The shift from recency to primacy with increasing delay.

Five experiments examined the recency–primacy shift in which memory for early list items improves and memory for later items becomes worse as the delay between study and test increases. Experiment 1 replicated the shift in a recognition task in which the physical form of the study and test items differed, ruling out an explanation that invokes visual memory. Experiment 2 observed the change when only 1 serial position was tested, eliminating an explanation based on changing strategies or proactive interference. Experiment 3 showed a similar change from recency to primacy when the to-be-remembered stimuli were auditory. Experiments 4 and 5 demonstrated that the same recency–primacy trade-off occurs for words in a sentence. Although it is possible to offer piecemeal explanations for each experiment, the dimensional distinctiveness model accounts for the results in each of the 5 experiments in exactly the same way. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A recency-based account of the primacy effect in free recall.

Seven experiments investigated the role of rehearsal in free recall to determine whether accounts of recency effects based on the ratio rule could be extended to provide an account of primacy effects based on the number, distribution, and recency of the rehearsals of the study items. Primacy items were rehearsed more often and further toward the end of the list than middle items, particularly with a slow presentation rate (Experiment 1) and with high-frequency words (Experiment 2). Recency, but not primacy, was reduced by a filled delay (Experiment 3), although significant recency survived a filled retention interval when a fixed-rehearsal strategy was used (Experiment 4). Experimenter-presented schedules of rehearsals resulted in similar serial position curves to those observed with participant generated rehearsals (Experiment 5) and were used to confirm the main findings in Experiments 6 and 7. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Priming of familiar and unfamiliar visual objects over delays in young and older adults.

Although priming of familiar stimuli is usually age invariant, little is known about how aging affects priming of preexperimentally unfamiliar stimuli. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of aging and encoding-to-test delays (0 min, 20 min, 90 min, and 1 week) on priming of unfamiliar objects in block-based priming paradigms. During the encoding phase, participants viewed pictures of novel objects (Experiments 1 and 2) or novel and familiar objects (Experiment 3) and judged their left–right orientation. In the test block, priming was measured using the possible–impossible object-decision test (Experiment 1), symmetric–asymmetric object-decision test (Experiment 2), and real–nonreal object-decision test (Experiment 3). In Experiments 1 and 2, young adults showed priming for unfamiliar objects at all delays, whereas older adults whose baseline task performance was similar to that of young adults did not show any priming. Experiment 3 found no effects of age or delay on priming of familiar objects; however, priming of unfamiliar objects was only observed in the young participants. This suggests that when older adults cannot rely on preexisting memory representations, age-related deficits in priming can emerge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of repetition priming on recognition memory: Testing a perceptual fluency-disfluency model.

Five experiments explored the effects of immediate repetition priming on episodic recognition (the "Jacoby-Whitehouse effect") as measured with forced-choice testing. These experiments confirmed key predictions of a model adapted from D. E. Huber and R. C. O'Reilly's (2003) dynamic neural network of perception. In this model, short prime durations pre-activate primed items, enhancing perceptual fluency and familiarity, whereas long prime durations result in habituation, causing perceptual disfluency and less familiarity. Short duration primes produced a recognition preference for primed words (Experiments 1, 2, and 5), whereas long duration primes produced a preference against primed words (Experiments 3, 4, and 5). Experiment 2 found prime duration effects even when participants accurately identified short duration primes. A cued-recall task included in Experiments 3, 4, and 5 found priming effects only for recognition trials that were followed by cued-recall failure. These results suggest that priming can enhance as well as lower familiarity, without affecting recollection. Experiment 4 provided a manipulation check on this procedure through a delay manipulation that preferentially affected recognition followed by cued-recall success. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Backward updating of mental models during continuous reading of narratives.

Participants' ability to track the protagonist's position and surroundings, during continuous reading, was investigated. In Experiment 1, participants read passages involving either inside–outside or top–down topological relations. A typical story described the protagonist interacting with 1 object, which was either consistent or inconsistent with his or her location. The results show that it took longer to read the sentence in the inconsistent condition. Experiments 2–5 used recognition probe words to test the accessibility of both consistent and inconsistent objects. The results show that participants did not update the situation model when the last sentences did not mention again any target object (Experiments 2 and 3). However, the mention of an object by means of an ambiguous pronoun triggers the updating of the situation to resolve the antecedent. The updating starts immediately after reading the pronoun, and the target still remains activated at the end of the sentence (Experiments 4 and 5). The overall results establish boundary conditions for mental model updating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies of directed forgetting in older adults

