Semantic memory retrieval: Deadlining the typicality effect

Corbett and Wickelgren (1978), employing a speed-accuracy tradeoff method for verifying category membership, found that while the estimated strength of the category-instance association was higher for category examples given more frequently as instances of the category (i.e. higher instance dominance), retrieval dynamics did not vary across levels of instance dominance. The Corbett and Wickelgren data challenged the claims of models of speeded sentence verification that postulated differences in the retrieval processes of high- and low-dominance category-instance associations (e.g. Smith, Shoben, & Rips, 1974). We argued that Corbett and Wickelgren very probably used category instances of debatable membership status in their low-instance dominance category examples, thus making it impossible to decide which responses to these items were correct. This, in turn, rendered their low-instance dominance data uninterpretable. Two partial replications of the Corbett and Wickelgren study were carried out, each with four subjects, and 10 variable lags between the stimulus presentation and the response signal. When care was taken that each category instance clearly belonged to its respective category, an estimate of the rate at which information accumulated towards its asymptote was greater for high-dominance, high-typicality items than for low-dominance, medium-typicality items. However, there were no dominance or typicality differences in the estimates of this asymptotic strength. In contrast, in the study in which low-dominance, low-typicality items were of questionable category membership, the results were similar to those obtained by Corbett and Wickelgren. These data support the idea that there is a continuous accumulation of information in the semantic memory sentence verification task.     

The contribution of morphological and semantic relatedness to repetition priming at short and long lags: Evidence from hebrew

The effect of morphological repetition at lag 0 and at lag 15 on lexical decision was investigated in Hebrew with three types of relation between prime and target. In the semantic-plus-morphological condition (SM), the prime and the target in each pair were two semantically related derivatives of the same root. In the “pure morphological” condition (M), the prime and the target derived from the same root, but their semantic association was very low, or nonexistent. In the semantic priming condition (S), primes and targets were semantically associated but were not morphologically related. The pure semantic relationship produced a significant facilitation at lag 0 that disappeared completely at lag 15. The pure morphological relation produced (smaller but) significant facilitation at lag 0 that was not attenuated at lag 15. When prime and target were semantically as well as morphologically related, the facilitation at lag 0 was similar to semantic priming, whereas at lag 15 it was similar to the pure morphological effect. Significant repetition effects at both lags were also found with non-words that shared the same (nonsensical) root and differed with respect to real derivational affixes. The differential time course for facilitation due to semantic and morphological relatedness suggests distinct underlying processes, although at lag 0 it is possible that semantic relatedness may augment the morphological repetition effect. Morphological repetition probably facilitates the retrieval of lexical information that, under certain circumstances, is necessary for lexical decision.     

Strong items get suppressed, weak items do not: The role of item strength in output interference

An experiment is reported that examines the role of item strength in output interference. Subjects studied two types of categorized item lists: lists in which each category consisted of strong and moderate items, and lists in which each category consisted of weak and moderate items. Different degrees of item strength were accomplished by varying the items’ taxonomic frequency within a category. The subjects either recalled a category’s strong and weak items before its moderate items, or vice versa. The prior recall of the moderate items impaired the later recall of the strong items, but did not impair the later recall of the weak items. This effect of item strength indicates that output interference is caused by a process of retrieval suppression. It additionally suggests that, in order to minimize output-interference effects in recall, a list’s strong items should be recalled before its weak items.     

Associative strength level and retrieval inhibition in semantic memory

In a series of investigations, E. F. Loftus (1973; G. R. Loftus & E. F. Loftus, 1974; E. F. Loftus, Senders, & Turkletaub, 1974) discovered that the latency of item retrieval from a semantic category was reduced if it immediately followed an earlier retrieval from the same category, a phenomenon attributed to spreading activation. Subsequently, Brown (1981) discovered an increase in latency across extended retrievals from a single semantic category. The present investigation followed up this finding by comparing exemplars that varied in strength of association to the category name. The probability of obtaining inhibition (longer latencies and increased errors) was inversely related to the associative strength of the exemplars. The results suggest that low-strength category associates build up inhibition more rapidly because they accrue situational strength relatively more rapidly than high-strength associates.     

