Event memory: temporal-order judgments of personal life experiences

Three experiments with undergraduate subjects investigated the mental representations that people form when they recall and chronologically order their personal experiences. Subjects in each study first recalled five events that occurred to them in two general periods of their life (e.g., high school and college). Later, they saw pairs of these events and judged the order in which they occurred. It typically took less time to compare events that occurred in different time periods than events that occurred in the same period. However, response times depended on the serial positions of the compared events in each time period, and the distance between them, in ways that varied over the three experiments. These effects were interpreted in terms of a model of event memory and judgment proposed by Wyer, Shoben, Fuhrman, and Bodenhausen (1985). Specifically, subjects appear to organize the events they are asked to recall into categories defined by the periods of life in which they occurred and assign temporal codes to these categories. However, they do not perform a more detailed temporal coding of the events they recall unless a coherent temporal representation of these events is difficult to construct. A direct comparison between judgments of personal experiences and judgments of others' experiences suggested that people may make more detailed temporal coding of others' experiences than they do of their own.     

Decomposition can harm the accuracy of behavioural frequency reports

In survey research, the use of decomposition can lead to pronounced reporting errors as seen by overreporting and overall reporting error. A total of 87 subjects answered either decomposed or undecomposed questions concerning telephone calls made by them while at work. The questionnaire conditions varied the length of the reference period (1 week or 6 months), and the type of call (local or long‐distance). Decomposition conditions introduced either spatial or temporal cues. In all comparisons, decomposed questions increased overreporting bias relative to undecomposed questions. In addition, undecomposed questions with a 1‐week reference period led to increased overreporting bias in comparison to undecomposed/6‐month questions. Results are consistent with a category split estimation model in which smaller categories are predicted to lead to overreporting, and larger categories to underreporting. Decomposition is not recommended for gaining retrospective reports of non‐distinctive, frequent events. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An effect of context on whether memory for initial position exhibits a Fr?hlich effect or an onset repulsion effect.

Memory for the initial and final positions of moving targets was examined. When targets appeared adjacent to the boundary of a larger enclosing window, memory for initial position exhibited a Fr?hlich effect (i.e., a displacement forward), and when distance of initial position from the boundary increased, memory for initial position exhibited a smaller Fr?hlich effect or an onset repulsion effect (i.e., a displacement backward). When targets vanished adjacent to the boundary of a larger enclosing window, memory for final position was displaced backward, and when distance of final position from the boundary increased, memory for final position did not exhibit significant displacement. These patterns differed from previously reported displacements of initial and final positions of targets presented on a blank background. Possible influences of attention and extrapolation of trajectory on whether memory for initial position exhibits a Fr?hlich effect or an onset repulsion effect and on backward displacement in memory for final position are discussed.     

The start-stop procedure: Estimation

In four experiments investigating human timing, subjects produced estimates of sample durations by bracketing their endpoints. On each trial, subjects reproduced a sample duration by pressing a button before the estimated sample duration elapsed (start time) and releasing it after the estimated duration elapsed (stop time). From these responses, middle time (start + stop/2) and spread time (stop — start) were calculated, representing the point of subjective equality and the difference limen, respectively. In all experiments, subjects produced middle times that varied directly with sample duration. In Experiment 2, middle times lengthened when feedback was withheld. Consistent with Weber timing, spread times, as well as the standard deviation of middle times, varied directly with middle time (Experiments 1, 3, and 4). On the basis of an internal clock model of timing (Gibbon & Church, 1990), the data permitted inferences regarding memory processes and response threshold. Correlations between start and stop times and between start and spread times agreed with earlier findings in animals suggesting that the variance of temporal estimates across trials is based in part upon the selection of a single temporal memory sample from a reference memory store and upon one or two threshold samples for initiating and terminating each estimate within a trial.     

