Interpreting the influence of implicitly activated memories on recall and recognition.

A model concerning the influence of implicitly activated information on cued recall and recognition is presented. The model assumes that studying a familiar word activates its associates and creates an implicit representation in long-term working memory. Test cues also activate their associates, with memory performance determined by a sampling process that operates on the intersection of information activated by the test cue with information previously activated by the studied word. Successful sampling is enhanced by preexisting connections among the associates of the studied word and by preexisting connections between it and the retrieval cue. However, the usefulness of the implicit representation is reduced by the activation of competing associates and by shifts of attention before testing. Experiments designed to test predictions of the model indicate that the associates of a familiar word can exert a powerful effect on its cued recall and recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing word fragment completion and cued recall with letter cues.

Cued recall with word stems as cues and fragment completion rely on different types of letter cues and also differ in the explicit–implicit nature of the retrieval orientation. Despite these differences, variables effective in one task may be effective in the other because both rely on letter cues. Two variables known to affect cued recall were manipulated: Lexical set size (number of words that fit the letter cue) and meaning set size (number of associates generated to the studied words). Across four experiments, subjects in each task were less likely to recover targets from larger lexical sets. However, meaning set size affected cued recall but not fragment completion. These results indicate that fragment completion and letter-cued recall are based on lexical search but that cued recall also involves a semantic search component. Furthermore, type of retrieval cue had a greater effect than type of retrieval orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociative effect of massed repetition on implicit and explicit measures of memory.

Ss saw or heard words presented once, or repeated 4 or 16 times in massed fashion, and then received an implicit or explicit memory test. Massed repetition did not increase priming on word fragment completion beyond that obtained from a single presentation but did enhance performance on various explicit tests (free recall, recognition, question cued recall, and word fragment cued recall) and an implicit general knowledge test. Modality of presentation affected implicit and explicit word fragment cued tests but did not affect performance on any of the other tests. Levels of processing affected performance on implicit and explicit question cued tests. These results are consistent with a transfer appropriate processing account of dissociations among memory measures and imply that massed repetition promotes conceptual processing but does not entail a repetition of perceptual-based processes responsible for priming on word fragment completion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit memory: Effects of network size and interconnectivity on cued recall.

Previous findings have indicated that the recall of a recently studied word is affected by how many associates it has in long-term memory (set size). The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether recall is also affected by the connectivity of these associates. Studied words were preselected to represent combinations of set size and connectivity and, in different experiments, recall was cued with extralist or intralist cues and with cues sharing few or many associates with the studied words. Effects of study time, encoding context, and levels of processing were also investigated. The results indicated that recall was more likely for words with smaller associative sets and for words with more interconnected sets of associates. These findings demonstrate that the recall of a recently presented word in the presence of a retrieval cue is affected by both the size and organization of its implicitly activated associative structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age effects in cued recall: Sources from implicit and explicit memory.

In 2 experiments, young and old adults were compared on cued recall using direct and indirect test instructions. Participants studied words under an incidental orienting task of rating each word for concreteness. Test cues were meaningfully related to the targets, and participants used them either to recall the studied word (direct test) or to generate a related word (indirect test). Target words and test cues varied in the number of associates linked to them prior to the laboratory experience, and effects of the size of the sets of associates were used as indicators of implicit memory search. Age differences were observed in the effects of target and cue set size as well as in the effects of type of test instruction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spreading activation or spooky action at a distance?

How do preexisting connections among a word's associates facilitate its cued recall and recognition? A spreading-activation model assumes activation spreads to, among, and from a studied word's associates, and that its return is what strengthens its representation. An activation-at-a-distance model assumes strengthening is produced by the synchronous activation of the word's associates. The spread model predicts that connections among the studied word's associates will have a greater effect on memory when more of its associates return activation. The distance model predicts that total connections are important, not their direction. The results of cued recall experiments supported the distance model in showing that that connections among the associates facilitated recall regardless of the number of returning connections. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encoding context and retrieval conditions as determinants of the effects of natural category size.

Studying a familiar word activates its associates in long-term memory. In the present experiments we manipulated the number of associates activated by words studied in the presence of unrelated context words, meaningfully related context words, or in the absence of modifying context words. Memory was tested by either cued or free recall. The results showed that the number of directly activated associates can facilitate, have no effect, or disrupt recall for studied words. The direction and magnitude of the effects of number of activated associates is shown to be determined by the encoding/retrieval context. Implications for the distinction between episodic and semantic memory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impaired Implicit Memory for Gist Information in Amnesia.

