Bilingual dual-coding theory and semantic repetition effects on recall.

A bilingual version of dual-coding theory was tested with French-English bilinguals who free recalled lists of concrete and abstract words repeated at different interitem lags. Repetitions involved the same words, translation equivalents, or same-language synonyms. The results extended previous findings and generally supported predictions from dual-coding theory and the independence storage hypothesis of bilingual memory: (a) Relative to single words, semantic repetitions (translations and synonyms) had additive effects on type recall even at short lags, whereas identical repetitions were less than additive at zero lag; (b) recall of identical repetitions increased more with lag than recall of semantic repetitions, so that differences between these conditions were diminished and sometimes reversed; (c) semantic repetition effects were weaker for synonyms than for translations, especially for abstract words; and (d) intrusion errors and pair recall were higher for translations than for synonyms, especially for concrete words at long lags. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concreteness effects in semantic processing: ERP evidence supporting dual-coding theory.

Dual-coding theory argues that processing advantages for concrete over abstract (verbal) stimuli result from the operation of 2 systems (i.e., imaginal and verbal) for concrete stimuli, rather than just 1 (for abstract stimuli). These verbal and imaginal systems have been linked with the left and right hemispheres of the brain, respectively. Context-availability theory argues that concreteness effects result from processing differences in a single system. The merits of these theories were investigated by examining the topographic distribution of event-related potentials (ERPs) in 2 experiments (lexical decision and concrete-abstract classification). The results were most consistent with dual-coding theory. In particular, different scalp distributions of an N400-like negativity were elicited by concrete and abstract words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generation effects in free recall: Further support for a three-factor theory.

A framework is presented that helps explain and predict generation effects in free recall (for between-Ss manipulations of generating vs reading). When the targets share common features and when that shared information is salient to Ss, Ss will exploit that information to help generate the target items. This produces more relational processing among the targets (relative to reading), enhancing free recall. Consistent with this idea, when shared information (among targets) was salient, generation effects in free recall were found under encoding conditions that can disrupt generation effects in cued recall (e.g., pairing targets with unrelated cues). Further, within the same list, generation effects emerged in free recall for targets that were processed after shared information became evident but not for targets processed prior to the availability of the shared information. In recognition, generation effects were found for targets regardless of when they were processed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concreteness and item-to-list context associations in the free recall of items differing in context variability.

Context variability can be defined as the number of preexperimental contexts in which a given concept appears. Following M. Steyvers and K. J. Malmberg's (2003) work, the authors have shown that concepts that are experienced in fewer preexperimental contexts generally are better remembered in episodic memory tasks than concepts that are experienced in a greater number of preexperimental contexts. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that low context variability confers its memorial advantage because of stronger item-to-list context associations as compared with high context variability. Three experiments that use environmental context changes from study to test demonstrate that the low context variability advantage is eliminated when item-to-list context associations are not available because of environmental changes at test. In addition, the low context variability advantage is eliminated when inward processing at study prevents the formation of item-to-list context associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concrete words are easier to recall than abstract words: Evidence for a semantic contribution to short-term serial recall.

Immediate serial recall and maximal speech rate were assessed for concrete and abstract words differing in length. Experiment 1 showed large advantages for spoken recall of concrete words that were independent of speech rate. Experiment 2 showed an equivalent effect with written, rather than spoken, recall. Experiment 3 showed that the concreteness effect was still present when recall was backward rather than forward. In all 3 experiments, concrete words enjoyed an advantage that was roughly constant across all serial positions (with the possible exception of the 1st and last items). Experiment 4 used a matching-span procedure and showed that when there was no requirement for linguistic output, the effect of concreteness (but not the effect of word length) was eliminated. It is argued that semantic coding exerts powerful effects in verbal short-term memory tasks that have generally been underestimated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sources of recency effects in free recall.

Discusses evidence casting doubt on the primary-memory account of the recency effect in recall and reviews an alternate account that attributes recency to the use of temporal or contextual cues. The discussion is presented in the paradigm of free recall. The recency effect refers to the fact that when people memorize a list of words, they tend to recall items at the end of the list more often than those in the middle. Recency effects have often been attributed to output from primary memory, a short-term memory buffer system. Evidence that recency effects can be found in the absence of primary memory (in conditions of concurrent distraction, multicategory lists, interactions of other independent variables with serial position, negative recency effects, and auditory recency) is reviewed. It is concluded that primary-memory theories are no longer adequate accounts for the recency effect. A temporal-contextual theory of the recency effect is discussed as a plausible alternative account, although these accounts are not fully developed or tested. (108 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contextual variability and serial position effects in free recall.

