Strategies for verifying false autobiographical memories

This study examined the types of strategies people use to verify putative childhood memories and the degree to which their preferred strategies are restricted in typical memory implantation studies. We asked subjects to describe a situation in which they recalled a false childhood experience and a hypothetical situation in which they pretended to have developed a false memory after taking part in a memory implantation study. We also asked them how they did (or would) determine the source of the event. We found that subjects relied primarily on other people and cognitive strategies to verify their experiences. These results suggest that laboratory situations cultivate false memories in part because they prevent people from talking to others about the false event, which causes them to rely on less optimal strategies.     

Perspectives of probabilistic inferences: Reinforcement learning and an adaptive network compared

The assumption that people possess a strategy repertoire for inferences has been raised repeatedly. The strategy selection learning theory specifies how people select strategies from this repertoire. The theory assumes that individuals select strategies proportional to their subjective expectations of how well the strategies solve particular problems; such expectations are assumed to be updated by reinforcement learning. The theory is compared with an adaptive network model that assumes people make inferences by integrating information according to a connectionist network. The network's weights are modified by error correction learning. The theories were tested against each other in 2 experimental studies. Study 1 showed that people substantially improved their inferences through feedback, which was appropriately predicted by the strategy selection learning theory. Study 2 examined a dynamic environment in which the strategies' performances changed. In this situation a quick adaptation to the new situation was not observed; rather, individuals got stuck on the strategy they had successfully applied previously. This "inertia effect" was most strongly predicted by the strategy selection learning theory.     

英语单词记忆过程中策略的选用和评价的研究

问卷结果表明 :普通大学生和 GRE考生在有关记忆过程的知识方面没有差异 ;绝大多数 GRE考生有选用“较多的”策略趋势 ,且在规定单词记忆量和精细加工策略方面差异显著 ;两类被试在对策略的评价的总体上具有一致性 ,但两类被试在选择比较有效和值得推荐的策略时 ,在一些自我监控策略上的选取比率表现出差异 ,在选择效果不佳和基本无效策略时 ,在某些一般记忆加工策略上选取比率也存在差异 ;绝大多数被试推荐策略是基于经验 ,判定策略无效是源于直觉判断。本文结合前人的研究成果 ,探讨了知识、情景因素与策略的选择和运用的关系 ;提出了实际学习情景下策略有效性意识形成的两个因素及可能途径。     

Self-verification processes: How we sustain our self-conceptions

It is proposed here that individuals use their social interactions as opportunities to verify and confirm their self-conceptions. In a series of empirical investigations, three unique strategies of self-verification are examined. In Investigation I, participants were more likely to seek social feedback when they believed that it would confirm their self-conceptions. In Investigation II, participants elicited reactions from their interaction partners that confirmed their self-conceptions, especially when they suspected that their interaction partners' appraisals might disconfirm their self-conceptions. In Investigation III, participants preferentially recalled social feedback that confirmed their self-conceptions. Thus, within each of three distinct phases of the social interaction, people sought to verify their self-conceptions. The interplay of different strategies of self-verification and the conditions under which they will occur are discussed.     

Whichever way you choose to categorize,working memory helps you learn

There has been growing interest in the relationship between the capacity of a person's working memory and their ability to learn to categorize stimuli. While there is evidence that working memory capacity (WMC) is related to the speed of category learning, it is unknown whether WMC predicts which strategies people use when there are multiple possible solutions to a categorization problem. To explore the relationship between WMC, category learning, and categorization strategy use, 173 participants completed two categorization tasks and a battery of WMC tasks. WMC predicted the speed of category learning, but it did not predict which strategies participants chose to perform categorization. Thus, WMC does not predict which categorization strategies people use but it predicts how well they will use the strategy they select.     

Whichever way you choose to categorize, working memory helps you learn

There has been growing interest in the relationship between the capacity of a person's working memory and their ability to learn to categorize stimuli. While there is evidence that working memory capacity (WMC) is related to the speed of category learning, it is unknown whether WMC predicts which strategies people use when there are multiple possible solutions to a categorization problem. To explore the relationship between WMC, category learning, and categorization strategy use, 173 participants completed two categorization tasks and a battery of WMC tasks. WMC predicted the speed of category learning, but it did not predict which strategies participants chose to perform categorization. Thus, WMC does not predict which categorization strategies people use but it predicts how well they will use the strategy they select.     

