Adaptive memory: The survival scenario enhances item-specific processing relative to a moving scenario

Nairne, Thompson, and Pandeirada (2007) found that retention of words rated for their relevance to survival is superior to that of words encoded under numerous other deep processing conditions. They suggested that our memory systems might have evolved to confer an advantage for survival-relevant information. Burns, Burns, and Hwang (2011) suggested a two-process explanation of the proximate mechanisms responsible for the survival advantage. Whereas most control tasks encourage only one type of processing, the survival task encourages both item-specific and relational processing. They found that when control tasks encouraged both types of processing, the survival processing advantage was eliminated. However, none of their control conditions included non-survival scenarios (e.g., moving, vacation, etc.), so it is not clear how this two-process explanation would explain the survival advantage when scenarios are used as control conditions. The present experiments replicated the finding that the survival scenario improves recall relative to a moving scenario in both a between-lists and within-list design and also provided evidence that this difference was accompanied by an item-specific processing difference, not a difference in relational processing. The implications of these results for several existing accounts of the survival processing effect are discussed.     

Adaptive Memory: Identifying the Proximate Roots of the Survival Processing Advantage

The current study examined the role of item-specific, relational, and elaborative processing on adaptive memory. Younger and older adults received the standard survival processing, a survival-short, or a pleasantness processing instruction. The survival-short condition was specifically included to lead to fewer possibilities to engage in elaborative processing. Furthermore, half of the presented words were categorized words to boost relational processing. Younger adults demonstrated the typical survival recall advantage in that standard survival processing instructions resulted in superior free recall performance than that of the survival-short and the pleasantness processing groups. Among older adults, no mnemonic benefit of standard survival processing relative to the survival-short or pleasantness processing groups was found. Furthermore, reducing the probability of elaborative processing (i.e., through the survival-short processing instructions) abolished the survival recall advantage. Our results thus provide further evidence for the role of item-specific, relational, and elaborative processing in the survival processing advantage.     

记忆的生存加工优势效应

近年来,一些研究者使用生存加工范式来研究记忆,并发现了记忆的生存加工优势效应。本文首先介绍生存加工优势效应的含义及其研究范式,然后介绍生存优势产生的可能原因,即在长期的进化过程中,记忆的机制是为了解决人类祖先的适应性问题而设计的,因此产生记忆的生存优势效应。同时,还分析了记忆生存加工优势效应产生的其他可能原因以及对生存优势效应的争论。最后提出了今后需要进一步研究的问题。     

分类学习与混合学习下的注意促进效应比较

注意促进效应(ABE)是指目标探测性质的干扰会促进与之同时进行的背景刺激的记忆编码, 产生比分心拒绝下更优的记忆成绩。Spataro等人(2017)对此提出项目特异性解释, 认为目标探测主要促进的是对项目的特异性信息而非关系性信息加工。本研究采用混合学习和分类学习的方式形成对背景刺激的特异性信息和关系性信息加工。结果表明, 与混合学习相比, 分类学习下的ABE有所减少(实验2), 甚至消失(实验1), 表明当编码过程中对背景刺激的加工主要依赖于关系性信息时, 目标探测所产生的促进效应会被削弱, 从而为ABE的项目特异性解释提供更为直接的证据。     

Survival processing in times of stress

Recent studies have found that processing information according to an evolutionary relevant (i.e., survival) scenario improves its subsequent memorability, potentially as a result of fitness advantages gained in the ancestral past. So far, research has not revealed much about any proximate mechanisms that might underlie this so-called survival processing advantage in memory. Intriguingly, research has shown that the memorability of stressful situations is enhanced via the release of stress hormones acting on brain regions involved in memory. Since survival situations habitually involve some degree of stress, in the present study, we investigated whether stress serves as a proximate mechanism to promote survival processing. Participants rated words for their relevance to either a survival or a neutral (moving) scenario after they had been exposed to a psychosocial stressor or a no-stress control condition. Surprise retention tests immediately following the rating task revealed that survival processing and acute stress independently boosted memory performance. These results therefore suggest that stress does not serve as a proximate mechanism of the survival processing advantage in memory.     

Does survival context enhance memory for source? A within-subjects comparison

ABSTRACT

Nairne, Thompson, and Pandeirada [2007. Adaptive memory: Survival processing enhances retention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 263–273] demonstrated that processing words according to their relevance to a survival scenario enhanced their subsequent retrieval in recall and recognition tasks compared to a variety of control scenarios. From an adaptive perspective, it is maintained that processing words in a survival context should also enhance memory for source; however, evidence in the literature is rather mixed regarding a survival context advantage for source memory. In the current study, we conducted four experiments to systematically investigate the survival advantage in source memory, when the context itself is the source, with both recall (Experiments 1A and 1B) and recognition tests (Experiments 2A and 2B). Results showed a survival advantage for item memory over the control contexts in all experiments. The survival context advantage was not extended to source memory performance in Experiment 1A. Results from all other experiments, however, indicated a survival context advantage for both item and source memory. Findings are discussed in relation to possible proximate mechanisms underlying the survival processing effect.     

