The list-strength effect in recall: Relative-strength competition and retrieval inhibition may both contribute to forgetting.

According to the principle of relative-strength competition, stronger items in memory block the retrieval of weaker items. This principle, integral to many theories of forgetting over the years, derives much of its support from the list-strength effect (LSE), in which strengthening some items in a study list makes it more difficult to recall other items. Work in the retrieval-induced forgetting literature has challenged the existence of relative-strength competition, 1st by offering many examples of a null LSE and 2nd by proposing that extant observations of the LSE can be explained by retrieval inhibition. In the present study, a series of experiments produced a robust LSE in cued recall under conditions meant to control the contribution of retrieval inhibition. Simulations of the SAM-REM model of recall (K. J. Malmberg & R. M. Shiffrin, 2005) showed that a model based on relative-strength competition can accommodate both the presence and absence of an LSE. The empirical results and model simulations together make a case for the role of strength-based competition in forgetting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A composite holographic associative recall model.

Describes a highly interactive model of association formation, storage, and retrieval. Items, represented as sets of features, are associated by the operation of convolution. The associations are stored by being superimposed in a composite memory trace. Retrieval occurs when a cue item is correlated with the composite trace. The retrieved items are intrinsically noisy, may be ambiguous, and may under certain conditions be systematically distorted from their encoded form. A discrete response is selected by matching the retrieved item to all of the items in semantic memory. The model yields several new predictions about errors in single-trial cued recall that depend on similarity relations among the to-be-remembered items and also about the efficacy of extralist cues. Four experiments are reported that tested these predictions against human recall. Ss were 138 volunteers from a university S pool. The model is then applied to several well-known results: prototype abstraction, the A-B/A-D paradigm (including the independence of the B and D responses), and the C. E. Osgood (1949) transfer surface. (81 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Order information and retrieval distinctiveness: Recall of common versus bizarre material.

The order-encoding hypothesis (E. L. DeLosh & M. A. McDaniel, 1996) assumes that serial-order information contributes to the retrieval of list items and that serial-order encoding is better for common items than bizarre items. In line with this account, Experiment 1 revealed better free recall and serial-order memory for common than for bizarre items in pure lists, and Experiment 2 showed that recall for bizarre items increased and the recall advantage of common items was eliminated when serial-order encoding for bizarre items was increased to the level of common items. However, inconsistent with a second assumption that bizarre-item advantages in mixed lists reflect better individual-item encoding for bizarre items, Experiments 3 and 4 showed that the bizarreness effect in mixed lists is eliminated when alternative retrieval strategies are encouraged. This set of findings is better explained by the differential-retrieval-process framework, which proposes that contextual factors (e.g., list composition) influence the extent to which various types of information are used at retrieval, with the bizarreness advantage in mixed lists dependent on a distinctiveness-based retrieval process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age dissociates recency and lag recency effects in free recall.

The temporal relations among word-list items exert a powerful influence on episodic memory retrieval. Two experiments were conducted with younger and older adults in which the age-related recall deficit was examined by using a decomposition method to the serial position curve, partitioning performance into (a) the probability of first recall, illustrating the recency effect, and (b) the conditional response probability, illustrating the lag recency effect (M. W. Howard & M. J. Kahana, 1999). Although the older adults initiated recall in the same manner in both immediate and delayed free recall, temporal proximity of study items (contiguity) exerted a much weaker influence on recall transitions in older adults. This finding suggests that an associative deficit may be an important contributor to older adults' well-known impairment in free recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cue strength as a moderator of the testing effect: The benefits of elaborative retrieval.

The current study explored the elaborative retrieval hypothesis as an explanation for the testing effect: the tendency for a memory test to enhance retention more than restudying. In particular, the retrieval process during testing may activate elaborative information related to the target response, thereby increasing the chances that activation of any of this information will facilitate later retrieval of the target. In a test of this view, participants learned cue–target pairs, which were strongly associated (e.g., Toast: Bread) or weakly associated (e.g., Basket: Bread), through either a cued recall test (Toast: _____) or a restudy opportunity (Toast: Bread). A final test requiring free recall of the targets revealed that tested items were retained better than restudied items, and although strong cues facilitated recall of tested items initially, items recalled from weak cues were retained better over time, such that this advantage was eliminated or reversed at the time of the final test. Restudied items were retained at similar rates on the final test regardless of the strength of the cue–target relationship. These results indicate that the activation of elaborative information—which would occur to a greater extent during testing than restudying—may be one mechanism that underlies the testing effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An ARC–REM model for accuracy and response time in recognition and recall.