眼动追踪在价值导向元记忆研究中的应用

价值导向元记忆关注人们在面对不同重要性信息时,通过元记忆监测和调节,有选择地优先加工高价值信息,以实现记忆效率最大化的目的。价值导向元记忆包括价值导向元记忆监测和控制,眼动追踪技术以其无干扰性、生态效度高等优势可以时时追踪这一监控过程。当前该领域研究中已采用的眼动指标集中在项目选择、学习时间分配、学习进程等方面。未来在项目选择、学习效率和策略比较等研究中可以探索眼动追踪技术的进一步应用。     

Intelligence moderates the benefits of strategy instructions on memory performance: an adult-lifespan examination

Whether older adults can compensate for their associative memory deficit by using memory strategies efficiently might depend on their general cognitive abilities. This study examined the moderating role of an IQ estimate on the beneficial effects of strategy instructions. A total of 142 participants (aged 18–85 years) received either intentional learning or strategy (“sentence generation”) instructions during encoding of word pairs. Whereas young adults with a lower IQ benefited from strategy instructions, those with a higher IQ did not, presumably because they already use strategies spontaneously. Older adults showed the opposite effect: following strategy instructions, older adults with a higher IQ showed a strong increase in memory performance (approximately achieving the level of younger adults), whereas older adults with a lower IQ did not, suggesting that they have difficulties implementing the provided strategies. These results highlight the importance of the role of IQ in compensating for the aging-related memory decline.     

Knowledge and use of memory strategies in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

Despite the inclusion of memory strategy training in many interventions for amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), little research has directly examined knowledge and use of memory strategies in aMCI and their relationship to memory performance in order to guide the development of targeted interventions. The present study aimed to compare strategy knowledge and use between an aMCI and a healthy older adult (HOA) sample, and to determine the contribution of strategy knowledge and use to memory performance in each of these groups. The sample comprised 37 aMCI and 52 HOA participants aged over 60 years. All participants completed questionnaires to assess strategy knowledge and self-reported use of internal and external strategies in everyday life. In addition, strategy use was observed on the measures of retrospective and prospective memory performance (the CVLT-II and the CAMPROMPT). The aMCI group demonstrated decreased strategy knowledge and observed use of internal strategies, although equivalent observed use of external strategies compared with the HOA group. Furthermore, they reported equivalent use of both internal and external strategies. Observed use of strategies was significantly associated with retrospective memory performance for both groups and prospective memory performance for the aMCI group, supporting the inclusion of strategy training in interventions.     

The function of academic and non-academic criteria in employers' selection strategies

The different ways in which employers use educational qualifications and non-academic criteria in their recruitment and selection of young people are explored. Five different types of selection strategy are identified, each of which is characterised by a different balance between the use of academic and non-academic criteria. After a consideration of the functions that educational qualifications perform in the different strategies, the nonacademic criteria are examined in more detail. The paper concludes with an examination of the implications of these findings for careers guidance.     

Cognitive niches: an ecological model of strategy selection

How do people select among different strategies to accomplish a given task? Across disciplines, the strategy selection problem represents a major challenge. We propose a quantitative model that predicts how selection emerges through the interplay among strategies, cognitive capacities, and the environment. This interplay carves out for each strategy a cognitive niche, that is, a limited number of situations in which the strategy can be applied, simplifying strategy selection. To illustrate our proposal, we consider selection in the context of 2 theories: the simple heuristics framework and the ACT-R (adaptive control of thought-rational) architecture of cognition. From the heuristics framework, we adopt the thesis that people make decisions by selecting from a repertoire of simple decision strategies that exploit regularities in the environment and draw on cognitive capacities, such as memory and time perception. ACT-R provides a quantitative theory of how these capacities adapt to the environment. In 14 simulations and 10 experiments, we consider the choice between strategies that operate on the accessibility of memories and those that depend on elaborate knowledge about the world. Based on Internet statistics, our model quantitatively predicts people's familiarity with and knowledge of real-world objects, the distributional characteristics of the associated speed of memory retrieval, and the cognitive niches of classic decision strategies, including those of the fluency, recognition, integration, lexicographic, and sequential-sampling heuristics. In doing so, the model specifies when people will be able to apply different strategies and how accurate, fast, and effortless people's decisions will be.     