Differential effects of personality on access to various long-term memory codes

Arousal, as indexed by personality measures, has been related to memory encoding, organization, and retrieval. In an attempt to investigate one of the component information-processing mechanisms underlying both encoding and retrieval, the effects of introversion-extraversion on performance in a simultaneous matching task was investigated. As predicted from earlier research, personality did not influence performance on a physical identity matching task but extraverts were faster than introverts in making taxonomic category matches (a semantic task). Somewhat unexpectedly, extraverts were also faster at making “homophone” identity matches. Arousal, then, appears to influence access to long-term memory codes of any type—a characteristic that may be reflected in tests of both encoding and retrieval.     

Implicit bias in impression formation: associations influence the construal of individuating information

The present research investigated the influence of group‐related evaluative associations on the process of impression formation. In particular, we expected the impact of a target's category membership on the construal of ambiguous behaviour to be moderated by perceivers' evaluative associations related to the target category. Associative strength was further expected to have an indirect effect on dispositional inference, mediated by its impact on behaviour identification. Results support both of these assumptions. Moreover, the influence of evaluative associations on impression formation was not moderated by perceivers' motivation to control prejudiced reactions. Rather, motivation to control moderated only the relation between evaluative associations and the explicit endorsement of prejudiced beliefs about the target group in general, such that explicit prejudice endorsement was correlated with evaluative associations only for perceivers low, but not for those high in motivation to control. Implications for prejudice control are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the role of item similarity in retrieval-induced forgetting

We report on two experiments designed to examine how the similarity of retrieval-practised and not-retrieval-practised items influences the amount of retrieval-induced forgetting. Participants studied categorised item lists with each category consisting of exemplars from two different semantic subcategories. Using both the retrieval practice paradigm (Experiment 1) and the output interference paradigm (Experiment 2) we found that the retrieval of a subset of the studied items impaired the subsequent recall of the nonpractised items if the two types of items were fairly dissimilar to each other (same category but different subcategory) but did not induce impairment if the two types of items were highly similar (same category and subcategory). These results indicate that a high degree of similarity of practised and nonpractised items can eliminate retrieval-induced forgetting. They also suggest that forgetting in the retrieval practice paradigm and forgetting in the output interference paradigm are mediated by the same mechanisms. The relation of the present results to other very recent findings about the role of item similarity in retrieval-induced forgetting in discussed.     

Associative and categorical relations in the associative memory illusion

What kinds of associations underlie the associative memory illusion? In Experiment 1, lists composed of horizontal, or coordinate, free associates elicited false recognition of critical lures much more often than did lists composed of vertical, or subordinate, category instances. Experiment 2 replicated this result, and showed that the difference between free associates and category instances was not an artifact of differential levels of forward or backward associative strength. Associative structure plays an important role in the associative memory illusion: The illusion is strongest when the critical lure lies at the same level of categorization as the studied items.     

Cuing effects in short-term recall

Past research indicates that short-term memory can be immune to the effects of proactive interference (PI). Past research also indicates that immunity to PI is found only in those circumstances where phonemic representations of to-be-remembered items are present and provide discriminative information. The first three experiments demonstrate the existence of a further boundary condition. PI is observed only if interfering and target items are subsumed by the same cue. This finding suggests that short-term recall, like long-term recall, is cue dependent. Cuing effects are further explored in two experiments that manipulate category dominance. The finding that category dominance effects parallel PI effects strongly suggests that retrieval cues play a critical role in short-term recall.     

Dominance as Expressed and Inferred Through Speaking Time

Differences in speaking time during a group interaction are hypothesized to reflect differences in individual dominance. In order to test this assumption and to identify potential moderator variables influencing the strength of the predicted association, a meta‐analysis was conducted. Whether speaking time is used to convey dominance to the same extent that it is used in inferring dominance was tested by contrasting studies concerned with dominance expressed in speaking time with studies of inferred dominance based on speaking time. Overall, and for the investigated subcategories of studies, the relationship between dominance and speaking time was significant. The strength of the associations, however, differed considerably due to the influence of moderator variables. The results showed that inferred dominance studies showed stronger associations between speaking time and dominance as opposed to the expressed dominance studies. Additionally, if dominance was expressed due to dominance‐role assignments, the association between speaking time and dominance was stronger than if individuals with different levels of trait dominance interacted. For men, the association between speaking time and dominance was stronger than for women, and same‐gender groups showed stronger associations than opposite‐gender groups. Also, increasing group size intensified the strength of the association linearly.     

