Am I blue? Depressed mood and the consequences of self-focus for the interpretation and recall of ambiguous words

In two experiments, dysphoric and nondysphoric students first concentrated on either self-focused or other-focused phrases and then performed an ostensibly unrelated task involving the interpretation of homographs with both personal and impersonal meanings. In Experiment 1, they constructed sentences for the homographs; dysphoric students' sentences were more emotionally negative (although not more personal) in the self-focused condition than in the other-focused condition. In Experiment 2, they freely associated to the homographs, and the percentage of personal meanings reflected by the associations revealed an effect of self versus other focus that depended on mood group. Following free associations, they attempted to recall the homographs. Dysphoric students (but not nondysphoric students) recalled a greater percentage of personally interpreted homographs if they had focused on self than if they had focused on other matters. In general, these results suggest that ruminative or self-focused thinking by people in depressed moods transfers to novel ambiguous situations, encouraging more negative interpretations and better recall of personal interpretations.     

Creation of Proverbial Wisdom in the Laboratory

This study represents an initial attempt to elicit the creation of proverbial statements in the laboratory. The cultural view of proverbs emphasizes their traditionality and social currency, while the cognitive view emphasizes their basic psychological functions (e.g., categorization). Using the cognitive framework, three experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, participants rated how well the moral of a brief story matched a cognitive-ideal (moral), where the stories either confirmed or disconfirmed an ideal. In Experiment 2, participants were instructed to express the moral for these stories (generalize group), or express it so that others could use their wisdom (wisdom group). In Experiment 3, only the cognitive-ideals were presented, and per instruction, participants attempted to express them concretely, using examples (models). In general, the results indicated that moderately proverbial statements were generated most of the time and highly proverbial ones 10% of the time (Experiment 2) or 23% of the time (Experiment 3). There was a tendency for disconfirming stories to yield more proverbiality, particularly under the wisdom instruction. The nature of the stories, the mental set, and the accessibility of linguistic models all play a role in the production of proverbiality. Both the cognitive and cultural views are needed to explicate the overall proverb creation process.     

Dual coding versus relational processing in memory for concrete and abstract words

In two experiments, participants judged whether nouns fitted particular sentence frames and then received an unanticipated recall test with the sentence frames as cues. Concrete nouns were better recalled than abstract nouns, and nouns presented in meaningful sentence frames were better recalled than nouns presented in anomalous sentence frames. In Experiment 2, performance in a test of free recall was positively related to the concreteness of the nouns but unrelated to the meaningfulness of the sentence frames. The increase in performance from free recall to cued recall was positively related to the meaningfulness of the sentence frames but not significantly related to the concreteness of the nouns. The effects of concreteness and meaningfulness showed no sign of any interaction either in their effects on recall performance or in their effects on the advantage of cued recall over free recall. These results are consistent with the dual-coding theory of imagery and verbal processes but are not consistent with either of two different interpretations of the relational-distinctiveness processing theory.     

The bidirectionality of judgments of synonymy

This article reports an experiment and some observations on synonymy between sentences. The rationale derives from experimental evidence for the existence of a nonverbal, abstract semantic memory, and for the mutual deducibility of two synonymous sentences. In the first phase of the experiment, subjects ranked interpretations of proverbs in terms of their semantic distance from their proverb bases. In the second phase, different groups of subjects ranked proverbs, including the phase 1 original proverbs and some foils, in terms of their semantic distance from the interpretations. The results indicate that two synonymous sentences tend to be given similar rankings, linearly related, and that subjects are highly consensual in their rankings. It is argued that a deep structure account cannot explain the results and that, furthermore, available linguistic and psychological theories of meaning are likewise insufficient. Synonymy is discussed in terms of an event or operation which serves to restrict interpretation.     

Test-expectancy and semantic-organization effects in recall and recognition

Two experiments examined whether people expecting recall are, compared with people expecting recognition, more likely to form associations between semantically related words in a list of to-be-remembered words. People were induced to expect either a recall or a recognition test on a critical list that included three conditions of semantic organization. Words in the unrelated (U) condition were semantically unrelated to all other words on the list, whereas words in the two related conditions were semantically related to one other list word. In the related-spaced (R-S) condition, the two related words appeared in input positions separated by 5-11 other items, whereas in the related-massed (R-M) condition, they appeared in adjacent input positions. Different groups received either an expected or unexpected recall (Experiment 1) or recognition (Experiment 2) test on the critical list. In both recall and recognition, (l) people expecting recall did better than those expecting recognition, (2) memory was worst for U words, next best for R-S words, and best for R-M words, and (3) the test-expectancy and semantic-organization effects were additive. A standardizedz-score measure of category dependency in memory indicated that (1) people expecting recall were not more likely than those expecting recognition to form interitem associations between the related words and (2) recognition was category dependent, but less so than recall. Within the framework of Anderson and Bower’s (1972, 1974) theory, these data indicate that, compared with people expecting recognition, those expecting recall are not more likely to form interitem associations by tagging more pathways connecting semantically related nodes but, rather, are more likely to tag the nodes themselves. The implications that semantic-organization effects in recognition have for the Anderson-Bower theory were also discussed.     