Divergent effects of instructed and reported emotion regulation strategies on children’s memory for emotional information

ABSTRACT

Distraction can reduce adults’ memory for emotion-eliciting information, whereas reappraisal can preserve or enhance it. Yet, when given instructions to use specific emotion regulation (ER) strategies, adults report using other strategies too. The consequences of non-instructed strategy use within instructed ER paradigms are rarely examined. We investigated how both instructed and non-instructed but reported strategies related to memory for emotional information in childhood. Older (N?=?69; 8- to 10-year-olds; 24 girls) and younger (N?=?65; 5- to 7-year-olds; 35 girls) children received instructions to use cognitive distraction, reappraisal, or do nothing (control) before and after viewing a negative emotional film clip. Children were later interviewed about what they remembered about the film, and reported the ER strategies they used during it. Memory did not vary across instructed ER strategy conditions, and reported strategies did not relate to memory differently for older and younger children. Consistent with adult work, reported cognitive distraction related to poorer memory. Different reappraisal types were reported, but only situation-focused reappraisal was linked to better memory. In sum, children’s reported cognitive distraction and reappraisal strategies related to memory for emotional information differently. Thus, ER strategies divergently relate to what children remember about their emotional experiences.     

Verbalization of Decision Strategies in Multiple‐Cue Probabilistic Inference

In multiple‐cue probabilistic inference, people choose between alternatives based on several cues, each of which is differentially associated with an alternative's overall value. Various strategies have been proposed for probabilistic inference (e.g., weighted additive, tally, and take‐the‐best). These strategies differ in how many cue values they require to enact and in how they weight each cue. Do decision makers actually use any of these strategies? Ways to investigate this question include analyzing people's choices and the cues that they reveal. However, different strategies often predict the same decisions, and search behavior says nothing about whether or how people use the information that they acquire. In this research, we attempt to elucidate which strategies participants use in a multiple‐cue probabilistic inference task by examining verbal protocols, a high‐density source of process data. The promise of verbal data is in their utility for testing detailed information processing models. To that end, we apply protocol analysis in conjunction with computational simulations. We find converging evidence across outcome measures, search measures, and verbal reports that most participants use simplifying heuristics, namely take‐the‐best. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Counter-argument self-efficacy predicts choice of belief-defense strategies

Research has identified many strategies people use to defend against belief-inconsistent information. However, little research has identified factors that predict which defense strategy people will use when more than one is available. Two experiments tested whether people choose to counter-argue belief-inconsistent information because they believe arguing will be successful, but resort to weaker defense strategies because they believe arguing will be unsuccessful. Exposure to strong versus weak belief-inconsistent information caused a decrease in counter-arguing and an increase in ignoring (Experiment 1) or claiming a belief to be a matter of opinion (untestable) rather than a matter of fact (testable; Experiment 2). Consistent with self-efficacy theory, expectations of successful counter-arguing was the mechanism responsible for both effects. When people feel less capable of successfully counter-arguing because the information is too difficult to refute, they resort to epistemically weaker defense strategies in order to preserve their belief.     

工作记忆成分的年龄相关差异对算术策略运用的预测效应

采用选择/无选范式,借助工作记忆成套测验,在两位数乘法估算问题中探讨了工作记忆系统各成分对不同年龄段个体算术策略运用的预测效应。结果显示:(1)工作记忆的不同成分与年龄之间存在明显的相关。表现为,除视空模板成分外,其他各成分得分随着年龄增长而呈现上升趋势;(2)估算策略运用中,年龄与策略选择显著相关,表现为随着年龄增长,策略选择表现明显提高;(3)估算策略运用中,不同年龄个体的工作记忆不同成分和策略选择表现出不同的联系,中央执行均显示出显著的预测效应,语音环路和视空模板的预测效应均不显著。不同年龄个体的工作记忆不同成分对策略执行的预测效应均不显著。上述发现对于深刻理解工作记忆系统在算术认知策略运用中的作用机制具有重要理论含义。     

Item Desirability Effects in Compliance-Gaining Research Seven Studies Documenting Artifacts in the Strategy Selection Procedure

A popular method for assessing compliance-gaming behavior involves having people rate lists of preformulated message strategies for likelihood of use. This “selection procedure” has been employed much more frequently than the alternative “construction procedure,” a method that requires people to generate their own message strategies. The present article argues that the selection procedure is much less sensitive than the construction procedure to the effects of situational and individual-difference variables on compliance-gaining behavior. The article further suggests that the insensitivity of the selection procedure is due to a type of social desirability bias known as the item desirability effect. Seven studies were carried out testing the Marwell and Schmitt (1967) and Wiseman and Schenk-Hamlin (1 981) strategy checklists for the item desirability effect. These studies found that (a) the likelihood of use ratings prouided for the strategies on both checklists could be accurately predicted by the rated social appropriateness of the strategies, (b) likelihood of use ratingsfor preforrnulated strategies haue relatively poor reliability, and (c) the construction procedure is much less susceptible to social desirability biases than the selection procedure. On the basis of these and related findings, it is recommended that researchers eschew the use of strategy checklists in future research.     

