Temporal–contextual processing in working memory: Evidence from delayed cued recall and delayed free recall tests

Three experiments are reported that addressed the nature of processing in working memory by investigating patterns of delayed cued recall and free recall of items initially studied during complex and simple span tasks. In Experiment 1, items initially studied during a complex span task (i.e., operation span) were more likely to be recalled after a delay in response to temporal–contextual cues, relative to items from subspan and supraspan list lengths in a simple span task (i.e., word span). In Experiment 2, items initially studied during operation span were more likely to be recalled from neighboring serial positions during delayed free recall than were items studied during word span trials. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the number of attentional refreshing opportunities strongly predicts episodic memory performance, regardless of whether the information is presented in a spaced or massed format in a modified operation span task. The results indicate that the content–context bindings created during complex span trials reflect attentional refreshing opportunities that are used to maintain items in working memory.     

回忆任务对合作抑制和错误修剪的调节——情绪效价和编码水平的影响

前人在项目回忆条件的合作记忆研究中记录到明显的合作抑制和错误修剪,背景提取条件的相关研究尤显不足;同时,情绪效价和编码水平对两类现象调节的研究尚未涉及。为此,本文在两个实验中采用经典合作记忆研究范式,以不同情绪效价的词汇为实验材料并以词汇在学习阶段的呈现颜色为背景展开研究。实验1和实验2分别在学习阶段采用了深编码和浅编码任务,回忆阶段则均含项目回忆(回忆已学词汇)和背景提取(回忆词汇在学习阶段的呈现颜色)两种任务。采用深编码条件的实验1的结果显示,项目回忆比背景提取条件的合作抑制更强、错误修剪更弱,回忆任务与词汇情绪效价交互影响合作抑制强度;采用浅编码条件的实验2则发现错误修剪在两种任务间的差异不显著。两实验的联合分析显示,回忆任务与编码水平交互影响合作抑制和错误修剪强度。上述结果表明:回忆任务对合作抑制和错误修剪的调节支持双重加工模型;回忆任务与情绪效价对合作抑制强度的交互影响支持权衡说,且与双重加工模型相吻合;回忆任务与编码水平交互影响合作抑制和错误修剪强度。     

Dissociating word stem completion and cued recall as a function of divided attention at retrieval

The aim of this study was to investigate the widely held, but largely untested, view that implicit memory (repetition priming) reflects an automatic form of retrieval. Specifically, in Experiment 1 we explored whether a secondary task (syllable monitoring), performed during retrieval, would disrupt performance on explicit (cued recall) and implicit (stem completion) memory tasks equally. Surprisingly, despite substantial memory and secondary costs to cued recall when performed with a syllable-monitoring task, the same manipulation had no effect on stem completion priming or on secondary task performance. In Experiment 2 we demonstrated that even when using a particularly demanding version of the stem completion task that incurred secondary task costs, the corresponding disruption to implicit memory performance was minimal. Collectively, the results are consistent with the view that implicit memory retrieval requires little or no processing capacity and is not seemingly susceptible to the effects of dividing attention at retrieval.     

Dissociating word stem completion and cued recall as a function of divided attention at retrieval

The aim of this study was to investigate the widely held, but largely untested, view that implicit memory (repetition priming) reflects an automatic form of retrieval. Specifically, in Experiment 1 we explored whether a secondary task (syllable monitoring), performed during retrieval, would disrupt performance on explicit (cued recall) and implicit (stem completion) memory tasks equally. Surprisingly, despite substantial memory and secondary costs to cued recall when performed with a syllable-monitoring task, the same manipulation had no effect on stem completion priming or on secondary task performance. In Experiment 2 we demonstrated that even when using a particularly demanding version of the stem completion task that incurred secondary task costs, the corresponding disruption to implicit memory performance was minimal. Collectively, the results are consistent with the view that implicit memory retrieval requires little or no processing capacity and is not seemingly susceptible to the effects of dividing attention at retrieval.     

Automatic processing influences free recall: converging evidence from the process dissociation procedure and remember-know judgments

Dual-process theories of retrieval suggest that controlled and automatic processing contribute to memory performance. Free recall tests are often considered pure measures of recollection, assessing only the controlled process. We report two experiments demonstrating that automatic processes also influence free recall. Experiment 1 used inclusion and exclusion tasks to estimate recollection and automaticity in free recall, adopting a new variant of the process dissociation procedure. Dividing attention during study selectively reduced the recollection estimate but did not affect the automatic component. In Experiment 2, we replicated the results of Experiment 1, and subjects additionally reported remember–know–guess judgments during recall in the inclusion condition. In the latter task, dividing attention during study reduced remember judgments for studied items, but know responses were unaffected. Results from both methods indicated that free recall is partly driven by automatic processes. Thus, we conclude that retrieval in free recall tests is not driven solely by conscious recollection (or remembering) but also by automatic influences of the same sort believed to drive priming on implicit memory tests. Sometimes items come to mind without volition in free recall.     

