Selective recall for personally relevant communications.

Used 2 experiments to test whether people display a recall bias for supportive over refutive information. While previous work has used broad social attitudes, the present research investigated recall for communications relevant to Ss' behavior. In Exp I, 15 smokers, 36 nonsmokers, and 24 ex-smokers read and recalled information related to smoking. In Exp II, 28 seatbelt wearers, 18 occasional wearers, and 15 nonwearers read and recalled pro-seatbelt material. As predicted, in both experiments Ss' behavior significantly affected their recall of information: Nonsmokers recalled more anti-smoking material than smokers, and seatbelt wearers recalled more pro-seatbelt information than nonwearers. There were no significant effects on any measures when Ss in Exp I were divided into seatbelt wearers and nonwearers and when Ss in Exp II were divided into smokers and nonsmokers. Thus, Ss were selective only on the communication relative to their own behavior. (French abstract) (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived racism and cardiovascular reactivity and recovery to personally relevant stress.

This study evaluated cardiovascular responses (CVR) to an active speech task with blatantly discriminatory (BRC) versus neutral (NRC) stimuli and an anger recall task in a sample of Black men (N = 73; age 18 to 47). Diastolic blood pressure scores were higher for NRC versus BRC stimuli during anger recall (p = .05). Moreover, persons in the NRC group who perceived high levels of racism (vs. no racism or BRC group) during active speech showed larger increases in blood pressure across postspeech rest, anger recall, and subsequent rest (p = .03). The notable elevation in CVR in response to an ambiguous event extends current models of racism suggesting that subtle racism is a psychosocial stressor that erodes health through chronically elevated CVR. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for multidimensional source information.

Source memory may comprise recollection of multiple features of the encoding episode. To analyze the simultaneous representation and retrieval of those multiple features, a multinomial memory model is presented that measures memory for crossed dimensions of source information. The first experiment investigated the validity of the new model. The model showed an excellent statistical fit to empirical data, and the parameters of multidimensional source memory were sensitive to manipulations of source similarity on distinct dimensions. The second experiment used the model to test the hypothesis that source memory for individual context attributes is stochastically related in the case of conscious recollection but independent in the case of familiarity-based recognition judgments. The prediction was supported by the introduction of a "remember"-"know" distinction in a multidimensional source memory test. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing causally relevant information.

Two experiments tested an information-processing model of causal judgment proposed by D. L. Hamilton, P. D. Grubb, D. A. Acorn, T. K. Trolier, and S. Carpenter (1990). In Exp 1 the explanatory quality (plausibility, sufficiency, and likelihood) of context information pertaining to a behavioral event was varied independently of its implications for internal or external causality. In Exp 2 perceivers performed tasks requiring either item-specific elaboration or relational encoding of the information in addition to making external versus internal causal attributions. Results imply that (a) perceivers encode the causal potency of individual information items even when the judgment task requires only a general internal versus external attribution and (b) perceivers engage in multiple modes of encoding information, depending on the implicational structure of the information array and on the explanatory quality of the context items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Postdecision exposure to relevant information.

"Readership of auto advertising by new and old car owners was investigated in order to test some predictions of Festinger's theory of dissonance concerning selective exposure to information following decisions. It was found that new car owners read advertisements of their own car more often than of cars they considered but did not buy and other cars not involved in the choice. These selective tendencies in readership were much less pronounced among old car owners. This finding supports the theoretical derivation that persons in general seek out consonant or supporting information after an important decision in an attempt to reduce dissonance resulting from it." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for spatial information in young and old adults.

Evaluated the claim that memory for spatial information is automatic. 46 18–35 yr olds and 49 51–80 yr olds studied a map containing 12 structures. Half the Ss in each age group were asked to remember both the structures and their locations (intentional learning), and the remaining half were led to believe they would be tested only on the structures (incidental learning). Both age and test expectations affected memory for the locations of structures, with older Ss and Ss in the incidental groups performing more poorly. It is concluded that memory for spatial location is not automatic. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress impairs retrieval of socially relevant information.