Interactions between apparent motion rivalry in vision and touch

In multistable perception, the brain alternates between several perceptual explanations of ambiguous sensory signals. It is unknown whether multistable processes can interact across the senses. In the study reported here, we presented subjects with unisensory (visual or tactile), spatially congruent visuotactile, and spatially incongruent visuotactile apparent motion quartets. Congruent stimulation induced pronounced visuotactile interactions, as indicated by increased dominance times for both vision and touch, and an increased percentage bias for the percept already dominant under unisensory stimulation. Thus, the joint evidence from vision and touch stabilizes the more likely perceptual interpretation and thereby decelerates the rivalry dynamics. Yet the temporal dynamics depended also on subjects' attentional focus and was generally slower for tactile than for visual reports. Our results support Bayesian approaches to perceptual inference, in which the probability of a perceptual interpretation is determined by combining visual, tactile, or visuotactile evidence with modality-specific priors that depend on subjects' attentional focus. Critically, the specificity of visuotactile interactions for spatially congruent stimulation indicates multisensory rather than cognitive-bias mechanisms.     

模糊分组的时间层次网络结构研究

本研究通过两个实验来对连续性的时间顺序标码的层次网络结构的性质进行了探讨。研究结果表明,连续性的时间顺序标码是按照层次网络的结构组织起来的,若干项目组成一个小组,若干小组组成更大的组。连续性的时间标码层次网络的形成具有自动性、内隐性的特点。连续性的时间顺序标码的层次网络结构是主观的、模糊的。两个相邻的小组的项目之间出现了距离效应,而两个相邻的大组的项目之间则出现了越界效应,由于两个大组的项目的平均距离大于两个小组的项目的平均距离,越界效应大于距离效应。     

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.     

Temporal isolation does not facilitate forward serial recall—or does it?

In numerous recent studies in short-term memory, it has been established that forward serial recall is unaffected by the temporal isolation of to-be-remembered items. These findings contradict the temporal distinctiveness view of memory, which expects items that are temporally isolated from their neighbors to be more distinct and hence remembered better. To date, isolation effects have only been found with tests that do not constrain output order, such as free recall. This article reports two experiments that, for the first time, report a temporal isolation effect with forward serial recall, using a running memory task in which the end of the list is unpredictable. The results suggest that people are able to encode and use temporal information in situations in which positional information is of little value. We conclude that the overall pattern of findings concerning temporal isolation supports models of short-term memory that postulate multidimensional representations of items.     

Incidental encoding of numerosity in visual long-term memory

The visual system can readily extract numerosity information from brief experiences. This numerical perception is characterized by diminishing accuracy as numerosity increases, and impaired discrimination for similar quantities and large magnitudes. Here we assess whether these properties apply more broadly to numerosity in visual long-term memory. In surprise memory tests, we observed: Remarkable accuracy in estimating the number of repetitions of an exemplar image (Experiment 1a), that this accuracy decreased but remained high when estimating over categories (Experiments 1b and 1c), that numerical discrimination from memory exhibited psychophysical distance and size effects (Experiment 2), that these effects may derive from stored representations rather than post hoc approximation (Experiment 3a), and that they can reflect total elapsed experience in addition to discrete counts (Experiment 3b). Similar to how numerosity is readily extracted during visual perception, our results suggest that numerosity is encoded incidentally in visual long-term memory.     

Developmental and cognitive perspectives on humans’ sense of the times of past and future events

Mental time travel in human adults includes a sense of when past events occurred and future events are expected to occur. Studies with adults and children reveal that a number of distinct psychological processes contribute to a temporally differentiated sense of the past and future. Adults possess representations of multiple time patterns, and these representations take several different forms. Memory for the times of past events is built upon reconstruction of temporal locations, impressions of distances in the past, and order-codes. The times of future events are understood primarily as locations in represented time patterns, but propositions active in memory contain information that particular events are coming soon. Young children have difficulty distinguishing the past–future status of some events, showing that basic memory processes do not make the distinction clear. Concepts of the past and future may be required for differentiating these two categories of experience.     

