Influence of adult age on primary and secondary memory search.

Conducted 2 experiments with 25 19–29 yr olds, 26 62–85 yr olds, 30 18–32 yr olds, and 30 61–81 yr olds to compare young and elderly adults on the ability to search lists of words stored in primary memory (PM) and in secondary memory (SM). Exp I indicated that age differences in search performance were greatest under SM conditions. Older Ss, unlike the younger ones, appeared biased toward responding that probe items were not members of the memory sets stored in SM. As a result of this apparent bias, older Ss committed a large number of errors on trials in which the probe was a member of the memorized list (i.e., positive probe trials) yet few errors on the trials in which the probe was not a member of the list ( i.e., negative probe trials). The responses of older Ss to negative probe trials were more rapid than were those to positive probe trials. In Exp II, this pattern of responding was examined. It is concluded that age differences were involved in the ability to encode memory sets and transfer them from PM to SM as well as in the ability to retrieve information from SM prior to conducting a memory search. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A simplified conjoint recognition paradigm for the measurement of gist and verbatim memory.

The distinction between verbatim and gist memory traces has furthered the understanding of numerous phenomena in various fields, such as false memory research, research on reasoning and decision making, and cognitive development. To measure verbatim and gist memory empirically, an experimental paradigm and multinomial measurement model has been proposed but rarely applied. In the present article, a simplified conjoint recognition paradigm and multinomial model is introduced and validated as a measurement tool for the separate assessment of verbatim and gist memory processes. A Bayesian metacognitive framework is applied to validate guessing processes. Extensions of the model toward incorporating the processes of phantom recollection and erroneous recollection rejection are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Grouping in primary memory: The case of the compound suffix.

Appending a nominally irrelevant item, or "suffix," to the end of a short list of items impairs recall of the list. Appending a second such item, however, does not increase the impairment. The research reported here shows that the impairment can in fact be increased if the suffix items are physically dissimilar. Thus, Experiments 1–4 show that memory for a sequence of digits is impaired more by the addition of two zeros uttered in different voices than by either a single zero or two zeros uttered in the same voice. Experiment 5 shows a similar pattern of results in the visual modality, with physical similarity defined by typefont. The findings are contrary to at least two theories of the suffix effect but can be accounted for by assuming that physically similar items tend to form a cohesive group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward unbiased measurement of conscious and unconscious memory processes within the process dissociation framework.

L. L. Jacoby's (1991) process dissociation framework has been welcomed as a tool for differentiating controlled and automatic cognitive processes. Several variants of the original process dissociation measurement model are integrated in this article, and it is shown that the model ignores guessing and, hence, response bias. An extension of the original model is suggested that includes guessing parameters. The original model and the extended model are evaluated empirically. In 3 experiments using a yes–no recognition task, response bias was manipulated in various ways. The original model falsely attributes effects of response biases to either controlled or uncontrolled processes or to both. The extended model, in contrast, results in estimates of the contributions of controlled and uncontrolled memory processes that are relatively unaffected by response biases. The extended model is recommended as a measurement tool. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Source memory and divided attention: Reciprocal costs to primary and secondary tasks.

Source memory, in comparison with item memory, is more sensitive to frontal lesions and may require more strategic processing. Divided attention was used to restrict attentional resources and strategic processing on memory tasks. Participants encoded and retrieved items (i.e., words) and source (i.e., voice or spatial location) while concurrently performing a fingertapping (FT) or visual reaction-time (VRT) task. Memory accuracy costs under divided attention were greater for retrieval of source than item and were greater with VRT than FT. Similarly, costs to the secondary task were greater when concurrently retrieving source as opposed to item and were greater for VRT than FT. Effects were stronger when spatial location was used as the source task. Findings support the idea that processing source information requires more attentional resources and effort than processing item information. Furthermore, concurrent performance of VRT produced greater interference with a task that was more dependent on intact frontal functioning and better simulated the performance of patients with frontal dysfunction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The contributions of primary and secondary memory to working memory capacity: An individual differences analysis of immediate free recall.