项目特异性加工和关系加工对非熟练中-英双语者跨语言错误记忆的影响

采用DRM范式进行跨语言错误记忆的研究较为鲜见, 而且得出了许多不同的结果, 关于错误记忆跨语言产生的理论解释也是各执己见。研究以非熟练中-英双语大学生为被试, 采用DRM范式对非熟练中-英双语者的跨语言错误记忆进行了研究。在2个实验中, 分别探讨了项目特异性加工和关系加工条件下, 语义激活的不同水平对跨语言错误记忆的影响。结果发现：1)非熟练中-英双语者也存在跨语言的错误记忆; 2)在项目特异性加工和关系加工条件下, 相同语言内与不同语言间发生关键诱词的错误再认的结果是不同的; 3)只在项目特异性加工条件下, 长词表比短词表会诱发更多的对关键诱词的错误再认。研究结果支持了激活-监测理论。     

When does generation enhance memory for location?

Generation is thought to enhance both item-specific and relational processing of generated targets as compared with read words (M. A. McDaniel & P. J. Waddill, 1990). Generation facilitates encoding of the cue-target relation and sometimes boosts encoding of relations across list items. Of interest is whether generation can also increase the encoding of target-location associations. Because the literature on this point is mixed, 3 procedural differences between 2 studies (E. J. Marsh, G. Edelman, & G. H. Bower, 2001; N. W. Mulligan, 2004) were identified and manipulated. A positive generation effect was found for location memory, but this effect was reduced when subjects wrote down the study words and when the filler task involved generation. Generation can enhance location memory in addition to item memory but only if the experimental parameters do not interfere with the processing benefits of generation.     

The emergence of item-specific encoding effects in between-subjects designs: perceptual interference and multiple recall tests

The perceptual-interference effect occurs when interference with word perception (by backward masking) enhances later memory for the word. In terms of the item-specific-relational framework (Hunt & McDaniel, 1993), this effect is similar to other manipulations that enhance item-specific encoding (such as the generation effect). One similarity is that item-specific effects typically do not arise in between-subjects designs. However, the present experiment demonstrates that a between-subjects perceptual-interference effect emerges over multiple recall tests. Furthermore, perceptual interference produces both more intertest gains (indexing enhanced item-specific processing) and more intertest losses (indexing disrupted relational encoding) compared with the intact (control) condition. Finally, delaying the mask to a point at which it no longer interferes with perception (266 msec) eliminates both the perceptual-interference recall advantage and the increase in intertest gains. This condition still produces more intertest losses, however. Together, these results imply that a delayed mask disrupts relational encoding but produces no item-specific enhancement, dissociating the two effects of the perceptual-interference manipulation.     

Enactment enhances integration between verb and noun, but not relational processing, in episodic memory

Improved recall has consistently been demonstrated following motor activation at encoding (SPT), compared to traditional verbal learning (VT). Enhancements of item-specific processing and relational processing have been proposed as possible mechanisms to account for this SPT effect. There is ample evidence supporting the notion of enhanced item-specific processing, however it is still unclear whether enhancement of relational processing contributes to improved recall. In the present study, 2 experiments were designed to address this issue. In Experiment 1, memory under 2 encoding conditions (VT vs. SPT) and 3 recall conditions (free recall vs. category-cued recall vs. verb-cued recall) were studied in 3 large samples (N= 500-600). Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1, and controlled for the use of actual objects, short-term memory effects, and carryover effects, in Experiment 1. The results in both experiments showed an interaction between type of encoding and type of recall. Verb-cued recall was affected differently by SPT encoding, as compared to category-cued recall and free recall. The results indicate that enhanced integration between verb and noun is an effect of SPT encoding, whereas enhanced relational processing is not.     

