Remembering the location and content of sentences in a prose passage.

Two experiments, with 16 college students, examined how people remember the location of a sentence in a passage and how they make use of the locative information in retrieving content information. Ss read a passage and were questioned about the content or the location of certain items in the passage. Performance was measured by monitoring response latencies and eye fixations. Exp I showed that Ss barely retain or use any locative information from disorganized passages that they memorize. In contrast, Exp II showed that Ss do retain and make use of locative information for both organized and disorganized passages if the passage is in view at the time they are answering the questions. Apparently the locative information provides an index to the spatial distribution of sentences in the passage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stored and encountered seeds: A comparison of two spatial memory tasks in marsh tits and chickadees.

Tested food-storing birds in 2 spatial memory tasks involving retrieval of stored seeds and retrieval of items encountered while searching. In Exp I, 4 wild-caught marsh tits (Parus palustris) were equally good, after a 2-hr retention interval, at retrieving stored items and items they had encountered while looking for storage sites. Retrieval of encountered seeds did not depend on retracing a route. In Exp II, 3 black-capped chickadees (Parus atricapillus) retrieved seeds 2 hrs after storing them or after "window-shopping." In window-shopping, the Ss encountered seeds behind small plastic windows; during retrieval, the windows were opened. Window-shopped seeds were retrieved above chance level but slightly less well than stored seeds. In this experiment the Ss seemed to rely in part on retracing a route. In Exp III, chickadees (2 from Exp II) were allowed to eat a small piece of seed by each window-shopped item, but this did not improve window-shopping retrieval performance. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrieval of item and category information: Evidence for an interactive model.

When more than one retrieval cue is available, the cues may combine their effects independently or interactively and facilitate the retrieval process. The predictions of 2 versions of an independent model and 1 interactive model were tested in a situation that required the retrieval of item and category information. Ss were 72 undergraduates. In Exp I, the 2 sources of information were redundant in that the retrieval of either item or category information was sufficient to determine the correct response. In Exp II, item and category information were not redundant, and the evaluation of both types of information was necessary. Results favor the interactive model of retrieval. When presented with a test item, Ss attempted to retrieve both semantic category and item information, and partial information about either was used to aid retrieval of the other. (French abstract) (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Orienting attention within visual fields: How efficient is interhemispheric transfer?

Five experiments, with 54 undergraduates, examined the effect of attentional orienting on lexical decisions within visual half-fields. In Exp I, following assessment of baseline performance, Ss were instructed to improve performance to the right or left of the fixation point. In Exp II, trials were run in blocks with all items to 1 side of the fixation point. In Exp III, completely valid position indicators as to the location of the next item to be shown were presented prior to the stimulus item. In Exp IV, to examine practice effects, no instructions or cuing were given to Ss. In Exp V, Ss were urged to improve performance, but with no instructions as to location. Findings show that consistent visual field differences in lexical decision performance were present even when Ss were informed of the spatial location of the next stimulus item and that lexical decision information initially input to 1 cerebral hemisphere was primarily processed in that hemisphere. Interhemispheric transfer of this type of language information seems to be done primarily as the end product of a cognitive process. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Episodic encoding of voice attributes and recognition memory for spoken words.

Recognition memory for spoken words was investigated with a continuous recognition memory task. Independent variables were number of intervening words (lag) between initial and subsequent presentations of a word, total number of talkers in the stimulus set, and whether words were repeated in the same voice or a different voice. In Exp 1, recognition judgments were based on word identity alone. Same-voice repetitions were recognized more quickly and accurately than different-voice repetitions at all values of lag and at all levels of talker variability. In Exp 2, recognition judgments were based on both word identity and voice identity. Ss recognized repeated voices quite accurately. Gender of the talker affected voice recognition but not item recognition. These results suggest that detailed information about a talker's voice is retained in long-term memory representations of spoken words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of purpose in the organization of information about behavior: Trait-based versus goal-based categories in person cognition.