In immediate free recall, words recalled successively tend to come from nearby serial positions. M. J. Kahana (see record 1996-93836-009) documented this effect and showed that this tendency, which the authors refer to as the lag recency effect, is well described by a variant of the search of associative memory (SAM) model (J. G. W. Raaijmakers & R. M. Shiffrin, 1980, 1981). In 2 experiments, participants performed immediate, delayed, and continuous distractor free recall under conditions designed to minimize rehearsal. The lag recency effect, previously observed in immediate free recall, was also observed in delayed and continuous distractor free recall. Although two-store memory models, such as SAM, readily account for the end-of-list recency effect in immediate free recall, and its attenuation in delayed free recall, these models fail to account for the long-term recency effect. By means of analytic simulations, the authors show that both the end of list recency effect and the lag recency effect, across all distractor conditions, can be explained by a single-store model in which context, retrieved with each recalled item, serves as a cue for subsequent recalls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Level of processing, type of processing, and the repetition effect in free recall.

Conducted 2 experiments, involving 45 high school and 60 college students, on the possibility that the effect of repetition on the long-term retention of common nouns depends upon the form of study being used. In Exp I, 3 levels of processing were combined factorially with 3 degrees of repetition in an incidental-learning task. Results indicate that semantic processing yields a larger repetition effect than "minimal" structural processing. Exp II, which entailed the factorial crossing of level of processing with type of processing, also showed that level of processing interacts with repetition to determine long-term retention. Type of processing, however, failed to have any effect. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Isolation effects, free recall, and organization.

Studied the influence of isolated words upon free recall and clustering of categorized lists. For Exp. I with 104 undergraduates, the list contained 10 words from each of 4 conceptual categories and the category names, and for Exp. II with 96 Ss, 11 members of 4 categories and no names. Category members were presented in blocked or random order for 4 presentation-recall periods. Isolation effects occurred for random presentation with either category names or members as isolates. The superior recall of isolates was at the expense of other words in the list. Clustering of the categories with an isolate or for the over-all list was not affected by isolates, indicating that they did not influence the organization of the lists. Recall and clustering with block presentation were superior to random presentation. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unmixing effects of spacing on free recall.

In 3 unmixed-list free-recall experiments, total recall was as high for lists that contained massed repetitions as for those containing spaced repetitions. This finding and differences between spaced and massed lists in the pattern of recall (notably serial position differences) indicate that displaced rehearsal (review of earlier list items) was more prevalent during study of the massed lists. These results imply that displaced rehearsal has a large role in producing the free-recall advantage typically observed for spaced compared with massed items in mixed lists and that unmixed-list designs generally are to be preferred for spacing experiments. They also imply that intentional free-recall experiments are not instructive concerning effects of spaced vs massed study, because rehearsal strategies for free recall result in the spaced study of massed items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increased semantic and repetition priming in schizophrenic patients.

Positive and negative priming (PP and NP) in schizophrenia were studied with a lexical-decision task. Probe words, presented 800 ms after the response to the prime (containing a word and a nonword), were either identical to, semantically related to, or unrelated to the prime target word (PP) or to the prime distractor word (NP). Schizophrenic patients displayed stronger semantic and repetition PP than controls after controlling for their slower responses. Significant NP was observed in both groups for word repetition only. The PP findings contrast with results from studies with similar prime-probe intervals but without prime responses. It is proposed that schizophrenic patients, because of impaired (controlled) processes of response selection, strongly benefit from (or rely on) the automatic retrieval of processing episodes containing response information. Related findings indicating automatic response facilitation in schizophrenia are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age dissociates recency and lag recency effects in free recall.

The temporal relations among word-list items exert a powerful influence on episodic memory retrieval. Two experiments were conducted with younger and older adults in which the age-related recall deficit was examined by using a decomposition method to the serial position curve, partitioning performance into (a) the probability of first recall, illustrating the recency effect, and (b) the conditional response probability, illustrating the lag recency effect (M. W. Howard & M. J. Kahana, 1999). Although the older adults initiated recall in the same manner in both immediate and delayed free recall, temporal proximity of study items (contiguity) exerted a much weaker influence on recall transitions in older adults. This finding suggests that an associative deficit may be an important contributor to older adults' well-known impairment in free recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interresponse times in serial recall: Effects of intraserial repetition.