Instrument specificity in experienced musicians

Previous studies have shown that experienced pianists have acquired integrated action-effect (A-E) associations. In the present study, we were interested in how specific these associations are for the own instrument by investigating pianists and guitarists. A-E associations were examined by testing whether the perception of a “potential” action-effect has an influence on actions. Participants played chords on their instrument in response to visual stimuli, while they were presented task-irrelevant auditory distractors (congruent or incongruent) in varying instrument timbre. In Experiment 1, pianists exhibited an interference effect with timbres of their own instrument category (keyboard instruments: piano and organ). In Experiment 2 guitarists showed an interference effect only with guitar timbre. Thus, integrated A-E associations primarily seem to consist of a specific component on a sensory-motor level involving the own instrument. Additionally, categorical knowledge about how an instrument is played seems to be involved.     

Trial-to-trial dynamics of selective long-term-memory retrieval with continuously changing retrieval targets

How do we control the successive retrieval of behaviorally relevant information from long-term memory (LTM) without being distracted by other potential retrieval targets associated to the same retrieval cues? Here, we approach this question by investigating the nature of trial-by-trial dynamics of selective LTM retrieval, i.e., in how far retrieval in one trial has detrimental or facilitatory effects on selective retrieval in the following trial. Participants first learned associations between retrieval cues and targets, with one cue always being linked to three targets, forming small associative networks. In successive trials, participants had to access either the same or a different target belonging to either the same or a different cue. We found that retrieval times were faster for targets that had already been relevant in the previous trial, with this facilitatory effect being substantially weaker when the associative network changed in which the targets were embedded. Moreover, staying within the same network still had a facilitatory effect even if the target changed, which became evident in a relatively higher memory performance in comparison to a network change. Furthermore, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) showed topographically and temporally dissociable correlates of these effects, suggesting that they result from combined influences of distinct processes that aid memory retrieval when relevant and irrelevant targets change their status from trial to trial. Taken together, the present study provides insight into the different processing stages of memory retrieval when fast switches between retrieval targets are required.     

Cumulative semantic inhibition in picture naming: experimental and computational studies

We report an experiment in which subjects named 120 pictures, consisting of series of five pictures drawn from each of 24 semantic categories (and intermixed with 45 fillers). The number of intervening trials (lag) between successive presentations of members of the same category varied from two to eight. Subjects' naming latencies were slowed by 30 ms for each preceding member of the category. This effect was both cumulative and linear, and unrelated to the lag elapsing since the previous presentation of a category member. These results definitively demonstrate the occurrence of cumulative interference for word retrieval by prior retrieval of other exemplars of the same semantic category-cumulative semantic inhibition. We claim that this inhibition effect could only occur if the spoken word production system possesses three specific properties (competition, priming, and sharing of semantic activation). We provide computational-modelling evidence in support of this claim. We show that no current theory of spoken word production has all of these properties. In their current form, all these theories are falsified by these results. We briefly discuss the obstacles that may be encountered by current models were they modified to account for our findings.     

Retrieval‐induced forgetting: A developmental study

Two studies examined the possibility of retrieval‐induced forgetting by 7‐year‐olds. Children heard a story while viewing pictures of events mentioned in the story, each highlighting objects drawn from two distinct semantic categories (e.g. animals and food). Over the next several days, children were asked the same yes/no questions about half the examples from one category and, finally, were tested for their memory of the complete set of examples from both categories. Both a category‐cued recall test (Study 1) and a written recognition‐memory test (Study 2) produced results suggestive of retrieval‐induced forgetting. That is, children showed poorer memory for unpractised items from the practised category than for unpractised items from the other category. The severity of the effect did not differ reliably between the children and young adults, and was unaffected by whether practised items appeared before or after the unpractised competitors (Study 2). We consider the implications of these findings for competing views about retrieval‐induced forgetting and the development of cognitive inhibition.     

自然概念语义特征提取的范畴效应

本研究采用概念特征自由列举实验范式,考察三类范畴(动物、自然食物、人造物)自然概念的语义特征提取反应时间的范畴效应。结果表明,⑴语义特征提取的反应时间存在范畴效应:提取动物特征的时间显著短于提取自然食物特征的时间,提取自然食物特征的时间显著短于提取人造物特征的时间;⑵三类范畴的特征提取时间模式表现出相同的规律:先是显著降低(第1到第2个特征),然后持续升高(第2到第10个特征)。语义特征提取的范畴效应反映了语义记忆组织的范畴特异性,有必要进一步分析特征提取时间与特征类型、关联特征、独有特征之间的关系,以深入揭示语义特征提取范畴效应的产生机制。     

Improving retrieval

The present research investigated whether ability for retrieval might be improved by practice at retrieval. Retrieval practice trials, each of 10 min duration, required subjects to attempt to recall as many examples as possible of a designated category. Two kinds of practice were investigated. Subjects given general practice attempted to recall a different category on each successive practice trial. Subjects given specific practice attempted to recall the same category on each successive practice trial. General practice had a negligible effect on recall, even when subjects practised daily for over a month. In contrast, specific practice substantially improved recall, facilitating retrieval of 50 to 100 per cent of all the example subjects known for a category.     