Three experiments with 120 college students investigated (a) the role of observational purpose in the tendency to employ trait or goal categories in the organization of behavioral information and (b) the effects of goal-based vs trait-based organization of the information on Ss' ability to recall it. Exp I showed that Ss reading and categorizing a series of episodes for the purpose of recalling either the material or empathizing with the main character organized the episodes primarily in terms of the character's goals. In contrast, Ss whose purpose was either to form a personality impression of the character or to predict her future behavior organized the episodes primarily in terms of her traits. Exp II demonstrated that the categorizations produced by recall-oriented Ss in Exp I facilitated the ability of a new sample of Ss to remember the episodes, relative to the categorizations produced by impression-oriented or control Ss. Exp II provided evidence that the relatively goal-based structure of the recall-oriented categories probably mediated the effects observed in Exp II. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Person memory and causal attributions.

Three experiments with 273 college students were conducted to reconcile the apparent contradiction between the well-established finding that initial impressions are resistant to incongruent (ICG) information and the finding that information ICG with an impression is particularly likely to be recalled. Using a procedure similar to that of R. Hastie and P. A. Kumar (1979), a situational or dispositional attribution was provided for a target item, which was either congruent (CG) or ICG with an initial impression. The ICG item was more likely than the CG item to be recalled only when attributed to dispositional causes (Exp I). The congruence of the target had greater impact on impressions when attributed to dispositional causes, particularly when Ss were given little other information about the target (Exps I and II). Exp III revealed that Ss preferred situational attributions for ICG items and dispositional attributions for CG. The authors conclude that Hastie and Kumar's findings may be limited to conditions in which situational attributions for TCG information are not provided. Possible mediators of the effects of causal attributions on recall, and the relation between recall and impressions are discussed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How level of processing really influences awareness in recognition memory.

Examined the effect of level of processing on awareness in recognition memory, in 3 experiments. In yes/no and 2-alternative forced-choice recognition tests, 64 young adults in UK reported 1 of 3 states of awareness when selecting each target: Remembering, knowing, or guessing. In Exps 1 and 2, Ss produced associates of the target words and recalled them after varying intervals of time. In Exp 3, the level of processing manipulation was replaced by a generate/read manipulation. In Exps 1 and 2, level of processing influenced remember responses but not know responses. In Exp 3, generating vs reading similarly influenced remember but not know responses. In each experiment, when Ss reported that they were guessing they showed no ability to discriminate targets from lures. Results show that remember/know findings generalize from yes/no to 2-alternative forced-choice recognition and that knowing is dissociable from guessing. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Location confusions in visual information processing.

Tested in 2 experiments, using 21 undergraduates, the location-confusion model proposed by P. Dixon (see record 1986-21077-001) to account for interference that occurs when deciding whether a briefly presented target item appeared in a briefly presented array. The model assumed that information about the location of items decayed quickly and that Ss sometimes had difficulty deciding whether a particular identity code corresponded to the target or the array. Exp 1 confirmed the assumption that the interference only occurred with visual targets. Exp 2 tested for interference at the level of identity codes for well-learned vs arbitrary visual patterns (AVPs). No interference from AVPs on accuracy was observed. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-disclosure in a simulated psychiatric interview.

Describes 2 experiments in which a total of 192 undergraduates received 49 items of personal information previously scaled in terms of their intimacy and presented according to the method of constant stimuli. For each item, Ss indicated whether they believed they would have withheld or revealed that information under actual psychiatric interview conditions. Exp. I manipulated the professional role of the interviewer, confidentiality of obtained information, and sex of the interviewee in a 4 * 3 * 2 design. Results indicate that (a) Ss avowedly revealed more personal information to mental health professionals than they would in a control employment interview situation, with no differences between the mental health professionals; (b) informing Ss that the interview was not confidential produced significant information loss from female but not male Ss; and (c) Ss who received no information regarding confidentiality behaved like Ss who were told the information was confidential. In Exp. II, Ss were asked to assume the motivational-attitudinal state of persons either coerced or voluntarily seeking a psychiatric interview because they had violated interpersonal norms. Significant information loss occurred in coerced Ss while confidentiality had no effect on self-disclosure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impulsivity and perception: Individual differences in the processing of the local and global dimensions of stimuli.