一致性、相关性对记忆生存优势效应的影响

对词语进行生存加工能提高记忆成绩,这种记忆的生存优势效应已得到不少研究的验证,且大多数研究表明生存优势是一种独特的编码方式(Nairne&Pandeirada,2011)。但是,Butler等人(2009)的研究结果表明实验中生存加工带来的记忆优势可能是一致性效应(即编码任务与编码的材料之间具有一致性)的作用。本文在2个实验中选用与生存和抢劫加工条件相关程度不同的词(高中低)为实验材料,采用生存加工、抢劫加工、愉悦度和有意学习为实验条件,研究一致性和相关性在记忆生存优势中的作用。结果发现:(1)生存条件下的记忆效果显著优于愉悦度条件和有意学习条件,这说明的确存在记忆的生存优势效应;(2)高生存相关词在生存加工条件下产生了记忆优势,而中、低生存相关词在2种加工条件下记忆成绩差异不显著,这说明加工条件的一致性只在一定程度上影响着记忆的生存优势效应;(3)词语自身的生存相关性没有表现出较强的记忆优势,当然这也可能与实验材料的词频有关。研究结果支持了Nairne和Pandeirada(2011)的观点。     

An item gains and losses analysis of false memories suggests critical items receive more item-specific processing than list items

In a repeated testing paradigm, list items receiving item-specific processing are more likely to be recovered across successive tests (item gains), whereas items receiving relational processing are likely to be forgotten progressively less on successive tests. Moreover, analysis of cumulative-recall curves has shown that item-specific processing produces a slower, but steadier rate of recall than relational processing. The authors relied on these findings to determine the type of processing that both list items and critical lures receive in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory procedure. The first 2 experiments revealed that critical lures produced more item gains, but only the list items resulted in a decrease in item losses across successive tests. The critical lures also produced slower but steadier cumulative recall. In Experiments 3 and 4, the critical items were physically presented during study, which resulted in the lures producing progressively fewer losses across successive tests. The authors concluded that critical items receive more item-specific processing than list items but that unless they are presented in the list, they do not become part of participants' organized retrieval scheme.     

The proximate memory mechanism underlying the survival-processing effect: Richness of encoding or interactive imagery?

Nairne and collaborators showed that assessing the relevance of words in the context of an imagined survival scenario boosts memory for these words. Although this survival-processing advantage has attracted a considerable amount of research, little is known about the proximate memory mechanism mediating this effect. Recently, Kroneisen and Erdfelder (2011) argued that it is not survival processing itself that facilitates recall but rather the richness and distinctiveness of encoding that is triggered by the survival-processing task. Alternatively, however, it is also conceivable that survival processing fosters interactive imagery, a process known to improve associative learning. To test these explanations we compared relevance-rating and interactive imagery tasks for survival and control scenarios. Results show that the survival advantage replicates in the relevance-rating condition but vanishes in the interactive imagery condition. This refutes the interactive imagery explanation and corroborates the richness-of-encoding hypothesis of the survival-processing effect.     

Picturing survival memories: Enhanced memory after fitness-relevant processing occurs for verbal and visual stimuli

Recent studies have shown that processing words according to a survival scenario leads to superior retention relative to control conditions. Here, we examined whether a survival recall advantage could be elicited by using pictures. Furthermore, in Experiment 1, we were interested in whether survival processing also results in improved memory for details. Undergraduates rated the relevance of pictures in a survival, moving, or pleasantness scenario and were subsequently given a surprise free recall test. We found that survival processing yielded superior retention. We also found that distortions occurred more often in the survival condition than in the pleasantness condition. In Experiment 2, we directly compared the survival recall effect between pictures and words. A comparable survival recall advantage was found for pictures and words. The present findings support the idea that memory is enhanced by processing information in terms of fitness value, yet at the same time, the present results suggest that this may increase the risk for memory distortions.     

Divided attention enhances explicit but not implicit conceptual memory: an item-specific account of the attentional boost effect

The Attentional Boost Effect (ABE) refers to the counterintuitive finding that words encoded with to-be-responded targets in a divided-attention condition are remembered better than words encoded with distractors. Previous studies suggested that the ABE-related enhancement of verbal memory depends upon the activation of abstract lexical representations. In the present study, we extend this hypothesis by embedding it in the context of a broader perspective, which proposes that divided attention in the ABE paradigm affects item-specific, but not relational, processing. To this purpose, we examined the ABE in the matched tasks of category-cued recall (CCRT: explicit memory) and category exemplar generation (CEGT: implicit memory). In addition, study time was varied (500, 1500 or 4000?ms), to further determine whether the attentional boost manipulation could influence late-phase elaborative processing. In agreement with the predictions of the item-specific account, the results showed that exemplars encoded with targets were recalled better than exemplars encoded with distractors in the CCRT, but not in the CEGT. Moreover, performance in the CCRT increased with study time, whereas the size of the ABE-related enhancement tended to decrease, further confirming that this effect hinges upon early phase encoding processes.     