Processing novel compounds: Evidence for interactive meaning activation of ambiguous nouns

In three experiments, the meaning activation of ambiguous nouns in novel nominal compounds was investigated. Ambiguous nouns were unbalanced homographs occurring as the second members of the compound. Meaningful interpretations of the compounds were based on either the dominant or the subordinate meaning of the ambiguous noun. In Experiment 1, visually presented novel compounds serving as primes were followed at varying intervals by targets associatively related to distinct meanings of the ambiguous noun. In a lexical decision task, facilitation effects were found only for targets related to the meaning that was relevant for the interpretation of the compound. Experiment 2 showed that interactive activation could not be attributed to differences in semantic relatedness between the first members of compounds and targets. Experiment 3 demonstrated equal intralexical relatedness between members for both types of compounds. It is proposed that interactive activation may facilitate the interpretation of the novel compound. Compatible meaning aspects of the nouns may become more strongly activated, and incompatible meaning aspects may not become activated. The selection of meaning aspects relevant for interpretation would thereby be simplified.     

When does prior knowledge disproportionately benefit older adults’ memory?

Material consistent with knowledge/experience is generally more memorable than material inconsistent with knowledge/experience – an effect that can be more extreme in older adults. Four experiments investigated knowledge effects on memory with young and older adults. Memory for familiar and unfamiliar proverbs (Experiment 1) and for common and uncommon scenes (Experiment 2) showed similar knowledge effects across age groups. Memory for person-consistent and person-neutral actions (Experiment 3) showed a greater benefit of prior knowledge in older adults. For cued recall of related and unrelated word pairs (Experiment 4), older adults benefited more from prior knowledge only when it provided uniquely useful additional information beyond the episodic association itself. The current data and literature suggest that prior knowledge has the age-dissociable mnemonic properties of (1) improving memory for the episodes themselves (age invariant), and (2) providing conceptual information about the tasks/stimuli extrinsically to the actual episodic memory (particularly aiding older adults).     

Proverb preferences across cultures: Dialecticality or poeticality?

Peng and Nisbett (1999) claimed that members of Asian cultures show a greater preference than Euro-Americans for proverbs expressing paradox (so-called dialectical proverbs; e.g.,Too humble is half proud). The present research sought to replicate this claim with the same set of stimuli used in Peng and Nisbett’s Experiment 2 and a new set of dialectical and nondialectical proverbs that were screened to be comparably pleasing in phrasing. Whereas the proverbs were rated as more familiar and (in Set 1) more poetic by Chinese than by American participants, no group differences were found in relation to proverb dialecticality. Both the Chinese and Americans in our study rated the dialectical proverbs from Peng and Nisbett’s study as more likable, higher in wisdom, and higher in poeticality than the nondialectical proverbs. For Set 2, both groups found the dialectical proverbs to be as likable, wise, and poetic as the nondialectical proverbs. When poeticality was covaried out, dialectical proverbs were liked better than nondialectical proverbs across both stimulus sets by the Chinese and the Americans alike, and when wisdom was covaried out, the effect of dialecticality was reduced in both sets and groups. Our findings indicate that caution should be taken in ascribing differences in proverb preferences solely to cultural differences in reasoning.     

Resolving syntactic category ambiguity: An eye-movement analysis

In two experiments, participants' eye movements were monitored as they read sentences containing biased syntactic category ambiguous words with either distinct (e.g., duck) or related (e.g., burn) meanings or unambiguous control words. In Experiment 1, prior context was consistent with either the dominant or subordinate interpretation of the ambiguous word. The subordinate bias effect was absent for the ambiguous words in gaze duration measures. However, effects of ambiguity did emerge in other measures for the ambiguous words preceded by context supporting the subordinate interpretation. In Experiment 2, context preceding the target words was neutral. Ambiguity effects only arose when posttarget context was consistent with the subordinate interpretation of the ambiguous words, indicating that readers initially selected the dominant interpretation. Results support immediate theories of syntactic category ambiguity resolution, but also suggest that recovery from misanalysis of syntactic category ambiguity is more difficult than for lexical-semantic ambiguity in which alternate interpretations do not cross syntactic category.     