预警、重复学习和反馈对错误记忆的影响——错误记忆的信号检测论分析

本研究用信号检测论分析预警、重复学习和反馈三种变量对错误记忆的影响.实验1考察预警指导语的影响.实验2考察重复学习和反馈的影响.结果表明:预警对被试辨别力和反应偏向的影响不明显,对错误记忆影响也不显著;重复学习不能明显影响被试的反应标准,但可提高辨别力减弱错误记忆;反馈明显使被试倾向于使用更为宽松的反应标准,难以降低错误记忆.再认双加工模型和激活/监测理论能对实验结果做出合理的解释.     

Hindsight bias as a function of anchor distance and anchor plausibility

This study explored the influence of anchor distance on hindsight bias and how the subjective plausibility of different anchors moderates this relation. In addition to the standard memory design used in hindsight bias research, participants were asked to indicate the range of values for possible answers to difficult almanac questions. Varying anchor distance on the basis of each participant's individual range of possible answers showed (1) that anchor plausibility decreased with increasing anchor distance following a non-linear monotone function, (2) that size of hindsight bias initially increased with increasing anchor distance but, from a certain distance, started to decrease, and (3) that hindsight bias was found to be always higher for plausible than for implausible anchors.     

Hindsight bias as a function of anchor distance and anchor plausibility

This study explored the influence of anchor distance on hindsight bias and how the subjective plausibility of different anchors moderates this relation. In addition to the standard memory design used in hindsight bias research, participants were asked to indicate the range of values for possible answers to difficult almanac questions. Varying anchor distance on the basis of each participant's individual range of possible answers showed (1) that anchor plausibility decreased with increasing anchor distance following a non-linear monotone function, (2) that size of hindsight bias initially increased with increasing anchor distance but, from a certain distance, started to decrease, and (3) that hindsight bias was found to be always higher for plausible than for implausible anchors.     

The effects of time and distance on accuracy of target-directed locomotion: does an accurate short-term memory for spatial location exist?

The present study was an attempt to replicate the findings of an influential set of experiments by Thomson (1980, 1983) in which he demonstrated a highly accurate but transitory short-term memory for target location during locomotion. No evidence of Thomson's rapidly decaying 8 s short-term memory was found in either of the two experiments presented here. The distance to the target, not the elapsed time, was found to be the major variable affecting the accuracy of walks made without the benefit of visual feedback; as target distance increased so did locomotor error. Increasing the elapsed time to more than 8 s between viewing the target and reaching the vicinity of the target had no effect on the accuracy of walks made with eyes closed. When the elapsed time was greater than 30 s, however, performance began to deteriorate. These results suggest, in sharp contrast to Thomson's experiments, that short-term memory for target location decays rather slowly during locomotion. In this regard, short-term memory in locomotor tasks appears to be little different from the kinds of short-term memory associated with other motor acts.     

Children's memory for complex autobiographical events: does spacing of repeated instances matter?

Often, when children testify in court they do so as victims of a repeated offence and must report details of an instance of the offence. One factor that may influence children's ability to succeed in this task concerns the temporal distance between presentations of the repeated event. Indeed, there is a substantial amount of literature on the "spacing effect" that suggests this may be the case. In the current research, we examined the effect of temporal spacing on memory reports for complex autobiographical events. Children participated in one or four play sessions presented at different intervals. Later, children were suggestively questioned, and then participated in a memory test. Superior recall of distributed events (a spacing effect) was found when the delay to test was 1 day (Experiment 1) but there was little evidence for a spacing effect when the delay was 1 week (Experiment 2). Implications for understanding children's recall of repeated autobiographical events are discussed.     