The role of associative strength in children's false memory illusions

The effects of associative strength on rates of 7- and 11-year-old children's true and false memories were examined when category and Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists were used to cue the same critical lure. Backward associative strength (BAS) was varied such that the category and DRM lists had the same strength (DRM=category), DRM lists had more BAS (DRM>category), or category lists had more BAS (DRM<category). If BAS drives children's false memories then BAS, not the type of relation across items in a list, should determine false memory production. The results confirmed this prediction using both recall and recognition measures: (1) both true and false memories increased with age, (2) true memory was better for category than DRM lists but there were no differences for false memory, and (3) at all ages, false memories varied predictably with changes in BAS but were unaffected by list-type manipulations. These findings are discussed in the context of models of false memory development.     

Executive processing in free recall of categorized lists

The present study examines the cognitive processes that operate in free recall of categorized lists by manipulating semantic structure of the lists and using a dual task methodology to restrict the processes that make demands on limited-capacity resources, the central executive resources. Relying on the assumption that, in free recall of categorized lists, the search for category names is a strategic controlled process that demands executive resources, lists with different numbers of categories ranging from 2 to 6 were employed. The results showed an effect of a secondary task on retrieval in the 4- and the 6-category list conditions, but not in the 2-category list condition. In contrast to retrieval, the secondary task interference at encoding produced an effect on recall of all three types of lists. An interesting finding was that an effect on clustering was found only when interference was present at encoding, not when it was at retrieval. This finding was in line with the suggestion (Troyer, Moscovitch, Winocur, Alexander, & Stuss, 1998) that switching (shifting between different category items) rather than clustering is related to executive functioning, and suggested that clustering may be a measure of two different types of processing: (1) executive processing at encoding and (2) automatic processing at retrieval. In addition, a different pattern of results was obtained when low frequency category words were used, indicating that the frequency of category words is an important determinant in free recall of categorized lists. Overall, the present results support the two-process account of retrieval of category words (Rosen & Engle, 1997) and the view that there are fundamental differences between encoding and retrieval processes (Naveh-Benjamin, Craik, Guez, & Dori, 1998; Naveh-Benjamin & Guez, 2000).     

Nature and facts about natural and artifactual categories: Sex differences in the semantic priming paradigm

There is abundant evidence from behavioral and neurophysiological experiments for the distinction of natural versus artifactual categories and a gender-specific difference: women’s performances in cognitive tasks increase when natural categories are used, whereas men’s performances increase with artifactual categories. Here, we used the semantic priming paradigm to study retrieval processes by presenting category labels as primes and exemplars as targets. Overall, in two experiments we found larger priming effects for natural than for artifactual categories. In addition, females showed positive priming effects for natural but negative effects for artifactual categories, whereas males showed positive priming effects for both categories. This pattern matches with that from other tasks and can be interpreted as evidence that the findings from these other tasks are, at least partially, indeed due to different representations or processing modes for males and females and not (exclusively) due to—for example—different familiarity with a category. In a further experiment, we showed that the found pattern for females can be manipulated by focusing on perceptual vs. functional features. The results can be interpreted as first evidence that there are (eventually in addition to different “crystallized” semantic structures) specific default processing modes that differ for males and females.     

Cue-task associations in task switching

Cognitive flexibility can be studied using the task-switching paradigm. This paradigm requires subjects to adapt behaviour to changing contexts as indicated by a cue. In our study, we addressed the question of how cue-based implementation of mental “task sets” occurs. We assumed that cues build up associations to the tasks that they indicate. These associations lead to retrieval of the associated task set once the cue shows up again. In three experiments, we tested this assumption using a negative transfer paradigm. First participants were exposed to one cue-task mapping. After a training phase, the cue-task mapping changed in either of two ways. Whereas one group of participants got new cues, the other experienced a reversal of the learnt cue-task mapping. Our results show that participants build up cue-task associations and that these formerly learnt associations can hamper the implementation of new cue-task mappings (particular with mapping reversal). Prolonged preparation time decreased the cost of changing the cue-task mapping but did not change the overall pattern of results.