Sentence production and working memory

Previous research has shown that subjects can make up sentences faster from related noun pairs than from unrelated pairs. Two experiments tested the proposal that for the related pairs a subject simply has to access stored information but must make up an appropriate relation for unrelated pairs. In both studies the subjects were asked on some trials to remember a digit preload while they made up their sentences. Contrary to an initial prediction, the latencies were faster rather than slower with a preload. Furthermore, a surprise recall test at the end of Experiment 2 showed that there was no difference in the recall of related and unrelated pairs. The results were interpreted as evidence that semantic work was necessary for both types of noun pairs, and that the subjects did less semantic work with a digit preload. This interpretation was further supported by the finding that with the preload the subjects produced a narrower range of semantic relations between the noun pairs.     

Memory and the experience of duration in retrospect

Two experiments investigated the relationship between long-term memory for events occurring during an interval and the experience of duration of the interval in retrospect. In both, Ss attended to a sequence consisting of a standard, an experimental, and a second standard interval. Then unexpected comparative duration and memory judgments were requested. In Experiment I, either 30 or 60 unrelated words occurred during the 180-see experimental interval. When more words had occurred, judgments of duration of the experimental interval, judgments of number of words presented, and number of words recognized all increased, but free recall of words was unaffected. In Experiment II, 80 categorized words occurred during the 160-see experimental interval, with category instances in either blocked or random order. When words were blocked by category, judgments of duration of the experimental interval, free recall, and recognition all increased, but judgments of number of words were unaffected. Results were discussed in terms of Ornstein’s (1969) “storage size” hypothesis.     

The role of imagery,analogy, and instantiation in proverb comprehension

The role of imagery, analogy, and instantiation in understanding proverbs was examined in the light of the Conceptual Base Theory (CBT). The CBT proposes that proverb comprehension involves four phases and that (a) after Problem Recognition, imagery is often used during the Literal Transformation Phase with the intention of constructing a figurative meaning but that imagery does not enter into this meaning; (b) figurative meaning is the solution to a four-part, a:b::c:d, analogy, which occurs during the Figurative Phase; (c) the Instantiation Phase can be entered only if a figurative meaning is constructed, but once instantiation occurs it serves to refine this meaning. A transfer paradigm was used to test these hypotheses. During acquisition, the subjects were presented proverbs and given rating tasks in connection with one of the following: pictures that illustrated the literal proverb information (picture groups), instructions to image the literal proverb information (imagery groups), or analogies involving literala andb terms drawn from the proverb andc andd terms that constituted an interpretation of the proverb (analogy group), concrete verbal instances that illustrated the proverbs' figurative meanings (instance group), or an analogy and an instance (analogy-instance group). During transfer, all subjects attempted to distinguish between novel sentences that were either positive or negative instances of the figurative meaning of the acquisition proverbs. The picture and imagery groups, which were assumed to have used imagery without the intention of constructing a figurative meaning, performed at chance. The analogy group performed above chance and on a par with the instance group subjects, who theoretically had constructed and solved an implicit analogy. The analogy-instance group showed superior performance. Discussion centered on the pattern of the results in relation to the CBT and on the role of imagery and analogy in understanding proverbs as opposed to metaphors.The authors wish to thank Suzanne Leake for help in designing the experiment, preparing materials, and running subjects.     

Excuse inference modification in children and adults

The ability of first- and third-grade children and college adults to make excuse inferences about a speaker's use of an utterance and to modify those inferences appropriately upon receiving later information was examined in four experiments. Short stories containing an utterance by a speaker were read aloud. Utterances in the story were preceded by contextual information that suggested either that the speaker was truthful or making an excuse. Utterances were followed by information that confirmed or disconfirmed the excuse interpretation. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that even first and third graders can make excuse inferences, but these children rarely modify these interpretations upon receiving disconfirming information. In Experiments 2–4 possible reasons for the children's interpretive inflexibility were examined by varying the difficulty of relating the excuse interpretation and succeeding information. Results suggested processing difficulty, as well as an interpretive “set,” contributed to the children's inflexibility.     

Semantic processing can facilitate free recall in mildly retarded adolescents

The efficacy of semantic processing in free recall was investigated in two experiments with EMR adolescents. In Experiment 1, they were taught to use one of two semantic strategies for memorizing a 15-word list. Compared with controls, neither strategy helped recall either in original learning or transfer. In Experiment 2, one of the semantic strategies, a story mnemonic, was investigated further. Rather than being taught to construct their own stories as in Experiment 1, subjects in Experiment 2 were provided with experimenter-composed stories. They showed better immediate recall and retention after 2 months than did no-strategy controls. However, about 1 year after original learning, the retention of experimental and control subjects no longer differed. Discussion focused on the story mnemonic's potential utility and the criteria for judging such potential, e.g., amount of facilitation, ease of training and performance of the strategy, and the degree of its generalizability.     

