Priming in recognition memory for categorized lists.

Previous research on primed recognition of categorized lists has shown 2 discrepant patterns of results. The reasons for that discrepancy are investigated by focusing on the differences between the tasks used to effect priming in the various previous studies. The 1st 2 experiments, with a total of 48 university students, showed that lure processing was facilitated when priming was achieved through another recognition test item, whereas inhibition was obtained if a semantic category judgment task was performed on the priming items. Thus, both patterns could be reproduced under nearly identical circumstances, with the type of prime processing being the only difference. Two additional experiments, with a total of 42 university students, served to generalize the inhibition found in the 2nd experiment to other semantic priming tasks. The type of processing done on the prime determined whether inhibition or facilitation of lure rejection was obtained. Inhibition was obtained when a semantic task was used to prime a recognition judgment, whereas facilitation resulted from priming with an episodic task. The results are interpreted in the framework of the semantic/episodic distinction. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental changes in dichotic listening with categorized word lists.

Two experiments examined the effects of blocking of word lists (grouped by semantic category membership or randomly ordered) on the dichotic listening performances of 48 2nd and 48 5th graders. For Exp I, shadowing and retention scores were obtained for groups of Ss representing the 4 combinations of blocked and random word lists for targets and distractors. Blocking of distractor lists led to better shadowing scores for 2nd graders. When word pairs were matched by categories in Exp II, 2nd graders who heard blocked lists recognized fewer target words (in retention tests) than did those who heard randomly ordered word lists. Results are interpreted in the context of variables that affect the shadowing performances of younger children and developmental differences in encoding strategies. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of cuing on recall from categorized word lists.

Explored the retrieval-deficit hypothesis by comparing free-recall under cued and noncued conditions in 2 groups of 36 5- and 8-yr-olds. On a 16-word list containing either 2, 4, or 8 categories, Ss received 2 trials of noncued recall. The 2nd trial was immediately followed by a test for cued recall. A comparison between cued recall performance and noncued recall performance on Trial 2 indicates that the younger children benefited more than the older children from the cuing procedure. For both age groups, there were effects of cuing on both the number of categories recalled and the number of items per category recalled. Clustering was observed at both age-levels but appeared unrelated to recall performance. Some of the results are discussed in connection with a retrieval deficit hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrieval strategies in recall of natural categories and categorized lists.

Exps I and II, using a total of 192 undergraduates, examined the effect of retrieval strategies on 3 or 12 min of recall from a natural category. Exp III, with 29 undergraduate Ss, examined the effect of strategy on 6 min of recall from a subset of a category presented as a list. In Exps I and II, a large recall deficit was produced by retrieval strategies involving recall in alphabetic order and by size of the words' referents, relative to free recall. In Exp III, 4 strategies—alphabetic, size, serial order, and free recall—gave similar levels of recall after 6 min, though the growth rate of the cumulative output functions differed among the strategies. An extension of the search of associative memory model of J. G. Raaijmakers and R. M. Shiffrin (1980; see also PA, Vol 66:491) was developed to explain these results; the new model postulates attention sharing among probe cues and the use of idiosyncratic strategies for free recall from natural categories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in children's recognition memory for faces.

Tested 108 White, upper-middle-class children at 3 age levels for recognition memory of adult male faces following 3 different orienting activities at encoding. One group received standard intentional learning instructions, another group judged whether each face had a big nose, and a 3rd group judged whether each face appeared "nice." Memory improved with age, and judgments of niceness facilitated memory equally at all ages. The results pose difficulties for A. L. Brown's (1975) model of memory development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in the use of recognition memory rejection mechanisms.

The current experiment examined the use of plausibility judgments by children to reject distractors presented on yes/no recognition memory tests. Participants studied two lists of word pairs that shared either a categorical or rhyme association, which constituted the global nature of the two study conditions. During the recognition memory tests, participants were presented with distractors that were either consistent or inconsistent with the global nature of the study environment. Five-year-old children did not engage in plausibility-based rejections in either the rhyme or category condition, whereas children 7 years of age and older engaged in plausibility-based rejections in the rhyme condition. However, it was not until children were 12 years old that they engaged in plausibility-based rejections in the category condition. Such data demonstrate global gist to be necessary but insufficient for children to reject recognition test items on the basis of their plausibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in attentional allocation during memory search.

Young and older adults performed a memory search task in which, before probe onset, a cue indicated which of 4 memory-set items the probe was most likely to be. Results were consistent with an attentional allocation model in which performance represents a weighted combination, across trials, of focused (i.e., selective) vs distributed attention. The model significantly underestimated the reaction time (RT) required by miscued trials, probably because of the response inhibition occurring on these trials. The degree to which Ss relied on focused attention was significantly greater for older adults than for young adults. The estimated time required to shift attention between memory-set items was equivalent for the 2 age groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in the effects of acoustic similarity on memory span.