Do people combine the parity- and five-rule checking strategies in product verification?

The basic question of the present experiment was whether people use a combination of arithmetic problem solving strategies to reject false products to multiplication problems or whether they simply use the single most efficient strategy. People had to verify true and false, five and non-five arithmetic problems. Compared with no-rule violation problems, people were faster with (a) five problems that violated the five rule (i.e., N×5=number with 5 or 0 as the final digit; e.g., 15 × 4=62), (b) problems that violated the parity rule (i.e., to be true, a product must be even if either or both of its multipliers is even; otherwise, it must be odd; 4 × 38=149), and (c) problems that violated both the parity and five rules (e.g., 29 × 5=142). Finally, people were equally fast and accurate when they solved two-rule violation problems than when they solved five-rule violation problems, and faster for those two types of problems than for parity-rule violation problems. Clearly, people use the single most efficient strategy when they reject false product to multiplication problems. This result has implications for our understanding of strategy selection in both arithmetic in particular and human cognition in general. Received: 18 October 1999 / Accepted: 27 January 2000     

Mediator-based encoding strategies in source monitoring in young and older adults

Past research has examined the contribution of mediator-based encoding strategies (interactive imagery and sentence generation) to individual (particularly age-related) differences in associative memory exclusively in the paired-associates paradigm. In the present study, we examined young and older adults' mediator-based strategy use on source-monitoring tasks. Participants spontaneously used mediator-based strategies to encode about 30% to 40% of word-source pairs and were able to follow instructions to use the specific mediator-based strategy of interactive imagery; mediator-based strategy use was associated with higher source memory and explained variance in source memory. There were no age-related differences in the patterns of mediator-based strategy production and utilization. Age-related differences in source memory were explained by age-related declines in the ability to bind information in memory (incidental memory for digit-symbol associations) but not by encoding strategy production. Results underscore the importance of assessing encoding strategy use for understanding individual differences in source memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Information-gathering processes: Diagnosticity,hypothesis-confirmatory strategies,and perceived hypothesis confirmation

Recent research has investigated the information-gathering strategies that people employ as they attempt to test hypotheses. Three such strategies of information seeking were examined. Two kinds of hypothesis-confirmation strategies were considered. The first of these concerned evidence being sought to the extent that it is more likely under the hypothesis being tested than under the alternative. The second kind of hypothesis-confirmation strategy refers to the tendency to ask questions that will have the effect of making the hypothesis under test appear to be true. In addition, a third kind of strategy is a diagnosing strategy under which people prefer evidence that is most differentially probable under the hypothesis and the alternative. Important changes in methodology from past work were made, and the data supported a predominant diagnosing strategy and a less significant, but nonetheless strong and consistent, tendency to ask hypothesis-confirming questions. In addition, subjects' choice of questions made it likely that they would perceive as confirmed the specific hypotheses they were testing. This occurred even though the questions employed were not constraining. Discussion involves the strategies of information gathering and the reasons underlying them as well as the implications of these strategies for the inferences people make about their predictive abilities.     

Task Importance Effects on Prospective Memory Strategy Use

Mnemonic strategies generally improve prospective memory (PM) performance. However, little is known about why people use such strategies. In the Motivational‐Cognitive Prospective Memory model, task importance is thought to influence performance via multiple mechanisms, including increased strategy use. Our main purpose was to test this mechanism: higher PM task importance was hypothesized to cause greater strategy use. We also tested whether importance would specifically increase the use of more effective (external) strategies. Participants reported their strategy use for two hypothetical PM tasks. As predicted, they listed more strategies for more important tasks. This result demonstrates one mechanism for motivational effects in early phases of the task. We found weaker support for the prediction that participants would selectively increase their use of better strategies for more important tasks. This finding supports a relatively pessimistic view of meta‐memory in PM, at least when it comes to modulating one's use of dependable strategies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.