Differences in encoding for free recall vs. recognition

Three experiments examined effects of test expectancy on memory for relatively unrelated words. In Experiment I, where preliminary recall or recognition practice was given, both recall and recognition were superior when the subjects expected and had practiced for recall. Free study led to better recall and recognition than paced presentation, but did not interact with test expectancy. Experiment II demonstrated that recall was better for subjects expecting a recall vs. a recognition test in the absence of preliminary practice. In Experiment III all subjects practiced both recall and recognition prior to presentation of the critical list. Study time also was varied. With longer study, recall was better when a recall test was expected, with no test expectancy effect on recognition. There were no appreciable expectancy effects with the short study period. Self-reports and other data suggested that the critical encoding differences produced by test expectancy manipulation were quantitative in nature.     

Effects of discrete emotions on young children's suggestibility

Two experiments investigated the effects of sadness, anger, and happiness on 4- to 6-year-old children's memory and suggestibility concerning story events. In Experiment 1, children were presented with 3 interactive stories on a video monitor. The stories included protagonists who wanted to give the child a prize. After each story, the child completed a task to try to win the prize. The outcome of the child's effort was manipulated in order to elicit sadness, anger, or happiness. Children's emotions did not affect story recall, but children were more vulnerable to misleading questions about the stories when sad than when angry or happy. In Experiment 2, a story was presented and emotions were elicited using an autobiographical recall task. Children responded to misleading questions and then recalled the story for a different interviewer. Again, children's emotions did not affect the amount of story information recalled correctly, but sad children incorporated more information from misleading questions during recall than did angry or happy children. Sad children's greater suggestibility is discussed in terms of the differing problem-solving strategies associated with discrete emotions.     

Biases in interpretation and memory in generalized social phobia

Two experiments examined the link between interpretation and memory in individuals diagnosed with Generalized Social Phobia (GSP). In Experiment 1, GSP and control participants generated continuations for nonsocial and ambiguous social scenarios. GSP participants produced more socially anxious and negative continuations for the social scenarios than did the controls. On the subsequent test of recalling the social scenarios, intrusion errors that shared meaning with the original continuations were made more frequently by the GSP group, producing false recall with emotionally negative features. To examine whether nonanxious individuals would also produce such errors if given emotional interpretations, in Experiment 2 the authors asked university students to read the scenarios plus endings produced by GSP participants in Experiment 1. The students either constructed vivid mental images of themselves as the main characters or thought about whether the endings provided closure. Low-anxious students in the closure condition produced fewer ending-based intrusions in recalling the social scenarios than did students in the other 3 conditions. Results illustrate the importance of examining the nature of source-monitoring errors in investigations of memory biases in social anxiety.     

Retrieval of Episodic Information From Memory: Comparisons Among 3- and 4-Year-Olds, 7- and 8-Year-Olds,and Adults

Young children's and adults' recall of episodic information was explored in 4 experiments. The task required participants to recall a target noun presented as the last item of a 4-noun string of related (either categorically or thematically) or unrelated words. Providing all 3 preceding nouns or a subset of them cued recall. Experiment 1 found that 7- and 8-year-old children's recall was better with pictures as opposed to text, and children showed performance equal to adults with thematically related pictorial stimuli. Using pictorial stimuli, Experiment 2 showed that the number of cues present at retrieval affected 7- and 8-year-olds' recall. Experiments 3 and 4 tested recall of episodic information in 3- and 4-year-olds using pictorial stimuli. The results suggested that young children also have access to episodic information in memory and the number of cues present at retrieval influenced recall. The findings are discussed in the context of children's memory for events.     

Signing enhances memory like performing actions

In three experiments, we investigated the influence of the overt performance of signs on memory. Deaf and hearing participants studied lists of action phrases (Experiment 1) or nouns (Experiment 2) under standard verbal instruction, under the instructions to sign the verbal phrase, to symbolically perform the denoted action, or to carry out a prototypical action corresponding to each noun. Higher recall and recognition performances were observed when actions were performed than in the verbal encoding condition, and signing was as effective for memory as was enactment. Thus, overt signing can induce an enactment effect. In contrast, Experiment 3 demonstrated that performing an unrelated action did not. A unique but unrelated action was not memory efficient.