The present study tested the dual-component model of working memory capacity (WMC) by examining estimates of primary memory and secondary memory from an immediate free recall task. Participants completed multiple measures of WMC and general intellectual ability as well as multiple trials of an immediate free recall task. It was demonstrated that there are 2 sources of variance (primary memory and secondary memory) in immediate free recall and that, further, these 2 sources of variance accounted for independent variation in WMC. Together, these results are consistent with a dual-component model of WMC reflecting individual differences in maintenance in primary memory and in retrieval from secondary memory. Theoretical implications for working memory and dual-component models of free recall are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physiological memory in primary auditory cortex: characteristics and mechanisms

"Physiological memory" is enduring neuronal change sufficiently specific to represent learned information. It transcends both sensory traces that are detailed but transient and long-term physiological plasticities that are insufficiently specific to actually represent cardinal details of an experience. The specificity of most physiological plasticities has not been comprehensively studied. We adopted receptive field analysis from sensory physiology to seek physiological memory in the primary auditory cortex of adult guinea pigs. Receptive fields for acoustic frequency were determined before and at various retention intervals after a learning experience, typified by single-tone delay classical conditioning, e.g., 30 trials of tone-shock pairing. Subjects rapidly (5-10 trials) acquire behavioral fear conditioned responses, indexing acquisition of an association between the conditioned and the unconditioned stimuli. Such stimulus-stimulus association produces receptive field plasticity in which responses to the conditioned stimulus frequency are increased in contrast to responses to other frequencies which are decreased, resulting in a shift of tuning toward or to the frequency of the conditioned stimulus. This receptive field plasticity is associative, highly specific, acquired within a few trials, and retained indefinitely (tested to 8 weeks). It thus meets criteria for "physiological memory." The acquired importance of the conditioned stimulus is thought to be represented by the increase in tuning to this stimulus during learning, both within cells and across the primary auditory cortex. Further, receptive field plasticity develops in several tasks, one-tone and two-tone discriminative classical and instrumental conditioning (habituation produces a frequency-specific decrease in the receptive field), suggesting it as a general process for representing the acquired meaning of a signal stimulus. We have proposed a two-stage model involving convergence of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli in the magnocellular medial geniculate of the thalamus followed by activation of the nucleus basalis, which in turn releases acetylcholine that engages muscarinic receptors in the auditory cortex. This model is supported by several recent findings. For example, tone paired with NB stimulation induces associative, specific receptive field plasticity of at least a 24-h duration. We propose that physiological memory in auditory cortex is not "procedural" memory, i.e., is not tied to any behavioral conditioned response, but can be used flexibly.     

Speed of scanning in primary memory in persons with dementia of the Alzheimer type.

The nature of the search of primary memory by persons with a presumptive diagnosis of mild Alzheimer's disease (dementia of the Alzheimer type [DAT]) was compared with that of normal elderly and young persons using the S. Sternberg (1966) paradigm. DAT Ss evidenced a substantial deficit in the speed of scanning in primary memory and a deficit in at least one other stage of processing. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the decline in memory performance evidenced by persons with DAT may be attributable to an increase in the time requirements of mnemonic processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-esteem and memory.

This article describes two potential bases for memory bias associated with global self-esteem. According to the mood-congruence model, activation of either dimension of self-esteem (self-competence or self-liking) produces an affective state that facilitates retrieval of traces that are consistent with that state while hindering retrieval of traces that are inconsistent. According to the relevance model, activation of either dimension results in superior encoding of matching negative content by individuals who are low on the dimension. Three studies were conducted to determine which model best accounts for the pattern of bias across distinct content categories. Results were generally consistent with the relevance model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antibiotics and memory.