Short-term retention of a single word relies on retrieval from long-term memory when both rehearsal and refreshing are disrupted

Many working memory (WM) models propose that the focus of attention (or primary memory) has a capacity limit of one to four items, and therefore, that performance on WM tasks involves retrieving some items from long-term (or secondary) memory (LTM). In the present study, we present evidence suggesting that recall of even one item on a WM task can involve retrieving it from LTM. The WM task required participants to make a deep (living/nonliving) or shallow (“e”/no “e”) level-of-processing (LOP) judgment on one word and to recall the word after a 10-s delay on each trial. During the delay, participants either rehearsed the word or performed an easy or a hard math task. When the to-be-remembered item could be rehearsed, recall was fast and accurate. When it was followed by a math task, recall was slower, error-prone, and benefited from a deeper LOP at encoding, especially for the hard math condition. The authors suggest that a covert-retrieval mechanism may have refreshed the item during easy math, and that the hard math condition shows that even a single item cannot be reliably held in WM during a sufficiently distracting task—therefore, recalling the item involved retrieving it from LTM. Additionally, performance on a final free recall (LTM) test was better for items recalled following math than following rehearsal, suggesting that initial recall following math involved elaborative retrieval from LTM, whereas rehearsal did not. The authors suggest that the extent to which performance on WM tasks involves retrieval from LTM depends on the amounts of disruption to both rehearsal and covert-retrieval/refreshing maintenance mechanisms.     

The basis and implications of the restoration of a recency effect in immediate serial recall

When a spoken presentation of a supra-span sequence of to-be-remembered (TBR) items is followed immediately by a similarly-spoken non-TBR item (stimulus suffix) the typical salience of the terminal item in recall is almost destroyed. However, Salter (1975) observed restoration of salience when pre-terminal and terminal TBR items differed in category membership. Five experiments are reported which aimed to clarify the basis and locus of Salter's effect. Survival of salience for the heterogeneous item was found under the following conditions: with the occurrence of the item unpredictable from trial-to-trial (Experiment I); with enforced processing of the suffix (Experiment II); with performance of a secondary task during list presentation (Experiment III); with the requirement to retain both the location and identity of the item (Experiment IV); and with the item as the terminal member of a non-suffixed visual list (Experiment V). It is argued that the effect has a postcategorical locus, and that its origin is not in better registration (mediated by selective attention), but, rather, in the enhancement of retrieval (mediated by access to distinctive information encoded during presentation). It is suggested that the latter hypothesis may have wide application in accounting for many kinds of salience.     

Stimulus similarity decrements in children's working memory span

Two experiments investigated the impact of the relationship between processing and storage stimuli on the working memory span task performance of children aged 7 and 9 years of age. In Experiment 1, two types of span task were administered (sentence span and operation span), and participants were required to recall either the products of the processing task (sentence-final word, arithmetic total) or a word or digit unrelated to the processing task. Experiment 2 contrasted sentence span and operation span combined with storage of either words or digits, in tasks in which the item to be remembered was not a direct product of the processing task in either condition. In both experiments, memory span was significantly greater when the items to be recalled belonged to a different stimulus category from the material that was processed, so that in sentence span tasks, number recall was superior to word recall, and in operation span tasks, word recall was superior to number recall. Explanations of these findings in terms of similarity-based interference and response competition in working memory are discussed.     

Mixed-handedness advantages in episodic memory obtained under conditions of intentional learning extend to incidental learning

The existence of handedness differences in the retrieval of episodic memories is well-documented, but virtually all have been obtained under conditions of intentional learning. Two experiments are reported that extend the presence of such handedness differences to memory retrieval under conditions of incidental learning. Experiment 1 used Craik and Tulving’s (1975) classic levels-of-processing paradigm and obtained handedness differences under incidental and intentional conditions of deep processing, but not under conditions of shallow incidental processing. Experiment 2 looked at incidental memory for distracter items from a recognition memory task and again found a mixed-handed advantage. Results are discussed in terms of the relation between interhemispheric interaction, levels of processing, and episodic memory retrieval.     