This article presents a model for accuracy and response time (RT) in recognition and cued recall, fitted to free-response and signal-to-respond data from Experiment 1 of P. A. Nobel and R. M. Shiffrin. The model posits that recognition operates through parallel activation in a single retrieval step and cued recall operates as a sequential search. Because the data for recognition showed that variations in list length and study time per list had a large effect on accuracy but a small or negligible effect on (a) free-response RT distributions and (b) retrieval dynamics in signal-to-respond, the timing of the recognition decision is based on an assessment of retrieval completion (ARC), rather than on a sufficiency of evidence in favor of 1 of the response options. By assuming within-trial forgetting, the model predicts both the dissociation of accuracy and RT and the finding that errors are slower than correct responses. For cued recall, this model was incorporated as the 1st step in a search consisting of cycles of sampling and recovery. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mutual inhibition in collaborative recall: Evidence for a retrieval-based account.

In Experiment 1 participants gave 3 successive free recalls of items learned either individually or in pairwise collaboration. The first and third recalls were performed individually, the second alone or in collaboration. Collaborative recall led to an inhibitory effect after individual learning but not after collaborative learning, in which partners had similar retrieval strategies. Consistent with a retrieval locus for collaborative inhibition, non-recalled items reappeared in subsequent individual recall. Experiment 2 showed that collaborative inhibition was eliminated when a separate retrieval cue was given for each item. Experiments 2 and 3 also showed that when participants learned items in the same order, their retrieval strategies were more similar and they showed less collaborative inhibition. It is concluded that mutual interference in collaborative recall is due to the mutual disruption of individual retrieval strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of subject-generated and experimenter-provided memory tags on free recall.

64 children from Grades 2 and 5 participated in a recall task. There were 4 instructional conditions distinguished by the type of retrieval cue: sign, subcategory, supracategory, and control. The task required that the Ss image and recall items from 6 successively presented sets of categorized pictorial stimuli. These categories, however, were not mentioned; instead, a sign representing an activity for each set was emphasized as the retrieval cue. Significant effects of grade and of condition, favoring the subcategory condition, were determined by ANOVA. The results, based upon total recall as well as items-per-category and category recall, are discussed in relation to E. Tulving and M. J. Watkins's (see record 1975-26816-001) encoding specificity principle, A. Paivio's (1971) 2-process theory of memory, and F. I. Craik and R. S. Lockhart's (see record 1973-20189-001) levels-of-processing approach to memory. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exhaustive and heuristic retrieval processes in person cognition: Further tests of the TRAP model.

The twofold retrieval by associative pathways (TRAP) model (L. Garcia-Marques & D. L. Hamilton, 1996) proposes that two distinct modes of retrieval typically underlie recall and frequency estimation. The model accounts for the simultaneous occurrence of greater recall of incongruent information and higher frequency estimation of congruent information. Three experiments provided further tests of the TRAP model. Experiment 1 manipulated cognitive load (at encoding and at retrieval) and the selectivity of the retrieval goal. Under either high load or a selective retrieval goal, incongruent items ceased to be better recalled. Experiment 2 manipulated the accessibility of expectancy-congruent, -incongruent, or -neutral episodes and found corresponding effects in frequency estimates. Finally, Experiment 3 showed that providing part-list retrieval cues inhibits recall but increases frequency estimates. The TRAP model predicted these results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When does between-sequence phonological similarity promote irrelevant sound disruption?

Typically, the phonological similarity between to-be-recalled items and TBI auditory stimuli has no impact if recall in serial order is required. However, in the present study, the authors have shown that the free recall, but not serial recall, of lists of phonologically related to-be-remembered items was disrupted by an irrelevant sound stream (end rhymes) sharing similar phonological content. These findings can be explained by the notion that between-sequence phonological similarity effects emerge when category-cueing processes become an important determinant for recall, such as when shared category information can be used as a retrieval aid to cue list items or plausible list candidates. In this case, the presence of categorically similar irrelevant items impairs the retrieval of list items and leads to intrusion error. Implications of these results for theories of auditory distraction are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dynamics of memory retrieval in older adulthood.

One of the most robust findings in cognitive aging is that of a significant decline in self-initiated recall from episodic memory. In laboratory studies this deficit can be seen in significant age differences in word-list free recall. In this article, the authors focus on free recall of categorized word lists where one observes "response bursting" in the form of a rapid output of within-category items with longer delays between categories. Age differences appear primarily in between category latencies, results that are consistent with a relative sparing of semantic memory combined with an age-deficit in episodic retrieval. When adjusted for differences in overall mnemonic ability, it is demonstrated that the relationship between organization and learning remains invariant with normal aging. The authors argue that the locus of the age deficit in free recall lies at the level of temporal coding of items and the use of temporal associations to guide recall. (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.     

Critique of the retrieval/deblurring assumptions of the theory of distributed associative memory.