Younger and older adults were compared in 4 directed forgetting experiments. These varied in the use of categorized versus unrelated word lists and in the use of item by item versus blocked remember-forget cueing procedures. Consistent with L. Hasher and R. T. Zacks's (1988) hypothesis of impaired inhibitory mechanisms in older adults, a variety of findings indicated that this age group is less able than younger adults to suppress the processing and retrieval of items designated as to be forgotten (TBF). Specifically, in comparison with younger adults, older adults produced more TBF word intrusions on an immediate recall test (Experiments 1A and 1B), took longer to reject TBF items (relative to a neutral baseline) on an immediate recognition test (Experiment 3), and recalled (Experiments 1A, 1B, and 2) and recognized (Experiment 1B and 2) relatively more TBF items on delayed retention tests in which all studied items were designated as targets.     

Memory retrieval by 18–30-month-olds: Age-related changes in representational flexibility.

Deferred imitation was used to trace changes in memory retrieval by 18–30-month-olds. In all experiments, an adult demonstrated 2 sets of actions using 2 different sets of stimuli. In Experiments 1A and 1B, independent groups of infants were tested immediately or after a 24-hr delay. Each infant was tested with 1 set of stimuli from the original demonstration and 1 set of stimuli that was different. Recall of the target actions when tested with different stimuli increased as a function of age, particularly after a delay. In Experiment 2, infants were provided with a unique verbal label for the stimuli during the demonstration and the test. The verbal label facilitated performance by 24-month-olds tested with different stimuli but had no effect on performance by 18-month-olds. One hallmark of memory development appears to be an age-related increase in the range of effective retrieval cues for a particular memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowledge of a second language influences auditory word recognition in the native language.

Many studies in bilingual visual word recognition have demonstrated that lexical access is not language selective. However, research on bilingual word recognition in the auditory modality has been scarce, and it has yielded mixed results with regard to the degree of this language nonselectivity. In the present study, we investigated whether listening to a second language (L2) is influenced by knowledge of the native language (L1) and, more important, whether listening to the L1 is also influenced by knowledge of an L2. Additionally, we investigated whether the listener's selectivity of lexical access is influenced by the speaker's L1 (and thus his or her accent). With this aim, Dutch–English bilinguals completed an English (Experiment 1) and a Dutch (Experiment 3) auditory lexical decision task. As a control, the English auditory lexical decision task was also completed by English monolinguals (Experiment 2). Targets were pronounced by a native Dutch speaker with English as the L2 (Experiments 1A, 2A, and 3A) or by a native English speaker with Dutch as the L2 (Experiments 1B, 2B, and 3B). In all experiments, Dutch–English bilinguals recognized interlingual homophones (e.g., lief [sweet]–leaf /li:f/) significantly slower than matched control words, whereas the English monolinguals showed no effect. These results indicate that (a) lexical access in bilingual auditory word recognition is not language selective in L2, nor in L1, and (b) language-specific subphonological cues do not annul cross-lingual interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serial position effects in recognition memory for odors.

Five experiments examined recognition memory for sequentially presented odors. Participants were presented with a sequence of odors and then had to identify an odor from the list in a test probe containing 2 odors. All experiments demonstrated enhanced recognition of odors presented at the start and end of a series, compared with those presented in the middle of the series when a 3-s retention interval between list termination and test was used. In Experiments 2 and 3, when a 30-s or 60-s retention interval was used, participants performed at slightly lower levels, although the serial position function was similar to that obtained with the 3-s retention interval. These results were noted with a 5-item (Experiments 1 and 4), 7-item (Experiment 2), 6-item (Experiment 3), and 4-item (Experiment 5) list of odors. As the number of test trials increased, recognition performance decreased, indicating a strong role for olfactory fatigue or interference in these procedures. A verbal suppression task, used in Experiments 4 and 5, had little influence on serial-position-based performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociations of grammaticality and specific similarity effects in artificial grammar learning.

Three artificial grammar learning experiments investigated the memory processes underlying classification judgments. In Experiment 1, effects of grammaticality, specific item similarity, and chunk frequency were analogous between classification and recognition tasks. In Experiments 2A and 2B, instructions to exclude "old" and "similar" test items, under conditions that limited the role of conscious recollection, dissociated grammaticality and similarity effects in classification. Dividing attention at test also produced a dissociation in Experiment 3. It is concluded that a dual-process model of classification, whereby the grammaticality and specific similarity effects are based mostly on automatic and intentional memory processes, respectively, is consistent with the results, whereas a unitary mechanism account is not. This conclusion is further supported by evidence indicating that chunk frequency had both implicit and explicit influences on classification judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memorability judgments for high- and low-frequency words