In Exp I, 48 undergraduates differing in impulsivity (as measured by a self-report inventory) performed 2 versions of filtering, interference, and invariant control tasks. In one version, Ss sorted according to the value of the local dimension; in the other, the global dimension was the relevant one. In addition, Ss performed a task in which the 2 dimensions were perfectly correlated. Results show that Ss sorted more quickly when the global dimension was relevant than when the local dimension was relevant. In Exp II, 43 of the Ss from Exp I were used to determine whether failure to find a relationship between impulsivity and filtering performance was due to correlations of local and global dimensions; results were negative. In Exp III, the same 43 Ss used in Exp II were used to test the information-integration hypothesis. Results support the hypothesis—high impulsives were more impaired than other Ss when the task required that they integrate information from the global dimension with information from the local dimension. Findings can be explained in terms of individual differences in the value placed on speed, relative to accuracy, in information processing. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory and metamemory: A study of the feeling-of-knowing phenomenon in amnesic patients.

Tested accuracy of the feeling of knowing in 2 experiments, using 8 patients with Korsakoff's syndrome (mean age 54 yrs), 8 electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT) patients (mean age 46.5 yrs), 4 Ss (mean age 47 yrs) with other causes of amnesia, 2 alcoholic control groups (7 Ss with a mean age of 47.6 yrs and 19 Ss with a mean age of 48.5 yrs), and 18 healthy controls (mean age 49 yrs). In Exp I, feeling-of-knowing accuracy for the answers to general information questions that could not be recalled was tested. Ss were asked to rank nonrecalled questions in terms of how likely they thought they would be to recognize the answers and were then given a recognition test for these items. Only Korsakoff's syndrome Ss were impaired in making feeling-of-knowing predictions. The other amnesic Ss were as accurate as control Ss in their feeling-of-knowing predictions. In Exp II, these findings were replicated in a sentence memory paradigm that tested newly learned information. Results show that impaired metamemory is not an obligatory feature of amnesia, because amnesia can occur without detectable metamemory deficits. The impaired metamemory exhibited by patients with Korsakoff's syndrome reflects a cognitive impairment that is not typically observed in other forms of amnesia. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of group identity on resource use in a simulated commons dilemma.

Used 172 undergraduates in 3 experiments to assess the effects of making salient either a superordinate (collective) or subordinate (differentiating) group identity in heterogeneous groups. In Exp I, 22 male and 36 female Ss were assigned to either a superordinate-group identity (small community resident behavior vs other areas) or a subordinate-group identity (behavior of young people vs elderly people) condition and were asked to perform a computer task individually; Ss were led to believe they were interacting with 5 other persons (2 real and 3 bogus Ss) in their group in accumulating as many points as possible while making the resource last as long as possible. Bogus feedback about group behavior was given. In Exp II, 29 male and 19 female Ss were told that the bogus Ss were economics majors and were asked to perform as in Exp I. In Exp III, the level of social-group identity for 40 male and 26 female Ss was manipulated by varying the common fate of the group members. Results of all 3 experiments show support for the hypothesis that individual restraint would be most likely when a superordinate group identity was made salient and under conditions in which feedback indicated that the common resource was being depleted. A sex-response difference found in Exp I was not sustained in subsequent experiments. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhanced feeling of recognition: Effects of identifying and manipulating test items on recognition memory.

This study showed that, regardless of its actual status, a test item was more likely to be judged as old if, before making an old–new judgment, Ss attempted to (1) identify a test word or a test picture's name (Exps 1 and 2) or (2) to work on a normally presented test word, such as reversing the letter order of the word or constructing a word that rhymed with the test word (Exp 3). Exp 1 replicated the enhanced feeling of recognition effect reported by M. Watkins and Z. F. Peynircio?lu (1990). Exp 2 extended the effect to a cross-modality priming situation. Exp 3 further extended the finding by showing that the effect could occur for reasons having nothing to do with the perception of test items. Finally, Exp 4 showed that increased exposure to test items alone cannot produce the enhanced feeling of recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing of information in iconic memory: Differences between nonretarded and retarded subjects.

