr old teachers. The control groups were instructed to remember the words; incidental-learning groups performed orienting tasks, but were not informed that they would have to recall the words. 2 orienting tasks required that Ss process the meaning of the words; the other 2 orienting tasks did not involve semantic processing. Analysis of the free-recall data indicates that the semantic processing tasks led to much greater recall and organization of recall than the nonsemantic orienting tasks. In recall, there was a significant interaction between age and orienting task, with old Ss only manifesting incidental learning that was inferior to young Ss, whose orienting task involved semantic processing. The findings indicate that the presence or absence of an age-related decrement in incidental learning is predictable from the depth of processing of the incidentally acquired material. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of number signals on reading and recall.

Examined the influence of number signals (i.e., numbers or number words preceding important textual information) on text recall. 120 undergraduates read and recalled 2 texts containing 10 target sentences each. Reading times were recorded for each target sentence. For half of the Ss, the target sentences were preceded by numbers indicating their organization; for the other half, the target sentences were not signaled. Half of the Ss completed a free-recall task, while the remainder completed a cued-recall task. Results indicate that Ss read target sentences more slowly if they were signaled than if they were unsignaled. Ss' recalls of target information followed the text organization more closely if the sentences were signaled. Signaling aided free recall of target sentences, but had no effect on cued recall. Results demonstrate that number signals directed attention to the sentences they marked, led to better encoding of the organization of target information, and influenced the process of recalling the target information. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategical invariance in lexical access: The reappearance of the pseudohomophone effect.

Examined the relationship between the presence of homophones and the appearance of the pseudohomophone effect, using 26 undergraduates. Ss were exposed to 10 pseudohomonyms, 10 nonwords, and 20 homophonic words or 20 nonhomophonic words in the 1st trial and to 15 pseudohomophones, 15 nonwords, and 30 nonhomophonic words during the 2nd trial. Ss' reaction time (RT) to a lexical decision task was recorded. Ss exposed to homophonic words during the 1st trial showed greater RT for decisions on pseudohomophones (pseudohomophone effect). Results support the conclusion of I. Dennis et al (1985) that the presence of homophones encourages a strategy of lexical decision making that changes the use made of phonological evidence. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in the inhibition of recall as a function of retrieval cues.

Asked 64 Ss from 3 age ranges (18–37, 50–64, and 65–88 yrs) to look at word lists in which the words were either categorized under headings or additionally subcategorized. Ss were then asked to recall the words when (a) the category name was given, or (b) the category name and half of the list words were given. Words recalled decreased with increasing age in all conditions. The youngest age group recalled more words when the category name only was used as a recall cue. There were no significant differences between the 2 recall conditions for the other age groups, suggesting that they were not as susceptible to recall inhibition as the younger adults. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)