Several studies have reported that stress impairs memory retrieval, even though findings are not unequivocal. Moreover, memory for socially relevant information was not previously investigated. The present study aimed to test the effects of stress on the retrieval of social memory (e.g., memory concerning names, birthdays, or biographies). In a randomized cross-over experiment, the cognitive performance of 29 subjects (15 women) was tested twice. Social memory was tested in a stress session, in which participants were exposed to a brief standardized psychosocial laboratory stressor between encoding and retrieval. Performance was compared with a stress-free control session. Stress exposure caused an increase in cortisol concentrations and changes in several mood measures. Social memory retrieval was reduced in the stress compared with the control session. An association between the cortisol stress response and poorer retrieval was significant in responders, that is, those participants displaying a cortisol rise after stress onset. Thus, similar to other forms of declarative memory, the retrieval of declarative memory for socially relevant information learned from biographical notes is impaired after acute stress exposure. This effect is linked to the stress-induced cortisol increase. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory representation of alphabetic position and interval information.

The authors conducted 3 sets of experiments. In the 1st set of experiments, participants made alphabetic position estimations. In the 2nd set, participants made interletter distance estimations. In the 3rd set, they made comparative judgments of the alphabetic order of a pair of letters. The results showed that participants had highly accurate ordinal level information about the alphabet in memory but that interval level information was systematically distorted. In addition, alphabetic serial information was found to be used in 2 distinct modes in memory, depending on whether the representation could be contained within the span of immediate memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory predictions are influenced by perceptual information: Evidence for metacognitive illusions.

Although perceptual information is utilized to judge size or depth, little work has investigated whether such information is used to make memory predictions. The present study examined how the font size of to-be-remembered words influences predicted memory performance. Participants studied words for a free-recall test that varied in font size and made judgments of learning (JOLs) for each item. JOLs were influenced by font size, as larger font sizes were given higher JOLs, whereas little relationship was evident between font size and recall. The effect was modified when other, more valid, sources of information (e.g., associative strength) were available when JOLs were made and persisted despite experience with multiple study-test sessions, use of a forgetting scale to assess predictions, and explicit warning of participants that font size has little effect on memory performance. When ease of reading was manipulated, such that large font size words were made less fluent, the effect was eliminated. Thus, highly accessible perceptual cues can strongly influence JOLs, likely via encoding fluency, and this effect can lead to metacognitive illusions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory distortion following exposure to false information in hypnosis.

92 Ss preselected for hypnotic responsiveness on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility—Form A were tested in strict application of the real–simulating model of hypnosis to examine the hypothesis that hypnotic Ss distinctively incorporate false material into their memories when that material is introduced after, rather than before, hypnotic induction. Both real (n?=?46) and simulating (n?=?46) Ss were either exposed or not exposed to misleading information after receiving induction instruction. Procedures for testing were otherwise identical to those adopted in an earlier study by the 1st author and J. Tilden (see record 1984-14147-001) in which false information was presented prior to hypnosis. Results confirm the hypothesis and show that hypnotic Ss differed appreciably from simulating Ss by incorporating more misleading material into their memory. Findings highlight the possibility of distinctive processing in hypnosis and implicate lowered critical assessment by hypnotic Ss of information they confidently accepted in the hypnotic context. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for gist and detail information in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.

Two experiments examined different forms of gist and detail memory in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and those with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In Experiment 1, 14 AD, 14 MCI, and 22 control participants were assessed with the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. Results indicated that false recognition of nonstudied critical lures (gist memory) was diminished in the AD compared with the MCI and control groups; the two latter cohorts performed similarly. In Experiment 2, 14 AD, 20 MCI, and 26 control participants were tested on a text memory task. Results revealed that recall of both macropropositions (gist information) and micropropositions (detail information) decreased significantly in AD and in MCI as compared with control participants. This experiment also revealed that the impairment was comparable between gist and detail memory. In summary, the results were consistent across experiments in the AD but not in the MCI participants. The discrepancy in MCI participants might be explained by differences in the degree of sensitivity of the experimental procedures and/or by the differences in the cognitive processes these procedures assessed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for emotionally neutral information in posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analytic investigation.