Five experiments were conducted in order to examine subjects' judgments of the memorability of high- (HF) and low-frequency (LF) words in the context of a recognition memory task. In Experiment 1, the subjects were provided study/test experience with a list of HF and LF words prior to making memorability judgments for a new list of HF and LF items. The findings were consistent with previous evidence (Greene & Thapar, 1994; Wixted, 1992) suggesting that subjects are not explicitly aware of the greater recognition memorability of LF words. Experiments 2-5 embedded the memorability judgment task within the recognition test itself. In these experiments, the subjects consistently gave higher memorability ratings to LF items. The contrast between the pattern of results found when the subjects made their judgments at the time of list presentation (Experiment 1) and that when they made their judgments during the recognition test (Experiments 2-5) is consistent with recent evidence that even seemingly highly related metamnemonic judgments (e.g., ease of learning judgments vs. judgments of learning for the same items) may be based on very different factors if they occur at different points in the study/test cycle. The present findings are also consistent with the possibility that very rapid retrieval of memorability information for HF and LF words may affect recognition decisions and may contribute to the recognition memory word frequency effect.     

Serial position effects in implicit and explicit tests of memory.

The effects of serial position at study on implicit and explicit tests of memory were investigated. Both primacy and recency effects were observed in implicit tests of word-stem completion. These effects, however, were transient. No serial position effects were found in the 2nd half of testing (Exps 1 and 3) or when testing followed a 1-min, filled delay (Exp 2). Serial position effects were also examined on explicit tests of cued recall. When performance on explicit cued recall was below ceiling levels, a primacy effect persisted throughout testing (Exp 3). Similarly, in explicit tests of free recall, primacy effects were consistently observed, both with immediate testing (Exps 1 and 3) and when testing followed a filled delay (Exp 2). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Berry et al. (2010).

Reports an error in "Can “pure” implicit memory be isolated? A test of a single-system model of recognition and repetition priming" by Christopher J. Berry, David R. Shanks, Selina Li, Luke Sheridan Rains and Richard N. A. Henson (Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 2010[Dec], Vol 64[4], 241-255). In the article there was an error in Equation B2 in Appendix B. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-26226-002.) Implicit memory is widely regarded as an unconscious form of memory. However, evidence for what is arguably a defining characteristic of implicit memory—that its contents are not accessible to awareness—has remained elusive. Such a finding of “pure” implicit memory would constitute evidence against a single-system model of recognition and priming that predicts that priming will not occur in the (true) absence of recognition. In three experiments, using a rapid serial visual presentation procedure at encoding, we tested this prediction by attempting to replicate some previous studies that claimed to obtain pure implicit memory. We found no evidence of priming in the absence of recognition; instead, priming and recognition were associated across experiments: when priming was absent, recognition was also absent (Experiments 1 and 2), and when priming was reliably greater than chance, recognition was similarly greater than chance (Experiment 3). The results are consistent with the prediction of a single-system model, which was fit to the data from all the experiments. The results are also consistent with the notion that the memory driving priming is accessible to awareness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Configural processes in human associative learning.

The extent to which human discrimination learning is based on elemental or configural stimulus representations was examined in 7 experiments. In Experiments 1a and 1b, participants were able to learn nonlinear discrimination problems in a food-allergy task. In unique-cue theories, such learning is explained by individual stimulus elements acquiring independent connections with the outcome and also combining to form unique cues that function elementally. In Stage 1 of Experiments 2, 3, and 4a–c, Food A signaled an allergy outcome (O) (A?→?O) when presented alone but signaled no allergy (AB?→?no O) when paired with Food B. In Stage 2, Food B was paired with the allergy (B?→?0). In a test phase, the original discrimination between A and AB was found to be intact, at variance with the unique-cue theory. By contrast, in Experiments 5a, 5b, and 6, an effect of the B?→?O trials on the A–AB discrimination was observed with training procedures previously found by D. A. Williams (1995) to encourage elemental processing. Experiment 7 showed that the influence of B?→?0 trials on the A–AB discrimination was unaffected by pretreatments designed to foster an elemental processing strategy.… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infants' association of linguistic labels with causal actions.

Six experiments examined infants' ability to associate nonsense words with 2 causal actions: pushing and pulling. Although Experiment 1 found that 14-month-olds failed to form word-action associations, 18-month-olds in Experiment 2 provided reliable evidence of doing so. Additional experiments explore why 14-month-olds may not have formed such an association. Experiment 3 examined 14-month-old's ability to discriminate a change in either the action or the label when the other element was held constant. Infants discriminated the change in label but not the change in action. When the language labels were replaced with music (Experiments 4–6), 14-month-old infants responded in terms of and discriminated between pushing and pulling. These results, in comparison with those from Experiments 1 and 3, suggest that for 14-month-olds, attempting to associate labels with actions may interfere with their discrimination of similar actions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pigeons may not use dual coding in the radial maze analog task.