Pop-out into memory: a retrieval mechanism that is enhanced with the recall of subject-performed tasks

Subject-performed tasks (SPTs; i.e., carrying out the actions during study) improve free recall of action phrases without enhancing relational information. By this mechanism, items pop into a person's mind without active search, and this process especially extends the recency effect. The authors demonstrated the existence of the extended recency effect and its importance for the SPT recall advantage (Experiments 1 and 2). Carrying out the action and not semantic processing caused the effect (Experiment 3). The extended recency effect was also not a consequence of a deliberate last-in, first-out strategy (Experiment 4), and performing a difficult secondary task (an arithmetic task) during recall reduced memory performances but did not influence the extended recency effect (Experiment 5). These data support the theory that performing actions during study enhances the efficiency of an automatic pop-out mechanism in free recall.     

情绪一致性对有意遗忘的影响

有意遗忘是强调遗忘的有意性和指向性。对负性情绪的有意遗忘有利于个体的身心健康。本研究采用单字范式,实验一以正性、负性和中性情绪词为材料,探讨了情绪材料对有意遗忘的影响。结果发现,三类词语均表现出了显著的有意遗忘效应;实验二在实验一的基础上加入了情绪状态,探讨了情绪状态和情绪材料对有意遗忘的影响,结果发现,在积极情绪状态下,被试更多地遗忘负性情绪词;在消极情绪状态下,被试更多地遗忘中性词。表明个体对情绪信息的有意遗忘既受信息的情绪性影响,又受个体情绪状态的影响。     

Asymmetric interference between domains: evidence from the stimulus order effect in complex span tasks

The stimulus order effect refers to the finding that recall in complex span tasks is better when span lists begin with a longer processing task and end with a shorter task than when these processing tasks are presented in the reverse order. This study independently manipulated processing time and processing difficulty between Long-final and Short-final lists. The processing task required participants to solve arithmetic problems with either verbal (Experiment 1) or visuospatial (Experiment 2) materials. The memory items used in the storage task were either digits (verbal material) or dots-in-matrices (visuospatial materials). Storage of both verbal and visuospatial materials was sensitive to the change in processing difficulty, but not processing time. Furthermore, this study provides further evidence for the asymmetry of domain interference in working memory. The similarities and differences between verbal and visuospatial storage in working memory are discussed.     

Temporal isolation effects in recognition and serial recall

Recent temporal distinctiveness models of memory predict that temporally isolated items will be recalled better than temporally crowded items. The effect has been found in some tasks (free recall, memory for serial order when report order is unconstrained, running memory span) but not in others (forward serial recall). Such results suggest that the attentional weighting given to a temporal dimension in memory may vary with task demands. Here, we find robust temporal isolation effects in recognition memory (Experiment 1) and a smaller isolation effect in forward serial recall when an open pool of items is used (Experiment 2). Analysis of 26 temporal isolation effects suggests that the phenomenon occurs in a range of tasks but is larger when it is useful to attend to a temporal dimension in memory. The overall pattern of results is taken to favor memory models that rely on multiple weighted dimensions in memory, one of which is temporal.     

Inhibitory control in memory: Evidence for negative priming in free recall

Cognitive control mechanisms-such as inhibition-decrease the likelihood that goal-directed activity is ceded to irrelevant events. Here, we use the action of auditory distraction to show how retrieval from episodic long-term memory is affected by competitor inhibition. Typically, a sequence of to-be-ignored spoken distracters drawn from the same semantic category as a list of visually presented to-be-recalled items impairs free recall performance. In line with competitor inhibition theory (Anderson, 2003), free recall was worse for items on a probe trial if they were a repeat of distracter items presented during the previous, prime, trial (Experiment 1). This effect was produced only when the distracters were dominant members of the same category as the to-be-recalled items on the prime. For prime trials in which distracters were low-dominant members of the to-be-remembered item category or were unrelated to that category-and hence not strong competitors for retrieval-positive priming was found (Experiments 2 and 3). These results are discussed in terms of inhibitory approaches to negative priming and memory retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Depth of processing and memory organization

Summary The study examined the idea that the organization of information in memory varies depending on the depth of processing during input, as well as on the conditions for retrieval. Two types of memory organization are distinguished: Conceptual organization implies a hierarchical structure in which items are grouped according to a principled taxonomic system (e.g., cow — horse). Associative organization, in contrast, is based on direct links among the members of a group (e.g., cow — milk). Two experiments examined the propositions that conceptual relations require more effort to be encoded during learning and more effort to be utilized during remenbering than associative relations. In Experiment 1 a list of 28 words was used, which could be grouped into 14 conceptual categories or, alternatively, into 14 associative categories of two words each. The words were presented under either shallow or deep encoding conditions. Increased depth of encoding resulted in increased conceptual clustering but had little effect on amount of associative clustering. Similar amounts of associative and conceptual clustering were observed during early output positions, but conceptual clustering tended to increase with recall trials, suggesting that it might depend on the establishment of a retrieval schema. In Experiment 2, after memorizing a list of words, subjects recalled the words either with or without the requirement to perform a secondary task while recalling. Relative to the undisturbed recall condition, the secondary task condition indicated stronger associative than conceptual clustering. The results were seen to support the idea that different types of memory organization may become salient under different attentional conditions.     