Relational and imageric recall in young and older adults under conditions of high task demand

Research indicates the presence of an age-related pictorial processing deficit, for which the elderly may attempt to compensate through the use of relational information. Cognitive asynchrony theory, a recent synthetic formulation which unites elements of the generalized slowing hypothesis, environmental support theory, and the item-specific/relational information distinction, has proven useful in a number of experiments in explaining these aspects of visual cognitive aging. The present experiments tested this theoretical formulation under high processing demand conditions in both the relational and the pictorial/item-specific realm. Young and older adults yielded a complex pattern of results consistent with the cognitive asynchrony synthesis of these theoretical considerations. The present experiments add to the growing body of findings indicating that the cognitive subsystems of memory decline at different rates, that the differences in cognitive processing between young and older adults tend to be more quantitative than qualitative, and that the global age-related memory deficits of popular belief are in fact relatively circumscribed and specific. This research was supported by grant AG11605 from the National Institute on Aging, and by a grant from the College of Science and Mathematics, California State University.     

Relational and imageric recall in young and older adults under conditions of high task demand

Research indicates the presence of an age-related pictorial processing deficit, for which the elderly may attempt to compensate through the use of relational information. Cognitive asynchrony theory, a recent synthetic formulation which unites elements of the generalized slowing hypothesis, environmental support theory, and the item-specific/relational information distinction, has proven useful in a number of experiments in explaining these aspects of visual cognitive aging. The present experiments tested this theoretical formulation under high processing demand conditions in both the relational and the pictorial/item-specific realm. Young and older adults yielded a complex pattern of results consistent with the cognitive asynchrony synthesis of these theoretical considerations. The present experiments add to the growing body of findings indicating that the cognitive subsystems of memory decline at different rates, that the differences in cognitive processing between young and older adults tend to be more quantitative than qualitative, and that the global age-related memory deficits of popular belief are in fact relatively circumscribed and specific. This research was supported by grant AG11605 from the National Institute on Aging, and by a grant from the College of Science and Mathematics, California State University.     

Item-specific processing reduces false recognition in older and younger adults: Separating encoding and retrieval using signal detection and the diffusion model

Our study examined processing effects in improving memory accuracy in older and younger adults. Specifically, we evaluated the effectiveness of item-specific and relational processing instructions relative to a read-only control task on correct and false recognition in younger and older adults using a categorized-list paradigm. In both age groups, item-specific and relational processing improved correct recognition versus a read-only control task, and item-specific encoding decreased false recognition relative to both the relational and read-only groups. This pattern was found in older adults despite overall elevated rates of false recognition. We then applied signal-detection and diffusion-modeling analyses, which separately utilized recognition responses and the latencies to those responses to estimate contributions of encoding and monitoring processes on recognition decisions. Converging evidence from both analyses demonstrated that item-specific processing benefits to memory accuracy were due to improvements of both encoding (estimates of d′ and drift rate) and monitoring (estimates of lambda and boundary separation) processes, and, importantly, occurred similarly in both younger and older adults. Thus, older and younger adults showed similar encoding-based and test-based benefits of item-specific processing to enhance memory accuracy.     

Item-specific and relational encoding effects in children's recall and recognition memory for words

This study tests the hypothesis that children's deficiency in encoding itemspecific and relational information in episodic events contributes to age differences in recall and recognition. In two experiments, grade school children and college adults were presented with word triplets varying in categorical relatedness. The processing of the item-specific and relational information in the triplets was independently manipulated. Experiment 1 assessed cued recall, and Experiment 2 assessed recognition of both the central target and incidental contextual members of each triplet. The results showed that the processing manipulations had independent and different effects on recall and recognition, on memory for the members of the different kinds of triplets, on the use of the retrieval cues, and on memory for target and incidental words. Developmental differences were found in both recall and recognition, and of both target and incidental words, that varied with triplet type and the processing manipulations and that were attributable to differences in the encoding of item-specific and relational information in the triplets. The discussion contrasts alternative accounts of children's encoding deficiency, and suggests that the distinction between automatic, age-invariant, and strategic age-sensitive encoding processes needs to be redrawn.     

SPT效应的编码机制：项目特异性与项目关联性信息

SPT是增强了项目特异性信息还是增强了项目关联性信息一直是SPT效应研究的主题。研究从项目特异性信息和项目关联性信息两个层面综述了SPT效应编码机制的相关研究。在项目特异性信息方面,研究剖析了SPT增强项目特异性信息加工的具体内容、所采取的研究方式以及SPT增强项目特异性加工的原因。在项目关联信息方面,研究分类梳理了情景关联、项目与环境的关联以及类别关联在SPT效应中的作用。未来研究应着手探索SPT能够增强项目特异性加工的深层原因。