Compared iconic memory processes of 17 undergraduates and 18 retarded Ss (primarily aged 18–28 yrs; IQ 56–77) in 4 experiments. In Exp I, a partial report paradigm was used in which 6 retarded and 6 undergraduate Ss were presented 6 pictures under 4 intervals (0–500 msec). In Exp II, using 5 Ss in each group the same procedure as in Exp I was used but letters as well as pictures were included. Results show that although overall performance for retarded Ss was poor, they did better with letters than with pictures—a reverse of the finding with undergraduate Ss. In Exp III, 2 retarded Ss were given extended practice and incentive to perform well. Asymptote was reached in 10 days but never equaled performance of unpracticed undergraduates. In Exp IV, using 5 Ss in each group, information load was varied from 1 to 4 items, and a masking stimulus was used to interrupt processing following 6 intervals that lasted up to 250 msec. Results show that (1) there are quantitative differences between intelligence groups in iconic capacity; (2) retarded Ss process information more slowly, a difference that increases with increasing information load; and (3) there are substantive structural differences in iconic memory of retarded and nonretarded Ss. (35 ref) (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)     

Estimates of frequency: Attribute or attribution?

360 undergraduates in 2 experiments were asked to estimate how often items had appeared in a studied list. If the estimates were based on the value of a frequency attribute, the implicit question was "How many times did you think of this item during study?" If, on the other hand, estimates were memorial attributions, the implicit question was "How many study episodes does this item now make you think of?" In Exp I, Ss studied items that were repeated with the same or a different partner on each appearance. Results show that items studied with a different partner each time received higher estimates than those with the same partner, but only if the items were semantic relatives of the partners. It appeared that if tested items were strong cues for their partners, estimates of frequency benefitted from contextual variety, implying that the partners were accessed during the test episode. In Exp II, several types of items were processed in several different ways. The result was that variables that enhanced old–new discrimination also enhanced the quality of estimates of frequency, implying that the 2 measures were based on the same cognitive material. It is concluded that judged frequency is attributed to items because of the memorial information they access at test. (69 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of rounding on memory for numbers in addition problems.

Recall and recognition of the sums of addition problems were tested using rounded or exact numbers. In Exp 1, 53 Ss were instructed to remember five-digit sums. Recall and recognition were greater for rounded than for exact numbers. In Exp 2, 60 Ss were informed at test to recall only the first two digits. Again, rounded numbers were better remembered. In Exp 3, half of the 72 Ss were informed in advance that they would be tested on only the first two digits. The rounding effect persisted in recognition for these Ss. The advantage for rounded numbers is attributed to less difficult processing requirements which makes more time available for memory processes. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical ambiguity and children's word recognition.

Conducted 2 experiments to examine the word recognition processes of 2nd, 4th, and 6th graders. In Exp I, 72 Ss named target words that were primed by words that had more than 1 meaning. Targets were related either to the more or less frequent sense of the ambiguous prime or were unrelated to it. Findings indicate that older Ss were more likely than younger Ss to restrict processing of ambiguous words to the most frequent meaning. While younger Ss showed approximately equal facilitation for words related to either meaning, regardless of each one's relative frequency, 6th graders apparently retrieved only the most frequent meaning. Exp II, with 36 Ss, was similar to Exp I but included neutral primes and varied the interval between presentation of prime and target. Results show that all groups showed automatic retrieval of both meanings of the ambiguous word. For 6th graders, however, this retrieval was followed by a 2nd stage, in which attention was allocated to the more frequent meaning, maintaining it, while the less frequent meaning was inhibited. Overall data indicate that older children use meaning frequency to narrow the amount of information kept active following word recognition. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of mobilization of knowledge on recognition and recall.

Examined the effect of mobilization of knowledge on recall and recognition in 4 experiments, using 170 undergraduates. In Exp I, the mobilization group generated instances from a specified category and received a study list that contained some of these generated items as well as other members of the category that had not been generated. Control Ss received the same study list after they had generated instances from an irrelevant category. Contrary to previous findings by J. Peeck (see record 1983-22657-001), prior mobilization did not facilitate free recall of the generated study-list items and inhibited recall of nongenerated items. This pattern of recall was replicated in Exp II. The inhibitory effect of prior mobilization on nongenerated items was eliminated in Exp III, which used a recognition memory test. In addition, prior mobilization facilitated the recognition of generated study list items. Exp IV found that when knowledge about the mobilized category was limited, prior mobilization did facilitate free recall but only for generated study-list items. An attempt was made to reconcile data with previous results and to specify the conditions under which mobilization facilitates or inhibits subsequent memory performance. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)