Investigated the effects of acoustic similarity on memory span in 112 children ranging in age from 4 to 10 yrs. Ss were asked to recall lists of acoustically similar and dissimilar words. The lists alternated across trials while growing in length. Acoustic similarity had progressively more effect on recall with increasing age. There was a fairly sudden increase in recall of acoustically similar items by the 10-yr-olds, compared to the 9-yr-olds. The implications of this finding for current theories of short-term memory and its development and for the use of acoustic similarity as an indicator of speech coding are discussed. One possible account of the effects of acoustic similarity on recall is that it depends on the occurrence of confusions during rehearsal. The rate of rehearsal in young children may be too slow for significant numbers of confusions to occur and affect recall. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and individual differences in the development of skilled memory search performance.

We examined individual differences in measures of multiple intellectual abilities and performance on a pure memory search task over 5 experimental sessions. Old (n?=?104) and young (n?=?97) participants showed expected patterns of substantial improvement in memory search intercepts and slopes in consistently mapped (CM) conditions, relative to varied mapping (VM) conditions. Initial (unskilled) CM and VM memory search was highly correlated with a Semantic Memory Access Speed factor and moderately correlated with General Intelligence. Structural equation models showed that measures of Semantic Memory Access remained a strong predictor of skilled CM search performance in both age groups despite individual differences in CM memory search performance changes. These results indicate qualitative differences in the nature of automaticity between memory search and visual search and suggest age invariance in the mechanisms determining automaticity in memory search. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in implicit and explicit memory performance

Performance of preschool, elementary school, and college students was compared on a series of perceptual and conceptual implicit and explicit memory tasks that followed perceptual or conceptual processing during study. As expected, performance on the conceptual explicit memory task improved across age groups. In contrast, performance on the perceptual explicit memory task as well as that on both types of implicit memory tasks showed no developmental change. Also, perceptual processing during study led to better memory performance than conceptual processing for both the perceptual implicit and perceptual explicit tasks and conceptual processing during study led to better memory performance on the conceptual explicit memory task. Performance on the conceptual implicit memory task, in contrast, was affected equally by both types of study processing. The results are discussed in terms of transfer-appropriate processing (Roediger & Blaxton, 1987b) and unitization and grouping processes (Graf & Schacter, 1989).     

Developmental differences in episodic retrieval: The role of differences in concept representations in semantic memory.

Developmental differences in the relative salience of features in concept representations in semantic memory and their contributions to differences in cued recall were examined in two experiments. For second graders, fifth graders, and college students, acquisition encoding of cue–target noun pair information was constrained by means of defining-, characteristic-, category-, and incidental-feature orienting questions. At retrieval, the encoding of cue information alone was constrained (Experiment 1) within subjects by means of the same (e.g., defining at acquisition and defining at retrieval) or related (e.g., defining at acquisition and characteristic at retrieval) retrieval questions or was unconstrained (Experiment 2). In both experiments, the acquisition presentation duration was manipulated (1 s or 5 s) in order to examine the spread of feature activation within concepts. The results showed that recall varied with feature salience, with the salience greatest for defining features. In addition, the results suggested that the relative salience of defining features was at least as great for the children as for the adults. The results offer no support for Keil and Batterman's (1984) hypothesis of a shift from characteristic to defining features in the development of word meaning representation in memory. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gist memory in Alzheimer's disease: Evidence from categorized pictures.

The authors investigated gist memory (the general meaning, idea, or gist conveyed by a collection of items) for categorized color photographs in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) using an experimental paradigm in which participants are instructed to respond "yes" when a test item fits with a previously studied category, regardless of whether the specific item was actually studied. Compared with controls, the patients endorsed fewer studied items and similar numbers of nonstudied lure items. After the authors corrected for the baseline false-alarm rate, the patients showed a lower level of endorsements for nonstudied lure items compared with that of controls, suggesting that their gist memory is impaired. Implications of these findings for understanding gist memory and response bias in patients with AD are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

No age differences in complex memory search: Older adults search as efficiently as younger adults.

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated age differences in memory search under 4 conditions: forward search, backward search, random search, and fixed irregular search. Both search slopes and serial position curves were investigated. Mixing conditions led to smaller age differences than blocking conditions, suggesting that younger adults have an advantage over older adults when strategies can be applied to memory scanning. All age differences in scanning rates, however, disappeared when age differences in a magnitude-judgment control task were controlled for, showing that age differences in memory scanning tasks are not because of the scanning process per se, but because of attention, sensorimotor speed, and decision processes. In both experiments, the serial position curves of older adults echoed those of younger adults closely, demonstrating that younger and older adults use the same scanning processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical memory in poor and normal readers: Developmental differences in the use of category cues.