Reviews the literature on the effects of antibiotic treatments on memory. The initial interest in antibiotics as amnesic agents stemmed from their effects on protein synthesis; they were viewed as an avenue for exploring various hypotheses concerning the role of protein synthesis in memory formation. Close examination of the literature indicates that the glutarimides, puromycin, and actinomycin-D have side effects which should be an important caution to experimenters but that sufficient control procedures have been used in a variety of experiments to justify an amnesic interpretation of antibiotic-induced amnesia is reversible by chemical or behavioral means, with the possible exception of the case in which puromycin is injected prior to learning. The effects of glutarimide on neurotransmitter activity and the relationship of puromycin to brain peptides are discussed. (7 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood and memory.

Describes experiments in which happy or sad moods were induced in Ss by hypnotic suggestion to investigate the influence of emotions on memory and thinking. Results show that (a) Ss exhibited mood-state-dependent memory in recall of word lists, personal experiences recorded in a daily diary, and childhood experiences; (b) Ss recalled a greater percentage of those experiences that were affectively congruent with the mood they were in during recall; (c) emotion powerfully influenced such cognitive processes as free associations, imaginative fantasies, social perceptions, and snap judgments about others' personalities; (d) when the feeling-tone of a narrative agreed with the reader's emotion, the salience and memorability of events in that narrative were increased. An associative network theory is proposed to account for these results. In this theory, an emotion serves as a memory unit that can enter into associations with coincident events. Activation of this emotion unit aids retrieval of events associated with it; it also primes emotional themata for use in free association, fantasies, and perceptual categorization. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similarity comparisons with remembered and perceived magnitudes: memory psychophysics and fundamental measurement

At the outset, subjects learned to associate a label with each element in a set of perceptual magnitudes (visual extents), using traditional paired-associate learning methods. Subsequently, on some trials, subjects indicated which pair of two pairs of labels corresponded to the more similar perceptual referents, and, on other trials, they selected the more dissimilar pair. It is shown that these similarity comparisons satisfy the axioms (transitivity and intradimensional subtractivity) necessary to conclude that they are based on computation of the difference of the differences of analogue-based interval scale representations. The findings also permitted refutation of the idea that memory for elementary percepts arises from their reperception. Notably, the memory exponent was 0.697, but the perception exponent was 0.546, and the reperception idea requires that the memory exponent be the square of the perception exponent (0.546(2) = 0.298). Symbolic distance effects and enhanced response time-based semantic congruity effects, typically found with binary comparisons, extend the range of commonalties found between perceptual and memory psychophysics.     

Age differences in entropy: primary versus secondary memory

We report a spatial-memory scanning experiment that was used to measure age differences in entropy. A target grid consisting of four adjacent letters followed by the presentation of a single probe letter was presented on each trial. Half of the trials presented the probe stimulus in the same spatial position was the target letter (i.e., the probe letter was always a member of the positive set), and half of the trials transposed the target letter one, two, or three spaces of the right or left of the original target display position (i.e., different trials). The experiment involved blocks of primary-memory and secondary-memory tasks. Reaction-time and error-rate data, as well as entropy analyses and the fitting of an entropy model (based on Allen, Kaufman, Smith, and Propper, in press) to the empirical data indicated that older adults showed higher entropy levels than young adults. These results are interpreted in a "computational temperature" framework in which older adults' higher computational temperatures result in less efficient spatial, episodic memory functioning.     

Working memory and individual differences in comprehension and memory of text.

Attempted to determine whether working memory processes measured by the Reading Span Test would be strongly associated with the ability to integrate information from different parts of a passage to infer an idea not explicitly stated in the passage. The study also assessed the influence of working memory processes on ability to encode explicitly stated and inferred information into long-term memory. 29 undergraduates were administered a letter span test and a reading span test. The ability to store and process information in working memory was shown to be positively related to (a) scores on a standardized reading comprehension test, (b) long-term memory encoding and retrieval of explicitly stated text information, and (c) integration of text information for the purpose of drawing inferences. Variations in only the storage capacity of working memory were not related to these measures. It is concluded that the ability to coordinate storage and process functions in working memory may be an important determinant of text processing skill, especially with respect to encoding information into long-term memory. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prospective memory and self-reports of memory abilities in older adults.

