Does {charm} need depth? Similarity and levels-of-processing effects in cued recall.

Eich (1985) recently presented a distributed memory model in which the pattern of results used to support the levels-of-processing view of Craik and Lockhart (1972) was modeled by different degrees of similarity between the encoding context and the to-be-recalled item. We report two experiments in which both phonemic and semantic similarity were varied between pairs of words and incidental acquisition (rhyme vs. category judgments) was varied across the same pairs of items. In both experiments the manipulation of the acquisition task produced a difference in cued-recall performance for positive and negative rhyme and category judgments. Recall was better following a category encoding decision than following a rhyme decision. This difference was independent of the effects of similarity, which demonstrated that Eich's (1985) assumptions regarding the effects of similarity are not sufficient to account for the differences resulting from the manner in which subjects encode information. An alternative method of modeling the levels-of-processing effect within the framework of distributed memory models is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Components of activation: Repetition and priming effects in lexical decision and recognition.

Examined activation decay functions in 4 experiments in which 52 undergraduates performed 2 different tasks: lexical decision and word recognition. Activation (amount of facilitation) was measured both for item repetition and for priming between newly learned associates. Results indicate that there were at least 3 different components of activation: a short-term component that decayed with 1 or 2 intervening items and appeared to be common to priming and repetition, an intermediate component for repetition in recognition, and a long-term component for repetition. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primary retinal degeneration: evidence of normal phagocytosis in the retinal pigment epithelium

In rats with primary retinal degeneration, lens extraction combined with total retinal detachment provided a model for injection of a tracer of colloidal carbon into the subretinal space. Electron microscopy and acid phosphatase cytochemistry were subsequently used to analyze the ingestion of tracer by the retinal pigment epithelium. It was found that the attachment, ingestion, and digestion phases of the phagocytic process were apparently preserved. From this evidence it is suggested that there is no lack of phagocytic power in the retinal pigment epithelium of affected rat strains.     

Recollection and familiarity through the looking glass: When old does not mirror new.

The authors use the qualitative differences logic to demonstrate that 2 separate memory influences underlie performance in recognition memory tasks, familiarity and recollection. The experiments focus on the mirror effect, the finding that more memorable stimulus classes produce higher hit rates but lower false-alarm rates than less memorable stimulus classes. The authors demonstrate across a number of experiments that manipulations assumed to decrease recollection eliminate or even reverse the hit-rate portion of the mirror effect while leaving the false-alarm portion intact. This occurs whether the critical distinction between conditions is created during the test phase or manipulated during the study phase. Thus, when recollection is present, it dominates familiarity so that the hit-rate portion of the mirror effect primarily reflects recollection; when recollection is largely absent, the opposite pattern associated with the familiarity process emerges. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Item versus associative information: Further comparisons of forgetting rates.

Four experiments are reported that extend previous research and firmly demonstrate that item information is more susceptible to decay or interference than is associative information. The forgetting rate for single words is shown to be greater than the forgetting rate for associations between random pairs of words in a continuous recognition paradigm using both yes–no (Exp 1) and forced-choice (Exps 2 and 3) test procedures. Item recognition is also shown to decline more than associative discrimination between an immediate and an end-of-session delayed test in the study–test paradigm. The findings provide further empirical support for a process-oriented distinction between item and associative information and pose a challenge for global matching models of recognition memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory: Lawless but principled?

Roediger (2008) argued that none of the general laws of learning and memory have stood the test of time, and when making any generalizations about memory one must add that “it depends”. Undaunted, Surprenant and Neath (2009) have proposed seven principles of memory: cue-dependence, encoding-retrieval, cue-overload, reconstruction, impurity of tasks and processes, relative distinctiveness, and cue specificity. In this review, these principles are briefly outlined, and the universality and usefulness of these principles for our understanding of memory are discussed. Although the principles differ in terms of their theoretical precision, empirical support, and their applicability, they do provide a basis for considering what memory does depend upon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tests of the list-strength effect in recognition memory.

The list-strength effect arises when increasing the strength of some items in a list reduces memory for the remaining items. The list-strength effect was investigated under conditions of rapid visual presentation. Randomized and blocked formats were used for the mixed lists. Performance was measured with both yes–no and forced-choice recognition procedures. Overall no evidence for a list-strength effect in recognition was found except under conditions that may promote reverse rehearsal borrowing. Two experiments were conducted to determine why performance on the yes–no tests was greater than on the forced-choice tests. Repeated testing with the yes–no procedure promoted more effective encoding than the forced-choice procedure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of environmental context on recognition memory and claims of remembering.

Recognition memory for words was tested in same or different contexts using the remember/know response procedure. Context was manipulated by presenting words in different screen colors and locations and by presenting words against real-world photographs. Overall hit and false-alarm rates were higher for tests presented in an old context compared to a new context. This concordant effect was seen in both remember responses and estimates of familiarity. Similar results were found for rearranged pairings of old study contexts and targets, for study contexts that were unique or were repeated with different words, and for new picture contexts that were physically similar to old contexts. Similar results were also found when subjects focused attention on the study words, but a different pattern of results was obtained when subjects explicitly associated the study words with their picture context. The results show that subjective feelings of recollection play a role in the effects of environmental context but are likely based more on a sense of familiarity that is evoked by the context than on explicit associations between targets and their study context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A decision model for accuracy and response latency in recognition memory.

The model of the decision system in Murdock's (1982, 1983) two-stage memory-and-decision model for item recognition is developed and tested. The underlying strength distributions are assumed to result from the operation of a distributed-memory system. The decision model assumes that extraneous noise is added to the result of the memory comparison process, and a decision is made when the total evidence falls below a lower criterion or rises above an upper criterion. The decision model is shown to be able to fit the accuracy and mean response latency data from four major recognition paradigms (Sternberg, study-test, continuous, and prememorized list). In addition, the decision model was also able to fit the response time distributions derived from the convolution analysis of Ratcliff and Murdock (1976), and the changes in the parameters of the distributions over experimental conditions in each paradigm. The model was also applied to speed-accuracy trade-off, repeated negatives, and the mirror effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)