Critiques the retrieval assumptions proposed by S. Lewandowsky and B. B. Murdock (see record 1989-14457-001) in their application of Murdock's theory of distributed associative memory (TODAM) to problems in serial-order recall. Two different methods for "deblurring" the products of retrieval are described, along with simulations appropriate for each. It is demonstrated that the deblurring assumptions used by Lewandowsky and Murdock in their simulation version of the model, although appropriate for some aspects of serial-anticipation learning, provide an inadequate account of general serial recall and, in fact, predict several trends that are inconsistent with known data. The analytic version of the model is considered and some additional problems are noted. Overall, the deblurring assumptions critically affect the performance of TODAM, and it is these assumptions rather than the model per se that determine a sizable proportion of its behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

List-strength effect: I. Data and discussion.

Extra items added to a list cause memory for the other items to decrease (the list-length effect). In one of the present studies we show that strengthening (or weakening) some items on a list harms (or helps) free recall of the remaining list items. This is termed the list-strength effect. However, in seven recognition studies the list-strength effect was either absent or negative. This held whether strengthening was accomplished by extra study time or extra repetitions. The seven studies used various means to control rehearsal strategies, thereby providing evidence against the possibility that the findings were due to redistribution of rehearsal or effort from stronger to weaker items with a list. Current models appear unable to predict these results. We suggest that different retrieval operations underlie recall and recognition, as in the SAM model of G. Gillund and R. M. Shiffrin (see record 1984-08340-001), which can be made to fit the results with certain relatively minor modifications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spacing effects in memory: Evidence for a two-process account.

Memory for repeated items on a list improves as a function of the spacing between repetitions. It is shown that spacing effects are eliminated in relative frequency discrimination, absolute frequency estimation, and recognition when items are learned incidentally. Spacing effects in free recall are unaffected by intentionality of learning. The results suggest that spacing effects in tasks in which experimenter-supplied retrieval cues are available are due to a rehearsal strategy that allots fewer rehearsals to items repeated in massed fashion. Spacing effects in free recall are due to a separate process resulting from study-phase retrieval of repeated items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model for interference and forgetting.

A new model for interference and forgetting is presented. The model is based on the search of associative memory (SAM) theory for retrieval from long-term memory by J. G. Raaijmakers and R. M. Shiffrin, see record 1981-20491-001). It includes a contextual fluctuation process that enables it to handle time-dependent changes in retrieval strengths. That is, the contextual retrieval strength is assumed to be proportional to the overlap between the contextual elements encoded in the memory trace and the elements active at the time of testing. It is shown that the model predicts a large number of phenomena from the classical interference literature. These include the basic results concerning retroactive inhibition, proactive inhibition, spontaneous recovery, independence of List 1 and List 2 recall, Osgood's transfer and retroaction surface, simple forgetting functions, the use of recognition measures, and the relation between response accuracy and response latency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in working memory capacity and episodic retrieval: Examining the dynamics of delayed and continuous distractor free recall.

Two experiments explored the possibility that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) partially reflect differences in the size of the search set from which items are retrieved. High- and low-WMC individuals were tested in delayed (Experiment 1) and continuous distractor (Experiment 2) free recall with varying list lengths. Across both experiments low-WMC individuals recalled fewer items than high-WMC individuals, recalled more previous list intrusions than high-WMC individuals, and recalled at a slower rate than high-WMC individuals. It is argued that low-WMC individuals' episodic retrieval deficits are partially due to the fact that these individuals search through a larger set of items than high-WMC individuals. Simulations based on a random search model were consistent with these general conclusions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cloze procedure as a memory-search process.

Two experiments examined the hypothesis concerning cloze retrieval that once semantic constraints are recognized, one such constraint is used to identify candidate responses that are then checked against the remaining constraints. In Exp I, 30 graduate students were given cloze items of 1, 2, and 3 semantic constraints, and response times were measured. Significantly more time was required to respond to items of 2 constraints than to items of 1 constraint. An increase in response time from 2 to 3 constraints was not significant. In Exp II, a computer simulation of the retrieval model produced results comparable with those of the human Ss, suggesting that the increase in latency between the 2- and 3-semantic-constraint conditions was not artifactual. Nearly all errors made on the 2- and 3-constraint items consisted of words meeting some portion of the constraints. It is concluded that cloze retrieval is essentially stepwise. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Levels of processing, encoding specificity, elaboration, and CHARM.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 92(4) of Psychological Review (see record 2008-10981-001). Equation 5 on page 11 was incorrect. The correct equation is given in the erratum.] A model of cued recall called CHARM (composite holographic associative recall model) is applied to several issues that have been investigated within the depth-of-processing framework. It is shown that, given some straightforward, empirically testable assumptions about the representations of the to-be-remembered items themselves, CHARM can account for the main effect of depth of processing, the problem of the negatives, encoding–specificity interactions, and both facilitative and inhibitory effects of elaboration. The CHARM model is extended to encompass some depth-of-processing effects found in recognition memory. The highly interactive associative, storage, and retrieval mechanisms in the CHARM model are discussed. (90 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)