In 2 experiments using a converging associates paradigm, the authors evaluated implicit memory for gist information in amnesic patients. In Experiment 1, participants saw multiple sets of associates, each converging on a nonpresented theme word, and were then tested using an implicit word stem completion test and an explicit cued recall test. Amnesic patients showed intact implicit and impaired explicit memory for studied words, but memory for nonpresented lures was impaired, regardless of retrieval instructions. To evaluate whether impaired implicit memory for lures was due to accelerated forgetting of gist information, short study lists were used in Experiment 2, each consisting of a single set of associates. Amnesics' implicit memory for lures was again impaired. These results point to an inability to encode robust gist representations as the cause of impaired gist memory in amnesia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cued recall from image and sentence memory: A shift from episodic to identical elements representation.

The applicability of the identical elements (IE) model of arithmetic fact retrieval (T. C. Rickard, A. F. Healy, & L. E. Bourne, 1994) to cued recall from episodic (image and sentence) memory was explored in 3 transfer experiments. In agreement with results from arithmetic, speedup following even minimal practice recalling a missing word from an episodically bound word triplet did not transfer positively to other cued recall items involving the same triplet. The shape of the learning curve further supported a shift from episode-based to IE-based recall, extending some models of skill learning to cued recall practice. In contrast with previous findings, these results indicate that a form of representation that is independent of the original episodic memory underlies cued-recall performance following minimal practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inferences about predictable events.

Conducted 4 experiments with 168 undergraduates to examine the conditions under which readers appear to infer predictable outcomes. Three retrieval paradigms were used: immediate recognition test, cued recall, and priming in word recognition. Findings indicate that on immediate test, responses to a word representing the implicit outcome were slow, but on delayed test these responses were slow or inaccurate only when primed by an explicitly stated word. However, the word expressing the predictable outcome did function as an effective recall cue. It is concluded that readers encode inferences about predictable outcomes into memory only minimally but that they can make use of a cue word that represents the inference both at the time of an immediate test and in delayed cued recall. (22 ref) (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)     

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)     

Conjunction errors, recollection-based rejections, and forgetting in a continuous recognition task.

Six experiments investigated conjunction memory errors (e.g., falsely remembering blackbird after studying parent words blackmail and jailbird) in a continuous recognition procedure with a parent-conjunction lag manipulation. In 4 experiments (1A, 1B, 2A, and 2B) "recollect" judgments, which indexed recall of parent words, showed that participants can use recollection to prevent conjunction errors. "Recollect" judgments, as well as overt recall of parent words (in Experiments 2A and 2B), dropped sharply from a lag of 0 to 1 word, then stabilized from a lag of 1 to 20 words. Thus, the "recollect" responses and overt recall demonstrate a step function of forgetting over short intervals. These data generalized to cued recall in Experiments 3A and 3B with the first morpheme (e.g., black) as the cue, though recall conjunction errors occurred infrequently relative to recognition conjunction errors. Overall, the results support the idea that automatic and controlled processes contribute to memory performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Different ways to cue a coherent memory system: A theory for episodic, semantic, and procedural tasks.

An associative theory of human memory is proposed, which serves as a counterexample to claims that disassociations between episodic, semantic, and procedural memory tasks necessitate separate memory systems. The theory is based on task analyses of matching (recognition and familiarity judgments), retrieval (cued recall with list associates, extralist associates, and part-word cues), and production (producing the first word that comes to mind). These analyses are then embedded in a distributed storage model, and it is shown how proactive interference from old memories can be largely eliminated by combining cue strengths interactively at study and test. A distinction between modality-specific and more central, modality independent, memory codes is also introduced. The model is extended to the performance of amnesic patients, and the general approach to human memory is then evaluated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rate of forgetting in amnesia: II. Recall and recognition of word lists at different levels of organization.

Amnesic rate of decline of free recall, cued recall, and recognition of word lists with different levels of organization was investigated in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, it was found that amnesic free recall of semantically related word lists declined at an accelerated rate, whereas free recall of lists of unrelated words declined at a normal rate. Cued recall and recognition performance of both kinds of word lists appeared to decline at a normal rate. In Experiment 2, the results of the free-recall and recognition conditions were replicated using an improved experimental design. The observed amnesic forgetting pattern is interpreted as arising from an impairment in consolidation of long-term memory for complex associations between 2 or more items and their study context that is caused by extended hippocampal system lesions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists.