The authors examined the effects of intraserial repetition on multitrial serial learning of random consonant lists, analyzing both learning rates and perfect trial interresponse times (IRTs). Lists varied along 3 dimensions: list length, presence or absence of a repeated element, and lag between repeated elements. After achieving a forward-recall criterion on a given list, participants (N?=?20) attempted backward recall. At small lags, IRTs between the repeated elements were very short (compared with IRTs from identical positions in nonrepetition lists). At larger lags, the IRT to recall the second repeated item was substantially longer than in control lists. These results reveal a latency analogue of the Ranschburg pattern seen in accuracy data. A Ranschburg pattern was also found in participants' learning rates. These results both generalize the Ranschburg phenomenon and present further challenges to theories of serial order memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An ecological theory of expertise effects in memory recall.

Previous research has shown a significant correlation between domain expertise and memory recall performance after a very brief exposure time. Despite the large number of such studies, several findings in the literature have no satisfactory theoretical explanation. A novel theory based on an ecological approach is proposed to explain these results. This constraint attunement hypothesis provides a framework for identifying and representing the various levels of goal-relevant constraint in a domain. The theory predicts that there will be a memory expertise advantage in cases in which experts are attuned to the goal-relevant constraints in the material to be recalled and that the more constraint available, the greater the expertise advantage can be. The theory explains a number of diverse empirical findings in the literature in a coherent, unique, and parsimonious fashion and suggests a number of promising issues for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Orthography and phonology in lexical decision: Evidence from repetition effects at different lags.

Full- and partial- (orthographic or phonemic) repetition effects for Hebrew voweled and unvoweled words and nonwords were examined at Lags 0 and 15 between the first and the second presentations. For voweled words, phonemic and orthographic partial-repetition effects were equivalent at Lag 0, each about half the size of the full-repetition effect. At Lag 15, the full-repetition effect was reduced to the size of phonemic repetition, which was as big as it was at Lag 0. In contrast, the orthographic repetition effect disappeared. For unvoweled words, the phonemic repetition effect was significant only at Lag 0, whereas the full-repetition effect was significant at both lags. Lexical decisions for both voweled and unvoweled nonwords were facilitated only by full repetition at Lag 0. It was concluded that addition of vowel marks attracted the subjects' attention and, therefore, lexical decisions for voweled stimuli were mediated by phonemic analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The spacing effect, free recall, and two-process theory: A closer look.

Two experiments used procedures similar to those used by R. L. Greene (see record 1989-24870-001) to test the 2-process theory of the spacing effect and, in particular, the contextual-variability subtheory that applies to free-recall performance. Experiment 1 obtained a spacing effect in free recall following intentional learning but not following incidental learning, contrary to a previous result supporting the 2-process theory. Experiment 2 replicated the incidental-learning results when a slow presentation rate was used. However, with a faster presentation rate, a spacing effect was obtained, and performance exceeded that of the slow-presentation-rate condition at the longest tag. Neither the contextual-variability subtheory of 2-process theory nor an alternative deficient-processing hypothesis was able to account for all of the data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clustering and organization in free recall.

Evaluated various indexes developed to measure clustering and subjective organization and presents 2 intercorrelation matrices among clustering measures and the number of words recalled. The existence of a large negative bias in the correlation between the ratio of repetition measure and theoretical recall was demonstrated. Various issues which have developed from the study of organization in free recall are discussed. (3 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence for semantic satiation: Repeating a category slows subsequent semantic processing.

Ss repeated a visually presented category word 3 or 30 times and then performed a category matching or category membership task. Performance on items from the repeated category was slower following 30 repetitions, even when the repeated category was irrelevant. Repetition also decreased the effect of an irrelevant word flanking the target when the flanker was a member of the repeated category. Prolonged repetition of a word results in the subjective experience of loss of meaning, or semantic satiation. The authors' chronometric studies suggest that this phenomenological effect may be mediated by fatigue or adaptation of the mental structures or psychological pathways that underlie the representation of meaning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: The effects of list length and output order.

In 4 experiments, participants were presented with lists of between 1 and 15 words for tests of immediate memory. For all tasks, participants tended to initiate recall with the first word on the list for short lists. As the list length was increased, so there was a decreased tendency to start with the first list item; and, when free to do so, participants showed an increased tendency to start with one of the last 4 list items. In all tasks, the start position strongly influenced the shape of the resultant serial position curves: When recall started at Serial Position 1, elevated recall of early list items was observed; when recall started toward the end of the list, there were extended recency effects. These results occurred under immediate free recall (IFR) and different variants of immediate serial recall (ISR) and reconstruction of order (RoO) tasks. We argue that these findings have implications for the relationship between IFR and ISR and between rehearsal and recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)