Examined whether differences between poor and normal reading children on lexical memory tasks may be attributed to semantic development, using 80 2nd and 6th graders. Ss were presented with 4 lists of taxonomic categories and were asked to recall items under (a) noncued and random conditions, with Ss instructed to recall as many items as possible and (b) cued and blocked conditions, with Ss told to recall items in a category. All Ss performed better with category cues. Group differences on category recall were more reliable at Grade 6, suggesting that facility in accessing taxonomic categories may differentiate poor and normal readers more reliably at older age levels. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of spacing on memory for homogeneous lists.

The spacing effect refers to the advantage in memory for information repeated at separate points of time over information repeated in massed fashion. Three experiments showed that no spacing effect was found in free recall of lists containing items of high interstimulus semantic similarity. However, spacing effects were found when recognition or frequency-discrimination tests were given on these materials. The results support the hypothesis that several distinct processes underlie the spacing effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in the attribution of responsibility.

Investigated possible developmental differences in attributions of responsibility and causality for an interpersonal event. The procedure involved 240 male and female students from Grades 1, 3, 6, 8, and 65 college students watching videotaped scenes of a young female actress breaking a chair. Each S saw one scene from a set of 5 scenes, designed to represent F. Heider's (1958) levels of increasingly internal causation. After viewing the videotaped scene, each S was asked to make attributions of causality and "naughtiness" to the chair breaker. It was predicted that overall, Ss' attributions would show effects for Ss' grade, the level of the videotaped event, and the interaction of these 2 factors. These 3 effects were significant for the measure of causality, while for the measure of moral attribution, the 2 main effects were significant and the interaction approached significance (p?     

Developmental differences in study behavior.

This study is a developmental examination of strategy instruction and the context that promotes when and how strategy instruction is maximized. The 4 experimental manipulations included comparisons between 2 strategy conditions, familiar and unfamiliar text, dyad versus individual study, and 4 age groups (M?=?10.5, 14.7, 19.9, and 21.9 yrs). The 486 students from Grades 5–6, and 9–10 and 1st- and 4th-yr university were assigned randomly to 1 strategy condition (self-study or elaborative interrogation) and 1 study context (dyad or individual). Participants studied and recalled 60 facts about familiar and unfamiliar animals. Explicit instruction in elaborative interrogation promoted memory performance, especially in the younger population. Studying in dyads enhanced memory and quality of study across age. To enhance text learning performance, students should be given explicit strategy instruction and should study interactively with their peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal and spatial working memory in school-age children: Developmental differences in susceptibility to interference.

The development of verbal and spatial working memory was investigated with an interference paradigm. Memory spans were obtained from 3 groups (8-, 10-, and 19-yr olds) under 6 different conditions: Two primary memory tasks (1 verbal, 1 spatial) were administered in isolation and in conjunction with 2 versions of a secondary task. The primary tasks required recalling a series of visually presented digits and recalling the locations of Xs in a series of visually presented grids. The secondary tasks required reporting the color of the stimuli as they were presented using either a verbal or a spatial response. Analyses revealed that all age groups showed domain-specific interference (i.e., interference by a secondary task from the same domain as the primary task), but only the 8-yr-olds also showed nonspecific interference (i.e., interference by a secondary task from a domain different than the primary memory task), suggesting that at least some executive functions do not reach adult levels of efficiency until approximately age 10. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in the suppressive effects of punishment.

Used 3 levels of shock intensity (1, 2, or 3 ma.), 3 test delay periods (0, 5, or 25 days), and 25- and 100-day-old male Long-Evans hooded rats (N = 104) in a study of developmental differences in recovery from the suppressive effects of punishment. The apparatus was a Y maze with 3 discriminably different arms. After 10-14 sessions of positive reinforcement, Ss were shocked for 2 sessions each time they responded in 1 arm. Following these shock sessions, a delay was given prior to the recovery sessions. Results from the shock days indicate that the number of shocks to suppression was a function of age, intensity, and shock days. The recovery data showed that (a) recovery was an inverse function of intensity, (b) the suppressive effects of punishment were much greater for the adults than the infants at all intensities, and (c) recovery was not a function of delay periods. Results support the hypothesis that younger organisms have greater difficulty than older ones in inhibiting a response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental changes in the time-dependent nature of memory retrieval.

Six-month-old infants trained in an operant conditioning procedure were allowed to forget the contingency and were presented with a reminder in a memory-reactivation paradigm. The time course of memory retrieval after the reminder, the relation between the forgetting functions of the newly acquired and the reactivated memory, and the potential contribution of the context to retention after long delays were investigated. Memory retrieval was found to be a time-locked process at 6 months, as at 3 months. Although retrieval was more rapid at the older age, the reactivated memory was more transient than the newly acquired memory at 6 months and remained accessible for a briefer period than at 3 months. A distinctive context was requisite for memory reactivation at 6 months but did not insure it. These studies reveal that the temporal parameters of memory processing change with age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)