Memory for temporal order of new and familiar spatial location sequences: role of the medial prefrontal cortex

Rats with medial prefrontal cortex or sham control lesions were tested on an eight-arm radial maze task to examine memory for the temporal order of a variable and a constant sequence of spatial locations as a function of temporal distance. During the study phase of each trial, rats were allowed to visit each of eight arms once in an order that was randomly selected or fixed for that trial. The test phase required the rats to choose which of two arms occurred earlier in the sequence of arms visited during the study phase. The arms selected as test arms varied according to temporal distance (0, 2, 4, or 6) or the number of arms that occurred between the two test arms in the study phase. For the variable sequences based on new information, control rats showed an increasing temporal distance function. Relative to control rats, medial prefrontal cortex-lesioned rats displayed a temporal order memory deficit across all distances. For the constant sequence based on familiar information, control rats performed well across all distances. Relative to controls, the medial prefrontal cortex-lesioned rats displayed a performance deficit. The results support the idea that the medial prefrontal cortex contributes to mnemonic operations associated with temporal order for new and familiar spatial location information.     

Temporal Distance and Moral Concerns: Future Morally Questionable Behavior is Perceived as More Wrong and Evokes Stronger Prosocial Intentions

Prior research on temporal construal has shown that core values become more salient when people think about distant- as compared to near-future events. The present research shows that greater temporal distance of an event also results in greater moral concern. More specifically, it was found that people make harsher moral judgments of others' distant-future morally questionable behavior than near-future morally questionable behavior. Moreover, it was shown that people increasingly attribute distant vs. near future behavior to abstract dispositional relative to concrete situational causes, and that this attribution bias is partially responsible for the temporal distance effect on moral judgments.     

Classification in well-defined and ill-defined categories: evidence for common processing strategies

Early work in perceptual and conceptual categorization assumed that categories had criterial features and that category membership could be determined by logical rules for the combination of features. More recent theories have assumed that categories have an ill-defined structure and have prosposed probabilistic or global similarity models for the verification of category membership. In the experiments reported here, several models of categorization were compared, using one set of categories having criterial features and another set having an ill-defined structure. Schematic faces were used as exemplars in both cases. Because many models depend on distance in a multidimensional space for their predictions, in Experiment 1 a multidimensional scaling study was performed using the faces of both sets as stimuli, In Experiment 2, subjects learned the category membership of faces for the categories having criterial features. After learning, reaction times for category verification and typicality judgments were obtained. Subjects also judged the similarity of pairs of faces. Since these categories had characteristic as well as defining features, it was possible to test the predictions of the feature comparison model (Smith et al.), which asserts that reaction times and typicalities are affected by characteristic features. Only weak support for this model was obtained. Instead, it appeared that subjects developed logical rules for the classification of faces. A characteristic feature affected reaction times only when it was part of the rule system devised by the subject. The procedure for Experiment 3 was like that for Experiment 2, but with ill-defined rather than well-defined categories. The obtained reaction times had high correlations with some of the models for ill-defined categories. However, subjects' performance could best be described as one of feature testing based on a logical rule system for classification. These experiments indicate that whether or not categories have criterial features, subjects attempt to develop a set of feature tests that allow for exemplar classification. Previous evidence supporting probabilistic or similarity models may be interpreted as resulting from subjects' use of the most efficient rules for classification and the averaging of responses for subjects using different sets of rules.     

大学生对年轻人和老年人的年龄刻板印象

采用内隐联想测验(IAT)和相应的外显测量,考察了大学生被试对年轻人和老年人的内隐和外显年龄刻板印象。结果表明:大学生被试在身体特征、个人表达和认知能力等3个方面对老年人都普遍存在明显消极的内隐态度;而在外显测量中,对年轻人和老年人的态度不存在显著差异;内隐和外显的年龄刻板印象测量之间相关不显著,可以用不同的记忆系统理论和联结-命题评价(APE)模型来解释内隐和外显测量不一致现象;不同性别的大学生被试在外显态度测量和内隐联想测验中测得的年龄刻板印象均不存在显著差异。