Two experiments (modeled after J. Deese's 1959 study) revealed remarkable levels of false recall and false recognition in a list learning paradigm. In Exp 1, Ss studied lists of 12 words (e.g., bed, rest, awake); each list was composed of associates of 1 nonpresented word (e.g., sleep). On immediate free recall tests, the nonpresented associates were recalled 40% of the time and were later recognized with high confidence. In Exp 2, a false recall rate of 55% was obtained with an expanded set of lists, and on a later recognition test, Ss produced false alarms to these items at a rate comparable to the hit rate. The act of recall enhanced later remembering of both studied and nonstudied material. The results reveal a powerful illusion of memory: People remember events that never happened. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concreteness of relational effects on recall of adjective–noun pairs.

Studied the effects of concreteness and relatedness of adjective–noun pairs on free recall, cued recall, and memory integration. The authors report on 2 experiments in which Ss read phrases or sentences containing adjective–noun pairs that vary in rated concreteness and intrapair relatedness. In Exp 1 normative ratings on imagery and relatedness were provided by 23 graduate and 20 undergraduate students. 64 undergraduates participated in the memory experiment. Exp 2 extended Exp 1 by using complete sentences rather than adjective–noun word pairs. 72 undergraduates volunteered to participate in the memory experiment and a separate group of 14 volunteered to participate in a sentence rating task. Consistent with predictions from dual coding theory and prior results with noun–noun pairs, both experiments showed that the effects of concreteness were strong and independent of relatedness in free recall and cued recall. The 2 attributes also had independent (additive) effects on integrative memory as measured by conditionalized free recall of pairs. Integration as measured by the increment from free to cued recall occurred consistently only when pairs were high in both concreteness and relatedness. Relatedness, adjective imagery, and noun imagery ratings, along with word frequencies for adjectives and nouns, and sentences with relatedness ratings are appended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delaying students' metacognitive monitoring improves their accuracy in predicting their recognition performance.

The accuracy of students' judgments of learning (JOLs) in predicting recognition vs recall was investigated in 4 experiments. Students studied paired associates and made JOLs, which occurred either immediately after an item had been studied or shortly after an item had been studied. Students then received tests of associative recognition or paired-associate recall. JOL accuracy was greater for delayed JOLs than immediate JOLs, and the accuracy of JOLs was lower in predicting recognition than recall. The latter finding occurred (1) regardless of whether students had anticipated a recall test or a recognition test when making JOLs and (2) regardless of whether JOLs had been cued by only the stimulus of an item or by the entire stimulus-response pair. Correct guessing was shown to contribute to the lower accuracy of students' predictions of recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are you sure you forgot? Feeling of knowing in directed forgetting.

One significant issue in metamemory is how variables increasing memorability affect metamemory. Previous research has produced inconsistent results. The effect of directed forgetting on the magnitude and accuracy of feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments was investigated. Participants were presented with word pairs, some to be remembered and some to be forgotten, and then were asked to recall all target words regardless of initial instructions. For unrecalled items, they were asked to give FOK judgments about performance in a future memory task: a cued stem-completion task (Experiment 1) or a recognition test (Experiment 2). This encoding manipulation increased both the memory performance and the magnitude of FOK judgments. However, no such effect on the accuracy of FOK judgments was observed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recollection-based prospective metamemory judgments are more accurate than those based on confidence: Judgments of remembering and knowing (JORKS).

Five experiments were conducted to examine whether the nature of the information that is monitored during prospective metamemory judgments affected the relative accuracy of those judgments. We compared item-by-item judgments of learning (JOLs), which involved participants determining how confident they were that they would remember studied items, with judgments of remembering and knowing (JORKs), which involved participants determining whether studied items would later be accompanied by contextual details (i.e., remembering) or would not (i.e., knowing). JORKs were more accurate than JOLs when remember–know or confidence judgments were made at test and when cued recall was the outcome measure, but not for yes–no recognition. We conclude that the accuracy of metamemory judgments depends on the nature of the information monitored during study and test and that metamemory monitoring can be improved if participants are asked to base their judgments on contextual details rather than on confidence. These data support the contention that metamemory decisions can be based on qualitatively distinct cues, rather than an overall memory strength signal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)