Investigated age differences in prospective memory, and the relations among metamemory, reported use of memory aids, and actual performance on prospective memory tasks. Ss were 83 males and 145 females, aged 30–99 yrs, (with approximately equal numbers in each of the age ranges of 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69 and 70+ yrs) who completed a metamemory questionnaire and 2 prospective memory tests. Findings of the metamemory task show an age-related increase in reported memory problems. The pattern of correlations revealed that metamemory scores and prospective remembering performance were often negatively correlated (especially for the 30-yr-old people). The correlations indicated either that people have poor knowledge about their own memory abilities or that their concept of memory is different from that of the psychologist. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concept for a behavior therapy treatment program in primary insomnia

Cutaneous recordings of gastric electrical activity (electrogastrography (EGG)) could become a valuable non-invasive tool for recognising gastric electrical abnormalities. Although signals obtained with internally implanted electrodes deliver quantitative information, this technique cannot be used for diagnostic purposes because of its invasive nature. On the other hand, the objectivity of electrogastrography is still in question. The aims of this work are to develop computer techniques for extracting quantitative information from digital electrogastrograms, and to evaluate quantitatively EGG recordings from healthy volunteers. The dynamics of all four EGG parameters are studied: amplitude, frequency, time shift between different channels, and waveform. Four separate two-dimensional computer plots are developed using specially designed digital signal-processing procedures. Each parameter is evaluated in a study of 20 healthy volunteers. Frequency is found to be the only EGG parameter that shows quantitative consistency and merit.     

Generation and context memory.

Generation enhances memory for occurrence but may not enhance other aspects of memory. The present study further delineates the negative generation effect in context memory reported in N. W. Mulligan (2004). First, the negative generation effect occurred for perceptual attributes of the target item (its color and font) but not for extratarget aspects of context (location and background color). Second, nonvisual generation tasks with either semantic or nonsemantic generation rules (antonym and rhyme generation, respectively) produced the same pattern of results. In contrast, a visual (or data-driven) generation task (letter transposition) did not disrupt context memory for color. Third, generating nonwords produced no effect on item memory but persisted in producing a negative effect on context memory for target attributes, implying that (a) the negative generation effect in context memory is not mediated by semantic encoding, and (b) the negative effect on context memory can be dissociated from the positive effect on item memory. The results are interpreted in terms of the processing account of generation. The original, perceptual-conceptual version of this account is too narrow, but a modified processing account, based on a more generic visual versus nonvisual processing distinction, accommodates the results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Person memory and judgment.

Two general types of information about a person are considered in this article: One pertains to specific behaviors a person had manifested, and the other refers to more abstract personality dispositions or behavioral tendencies. A theoretical model of person memory that incorporates both types of information is developed. The model accounts for a large number of factors that are known to affect the recall of social information, the making of interpersonal judgments, and the relation between what is recalled and the judgments that are made. A major strength of the model is its applicability to a wide range of person memory and judgment phenomena that are observed in several different experimental paradigms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leveling-sharpening and memory organization.

The Schematizing Test (see 35: 2266) and a psychophysical task utilizing the method of single stimuli were used to differentiate a group of "levelers" (in a perceputal sense—or, in a psychoanalytic sense, repressors) from "sharpeners." Ss were asked to relate requested details of a story (the Pied Piper of Hamlin), the story being used as a measure of remote memory. The groups were differentiated on the basis of such recall. The results were seen as supporting the effects of cognitive style upon memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group atmosphere and memory.

Subjects were read a story and then asked to recall it individually, in a group, and then individually again. During the group recall two variations in group atmosphere were employed: (a) cooperative vs competitive, and (b) democratic vs authoritarian leadership. General results included: (a) the group recall was superior to the average initial and final individual recall, and (b) the group recall in the cooperative atmosphere was superior to the group recall in the competitive atmosphere. Failure to provide adequate experimental conditions did not allow conclusions regarding the democratic-authoritarian variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)