Limits of the retrieval-inhibition construct: list segregation in directed forgetting

The authors hypothesized that retrieval inhibition in list method directed forgetting could be improved by presenting a task that maximized the segregation step of the retrieval-inhibition process. In Experiment 1, they presented lists of semantically related words in a list method directed-forgetting task to maximize retrieval inhibition. Contrary to predictions, this manipulation eliminated the directed-forgetting effect. The authors further investigated the results of Experiment 1 in Experiments 2 and 3 by manipulating recall instructions and by presenting lists that contained both a categorized and an unrelated list-half. They found directed-forgetting effects for semantically related word lists when participants were asked to recall only the TBR (to-be-remembered) items but not when participants were asked to recall both the TBF (to-be-forgotten) and TBR items. They also found that directed-forgetting effects were not produced when categorized items were presented in the 1st list.     

Limits of the Retrieval-Inhibition Construct: List Segregation in Directed Forgetting

The authors hypothesized that retrieval inhibition in list method directed forgetting could be improved by presenting a task that maximized the segregation step of the retrieval-inhibition process. In Experiment 1, they presented lists of semantically related words in a list method directed-forgetting task to maximize retrieval inhibition. Contrary to predictions, this manipulation eliminated the directed-forgetting effect. The authors further investigated the results of Experiment 1 in Experiments 2 and 3 by manipulating recall instructions and by presenting lists that contained both a categorized and an unrelated list-half. They found directed-forgetting effects for semantically related word lists when participants were asked to recall only the TBR (to-be-remembered) items but not when participants were asked to recall both the TBF (to-be-forgotten) and TBR items. They also found that directed-forgetting effects were not produced when categorized items were presented in the 1st list.     

Interfering with memory for faces: The cost of doing two things at once

We inferred the processes critical for episodic retrieval of faces by measuring susceptibility to memory interference from different distracting tasks. Experiment 1 examined recognition of studied faces under full attention (FA) or each of two divided attention (DA) conditions requiring concurrent decisions to auditorily presented letters. Memory was disrupted in both DA relative to FA conditions, a result contrary to a material-specific account of interference effects. Experiment 2 investigated whether the magnitude of interference depended on competition between concurrent tasks for common processing resources. Studied faces were presented either upright (configurally processed) or inverted (featurally processed). Recognition was completed under FA, or DA with one of two face-based distracting tasks requiring either featural or configural processing. We found an interaction: memory for upright faces was lower under DA when the distracting task required configural than featural processing, while the reverse was true for memory of inverted faces. Across experiments, the magnitude of memory interference was similar (a 19% or 20% decline from FA) regardless of whether the materials in the distracting task overlapped with the to-be-remembered information. Importantly, interference was significantly larger (42%) when the processing demands of the distracting and target retrieval task overlapped, suggesting a processing-specific account of memory interference.     

Evidence for time-based models of free recall

Is memory temporally organized? According to temporal distinctiveness models of memory, temporally isolated items should be better remembered than temporally crowded items in free recall tasks. Here, we tested this class of model by varying the temporal isolation of items either predictably (Experiment 1) or unpredictably (Experiment 2) in a free recall task. In both experiments, item recall probability increased as a function of the temporal gaps both before and after the item. The results are taken as support for temporal distinctiveness models of memory, in which items are represented and recalled in terms of their positions along a temporal dimension.     

提取干扰对内隐记忆的影响

以往研究多认同内隐记忆不会受到干扰的影响,但主要集中于编码时的干扰不会影响随后的内隐记忆提取成绩,而对于提取时的干扰是否也不会影响内隐记忆成绩仍存在疑义。该文在实验1采用学习-测验范式,通过在提取阶段设置同时干扰任务进一步考察提取干扰与内隐记忆的关系,结果表明提取干扰下并未发现明显的启动效应,即提取干扰破坏了内隐记忆。为进一步探讨内隐记忆的提取干扰效应是否源于记忆与干扰刺激同时呈现所引起的知觉表征竞争,实验2改变了记忆与干扰刺激的呈现顺序,结果表明不论干扰刺激在记忆项目之前或之后呈现,启动效应均受到影响。相比之下,提取干扰对再认成绩的影响并不明显(实验3)。上述结果表明,内隐记忆的提取干扰效应是源于一般认知资源的竞争,在提取过程中任何能够产生认知资源竞争的变量设置都可能会削减内隐测验中的启动效应。