Studies have come to conflicting conclusions about whether posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with poorer memory for emotionally neutral information. The authors report a meta-analysis of 27 studies that investigated verbal and/or visual memory in samples with PTSD and healthy controls. The results indicated that the association between PTSD and memory impairment appears to be robust, small to moderate in size, and stronger for verbal than for visual memory. Effect sizes did not vary according to whether recall was immediate or delayed. The association is found in both civilian and military samples and cannot be readily explained as being due to the use of nontraumatized healthy control groups or concurrent head injury. The findings are placed in the context of recent neurobiological and experimental cognitive research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory bias for threatening information in anxiety and anxiety disorders: A meta-analytic review.

Although some theories suggest that anxious individuals selectively remember threatening stimuli, findings remain contradictory despite a considerable amount of research. A quantitative integration of 165 studies with 9,046 participants (clinical and nonclinical samples) examined whether a memory bias exists and which moderator variables influence its magnitude. Implicit memory bias was investigated in lexical decision/stimulus identification and word-stem completion paradigms; explicit memory bias was investigated in recognition and recall paradigms. Overall, effect sizes showed no significant impact of anxiety on implicit memory and recognition. Analyses indicated a memory bias for recall, whose magnitude depended on experimental study procedures like the encoding procedure or retention interval. Anxiety influenced recollection of previous experiences; anxious individuals favored threat-related information. Across all paradigms, clinical status was not significantly linked to effect sizes, indicating no qualitative difference in information processing between anxiety patients and high-anxious persons. The large discrepancy between study effects in recall and recognition indicates that future research is needed to identify moderator variables for avoidant and preferred remembering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of irrelevant information on the time to enter and retrieve relevant information in a Stroop-type task.

In 4 experiments, Ss pressed a key labeled same or different to indicate whether a probe (color word or color patch) corresponded to the relevant dimension (ink color or meaning) of a Stroop word (Red or Green printed in red or green ink). The probe preceded the Stroop word on some trials and followed it on others. Thus, some trials required matching the probe to the Stroop stimulus per se while others involved matching the probe to a stored representation of the Stroop stimulus. Results indicated that the irrelevant attribute of the Stroop word had a greater effect on retrieval of relevant information than on its initial processing. This heightened effect of Stroop interference on retrieval was especially apparent on between-modes matching trials. The reverse Stroop effect was as strong as or stronger than the standard Stroop effect. Results were related to theoretical notions concerning the nature and locus of Stroop interference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Models for clinically relevant research.

Contends that the ideal program of research to maximize clinical relevance combines 4 models of strategies. These are (1) convergent/convergent, (2) divergent/divergent, (3) divergent-theory/convergent-method, and (4) convergent-theory/divergent-method, and all are employed nomothetically at the level of theory and idiographically at the level of method. Model 1 serves to expand theoretical and procedural possibilities, giving clinicians the flexibility they need when working with individuals in service-delivery settings. Model 2 controls theoretical expansion. Model 3 controls procedural expansion. Model 4 may be used to provide preliminary demonstrations of feasibility that are then used to stimulate other forms of more directly relevant investigation. The products of this overall program of research will increasingly represent a useful body of tested theoretical and procedural possibilities and alternatives that clinicians can use for explaining and treating individual clients and for evaluating treatment outcomes in individually relevant terms. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for student-performed tasks.

Examined whether memory improved in a series of 10 student-performed tasks in three conditions administered to students who expected a posttest. The results indicated that the subjects in a rhyming mnemonic condition recalled significantly more of the student-performed tasks than did subjects in paraphrase or control conditions. In addition, subjects in a paraphrase condition recalled significantly more student-performed tasks than did subjects in the control condition. In Experiment 2, we did not use the rhyming mnemonic condition. Results confirmed those of Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, we contrasted conditions in which unrelated student-performed tasks were used as the to-be-remembered events with conditions in which the student-performed tasks made up an overall procedure. Results indicated that the type of task influenced recall. Overall conclusions suggest that encoding of student-performed tasks is strategic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for pair frequency.

People's ability to remember the frequency of occurrence of pairs of items was investigated in a series of five experiments. In the first experiment, people were asked to make frequency discriminations between two pairs of letters. Most subjects performed at higher than chance levels. In the next four experiments, subjects were required to make situational frequency discriminations where the stimuli were word pairs occurring either once or twice. Overall performance was above chance even when subjects were not anticipating any test on the stimuli. However, performance was enhanced when subjects effortfully associated the two members of each pair. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)