Using a radial maze analog task, T. R. Zentall, J. N. Steirn, and P. Jackson-Smith (1990) found evidence that when a delay was interpolated early in a trial, pigeons coded locations retrospectively, but when the delay was interpolated late in the trial, they coded locations prospectively (support for a dual coding hypothesis). In Experiment 1 of the present study, the authors replicated the original finding of dual coding. In Experiments 2 and 3, they used a 2-alternative test procedure that does not require the assumption that pigeons' choice criterion, which changes over the course of the trial, is the same on delay and control trials. Under these conditions, the pigeons no longer showed evidence for dual coding. Instead, there was some evidence that they showed prospective coding, but a more parsimonious account of the results may be that the delay produced a relatively constant decrement in performance at all points of delay interpolation. The original finding of dual coding by Zentall et al. might have been biased by more impulsive choices early in control trials but not in delay trials and by a more stringent choice criterion late in delay trials. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discovery misattribution: When solving is confused with remembering.

This study explored the discovery misattribution hypothesis, which posits that the experience of solving an insight problem can be confused with recognition. In Experiment 1, solutions to successfully solved anagrams were more likely to be judged as old on a recognition test than were solutions to unsolved anagrams regardless of whether they had been studied. Experiment 2 demonstrated that anagram solving can increase the proportion of "old" judgments relative to words presented outright. Experiment 3 revealed that under certain conditions, solving anagrams influences the proportion of "old" judgments to unrelated items immediately following the solved item. In Experiment 4, the effect of solving was reduced by the introduction of a delay between solving the anagrams and the recognition judgments. Finally, Experiments 5 and 6 demonstrated that anagram solving leads to an illusion of recollection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encountering misspellings and spelling performance: Why wrong isn't right.

Experience with misspellings can be detrimental to subsequent spelling performance. Generating or being exposed to incorrect spellings between two successive spelling tests interfered with subsequent spelling accuracy of these same words in Experiments 1 and 2 (but not Experiment 3), as indicated by changes from correct to incorrect spellings (CI changes). Furthermore, significantly more CI changes occurred when a recognition test (with incorrect versions as distractors) followed a dictation test than when a second dictation test followed it. Repeatedly presented misspellings were rated as looking progressively more similar to the correct spelling across presentations (Experiment 3). These outcomes suggest that spelling tests that involve the discrimination of correct from incorrect versions may be ill advised. In addition, the instructional technique encouraging students to intentionally produce misspellings of words, for purposes of visual comparison, may be detrimental rather than helpful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of a stimulus filling an action-outcome delay in human judgments of causal effectiveness

Experiments examined the effect of a stimulus filling a response-outcome delay on human judgments of causal effectiveness. In Experiment 1, subjects rated the effectiveness of 2 concurrently available responses. One response led to the outcome with a 75% probability, the other never led to the outcome. Ratings were higher for the former compared to the latter key, and for immediate compared to delayed outcomes. A signal presented during the delay ameliorated this deficit. Experiments 2 and 3 examined conditioned reinforcement and perceptual catalysis accounts of this effect. In both experiments, 50% of responses on each of 2 keys led to an outcome. Ratings were high, relative to an unsignaled condition, when a stimulus filled the outcome delay, and when the same stimulus followed the response but did not precede the outcome. This result is not consistent with the operation of perceptual catalysis and was shown to be the result of secondary-reinforcement-like processes rather than outcome-confusion or generalization between responses (Experiments 3, 4).     

Concreteness-dependent associative priming: Separate lexical organization for concrete and abstract words.

Four experiments used associated, unrelated, and neutral ({blank}–word) pairs that varied on prime and target concreteness. In Experiment 1, associated targets were named faster than neutral targets when primes and targets were homogeneous for concreteness (i.e., concrete–concrete or abstract–abstract), but not when they were heterogeneous (i.e., concrete–abstract or abstract–concrete). Experiments 2 and 3, using lexical decision, showed priming for all pairs irrespective of prime and target concreteness. In Experiment 4, the prime was presented for 16.7 ms, followed immediately by a 168-ms random letter mask. Lexical decision times showed priming similar to that in Experiment 1. If priming in Experiments 1 and 4 reflected lexical processes, whereas priming in Experiments 2 and 3 entailed postlexical processes, then lexical processes may be functionally distinct for concrete versus abstract words. These findings are more consistent with dual-coding than common-coding explanations of concreteness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)