Adult age differences in temporal and item memory.

Three experiments tested whether the relationship between age differences in temporal and item memory depends on the degree to which the item memory measure relies on memory for context. The authors predicted a stronger relationship of temporal memory to free recall than to recognition memory. Results showed that age differences in temporal memory could be eliminated after controlling for free recall but not recognition memory performance. Under some conditions recognition memory accounted for a significant portion of age-related variance in temporal memory. These results challenge past research that has interpreted age differences in temporal and item memory as independent and suggest that a generalized decline in context memory may underlie reduced performance in older adults on all types of memory tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Need achievement, fear of failure, and selective recall.

The relationship of need achievement, as measured by McClelland et al (1953), to recall of meaningful material, as measured by Reitman's (1954) recall coding system, was investigated in male volunteers from a class in elementary psychology. Various degrees of need achievement appeared related to quantity of recall and nature of material (fear of failure stories). "The paper discusses the relevance of the results to the theory and use of n Achivement measures and considers the relation of these experiments to research on vigilance and defense." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3HJ42R. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality conflict, originality of response, and recall.

The general hypothesis states that variability in response to the same repeated stimulus is a function of intraindividual conflict. Applying this formulation to personality conflict, it is expected that the conflicted individual will show greater variability as a function of competing responses which appear alternately in subsequent similar situations. A measure of approach-avoidance personality conflict is described. High and low scorers on this conflict scale were exposed to a word-association task and were then required to recall their own responses. On the basis of the competing-tendency hypothesis, it was predicted that the conflicted subjects would show a higher frequency of original responses and reduced efficiency of recall. Both predictions were confirmed. Four instructional conditions preceding the word-association task failed to affect the conflict groups differentially, but personality and achievement instructions resulted in higher recall for both conflict groups. Some suggestions are offered for an improved measure of personality conflict. The results are discussed in terms of the conflict-variability hypothesis, and some implications are drawn for research on creativity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Volunteering and the recall of interrupted tasks.

It was hypothesized that the proportion of interrupted tasks recalled would be greatest among volunteers serving by choice and least among draftees not willing to volunteer, with draftees who had been willing to volunteer falling between the 2. Within each of these 3 groups those given task orienting instructions were expected to recall greater proportions of interrupted tasks than those given ego orienting instructions. College students divided into 6 groups of 16 Ss each in a 3 X 2 factorial design were tested individually using the standard Zeigarnik procedure. The results conformed to expectations although the differences among the volunteering groups were small. It was argued that differences in degree of task involvement and ego involvement account for these results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recall and Recognition in an Attractor Neural Network Model of Memory Retrieval

This paper presents an attractor neural network (ANN) model of recall and recognition. It is shown that an ANN Hopfield-based network can qualitatively account for a wide range of experimental psychological data pertaining to these two main aspects of memory retrieval. After providing simple, straightforward definitions of recall and recognition in the model, a wide variety of ‘high-level’ psychological phenomena are shown to emerge from the ‘low-level’ neural-like properties of the network. It is shown that modeling the effect of memory load on the network's retrieval properties requires the incorporation of noise into the network's dynamics. External projections may account for phenomena related with the stored items’ associative links, but are not sufficient for representing context. With low memory load, the network generates retrieval response times which have the same distribution form as that observed experimentally. Finally, estimations of the probabilities of successful recall and recognition are obtained, possibly enabling further quantitative examination of the model     

"More on recognition and recall in amnesics": Correction to Hirst, Johnson, Phelps, and Volpe (1988).

Reports an error in "More on recognition and recall in amnesics" by William Hirst, Marcia K. Johnson, Elizabeth A. Phelps and Bruce T. Volpe (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1988[Oct], Vol 14[4], 758-762). In this article, the authors failed to specify how the group of amnesics that they test in their article differed from the nonalcoholic amnesics tested in Hirst, Johnson, Kim, Phelps, Risse, and Volpe (1986). The pertinent statistics are given in the erratum. Additionally, in the last sentence on page 760, the degrees of freedom for the t test should be 8 instead of 10. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1989-16104-001.) Hirst et al. (1986) reported that amnesic forced-choice recognition was relatively preserved when compared with amnesic recall. They equated normal recognition and amnesic recognition by extending exposure time for the amnesics and then comparing amnesic recall and normal recall. Amnesic recall was worse than normal recall, despite equated recognition. We conducted two experiments to extend that result. Experiment 1 established that the findings of Hirst et al. are not paradigm specific and hold when amnesic recognition and normal recognition are equated by increasing the retention interval for normals. In Experiment 2 we further established the generality of the result by examining yes-no recognition. Findings further specify the selective nature of the direct memory deficits in amnesics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"How good is the evidence for a production deficiency among learning disabled students?": Correction to Shepherd et al.

Reports an error in "How good is the evidence for a production deficiency among learning disabled students" by Margaret J. Shepherd, Lynn M. Gelzheiser and Roberta A. Solar (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1985[Oct], Vol 77[5], 553-561). Figures 1 and 2 (p. 557 and 559, respectively) are reversed. The captions are correct, but Figure 1 should be above the caption for Figure 2 and Figure 2 should be above the caption for Figure 1. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1986-14779-001.) Investigated the spontaneous use of mnemonic strategies by learning disabled (LD) and non-LD children and adolescents to examine whether LD Ss can be distinguished from their non-LD peers on the basis of strategy use and recall. In Exp I, 105 LD and 105 non-LD 9-15 yr olds were administered a picture study/recall task, in which the strategies of interest were categorical organization during study and clustering during recall. In Exp II, 140 LD and 140 non-LD 11-17 yr olds were administered a paired-associate recall task, in which the strategy of interest was elaboration. In both studies, LD Ss earned lower mean recall scores than did the non-LD Ss. As a group, LD Ss did not differ from non-LD Ss in the use of categorical organization during study but showed less categorical clustering at recall. Fewer LD Ss used elaboration. Despite these differences, recall and strategy use were not useful predictors of classification as LD or non-LD and were only weak to moderate correlates of academic achievement. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Pike.

Reports an error in "Comparison of convolution and matrix distributed memory systems for associative recall and recognition" by Ray Pike (Psychological Review, 1984[Jul], Vol 91[3], 281-294). In this article, there were two erroneous sentences, one on page 284 and one on page 285. The sentences are corrected in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1984-27853-001.) Compares 2 closely related distributed memory models in terms of plausibility; arithmetic simplicity; economy of storage space; and ability to account for associative, similarity, and order data in recall and recognition. It is argued that the storage-retrieval system brought about by the convolution-correlation concept outlined by M. A. Eich (see record 1983-04922-001) and B. B. Murdock (see record 1983-04936-001) is neurally implausible, necessitates more complex analyses, and is less economical in storage space than is the matrix memory concept described by J. A. Anderson et al (see record 1978-22353-001). It is shown that the matrix model can easily account for associative symmetry-asymmetry data and for item similarity effects. Means and variances of operating strength for various recall and recognition situations, modeled by the matrix system, are presented, and it is shown how signal-to-noise ratios can be derived. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Production of associative sequences in schizophrenia and chronic brain syndrome.

"… timing differences in the associative process of schizophrenics and epileptics" was studied. Recall and a "condition of restricted association were employed… . controls were found to differ from the patient groups with respect to gross output of words… . As increased restrictions were imposed on the associative process, disturbances in the thinking of the pathological groups became more apparent… . results suggest that inappropriate responses (intrusions), which appear in the productions of psychotic individuals, are but symptomatic of a more basic disturbance in thought processes… . [Results] discussed within the framework of Hebbian theory and in relation to other theoretical formulations." (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)