The accuracy of beliefs about retrieval cues

We investigated the accuracy of predictions about semantic, environmental, and phonological cues for remembering. Subjects rated the pleasantness of 10 words in each of four rooms, predicted the number of words that they would recall with and without one of the three types of cues, and then were tested for free or cued recall. Consistent with their predictions, subjects who received semantic cues recalled more words than did subjects in the free-recall group. The subjects in the other cuing conditions did not benefit from the cues; furthermore, they overestimated the value of phonological cues, and they believed that environmental cues were ineffective. Finally, confidence ratings for cued-recall predictions did not reflect the pattern of cued-recall performance. Subjects were least confident about their predictions for semantic cuing and most confident about their predictions for recall to be cued phonologically.     

Beyond the articulatory loop: A semantic contribution to serial order recall of subspan lists

In two experiments, serial order recall of short lists of content and function words under quiet and articulatory suppression conditions was examined in order to assess the hypotheses that (1) semantic attributes of words contribute to short-term-memory performance, and (2) do soindependently of effects attributable to the articulatory loop component. In Experiment 1, content words were better recalled than function words; both word types were equally impaired by suppression. This provides support for the notion that semantic coding makes an independent contribution to span performance. This word-class effect disappeared in Experiment 2, when content and function words were matched for imageability. These data suggest that at least some aspects of meaning contribute to serial order recall performance for short lists, independently of the articulatory loop.     

Index to Volume 117

In some individuals, noise appears to have an adverse effect on memory recall. This decrement may result from a shift in the memory strategy being employed. Studies have shown memory strategies used by persons with an internal locus of control differ from those used by persons with an external locus of control. The present investigation asked subjects who were classified as either internal or external in locus of control to recall words presented under conditions of noise and of quiet. Word recall was aided by providing subjects with potential memory strategies. Each word list included words from meaningful content categories (which favor a semantic strategy) and word pairs that rhymed (which favor a perceptual strategy). Though internal and external subjects did not differ in total words recalled, they did differ in their use of strategies. Whereas internal subjects' strategies were unaffected by noise, external subjects decreased their use of the higher level semantic memory strategy (content categories) and increased their use of lower level perpetual (rhymes) strategy in the noise condition. The results are discussed in terms of a differential arousal hypothesis.     

Recognition failure of recallable words in semantic memory

In an experiment in which there was no study phase, 54 subjects were tested for recognition of famous surnames and then were tested for cued recall of the same surnames. Subjects failed to recognize 53.4% of names that they subsequently recalled. Recall was significantly higher than recognition. The relationship between overall recognition rate and recognition rate of recallable words closely resembled that reported by Tulving and Wiseman (1975) for episodic memory experiments. The present data therefore extend the generality of this relationship, and of the principle that the probability of retrieval from memory depends critically on the cues provided. It is argued that the similarity between results for episodic memory experiments and the present semantic memory experiment can be more parsimoniously accommodated by tagging theory than by episodic theory.     

Effects of level of retrieval success on recall-related frontal and medial temporal lobe activations

Brain dedicated single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was used to compare the neuroactivation produced by the cued recall of response words in a set of studied word pairs with that produced by the cued retrieval of words semantically related to unstudied stimulus words. Six of the 12 subjects scanned were extensively trained so as to have good memory of the studied pairs and the remaining six were minimally trained so as to have poor memory. When comparing episodic with semantic retrieval, the well-trained subjects showed significant left medial temporal lobe activation, which was also significantly greater than that shown by the poorly trained subjects, who failed to show significant medial temporal lobe activation. In contrast, the poorly trained subjects showed significant bilateral frontal lobe activation, which was significantly greater than that shown by the well-trained subjects who failed to show significant frontal lobe activation. The frontal activations occurred mainly in the dorsolateral region, but extended into the ventrolateral and, to a lesser extent, the frontal polar regions. It is argued that whereas the medial temporal lobe activation increased as the proportion of response words successfully recalled increased, the bilateral frontal lobe activation increased in proportion to retrieval effort, which was greater when learning had been less good.     

Changes in the semantic constraint of spreading activation of memory across three age groups

28 undergraduate, 34 sixth-grade, and 36 second-grade students studied target words embedded in interchangeable or noninterchangeable sentences, and then performed free recall tests. In an interchangeable sentence the word which was to be remembered and its associated word fitted sensibly, whereas in a noninterchangeable sentence the target word fitted sensibly but its word associate did not. Undergraduates recalled the target words in noninterchangeable sentences better than sixth or second graders for whom a difference was not observed (undergraduates > sixth graders = second graders). In interchangeable sentences undergraduates recalled more targets than sixth or second graders, and sixth graders recalled more than second graders (undergraduates > sixth graders > second graders). The results were interpreted as indicating changes across age groups in the semantic constraint of spreading activation of target words in memory.     

Memory for pictures and words as a function of level of processing: Depth or dual coding?

The experiment was designed to test differential predictions derived from dual-coding and depth-of-processing hypotheses. Subjects under incidental memory instructions free recalled a list of 36 test events, each presented twice. Within the list, an equal number of events were assigned to structural, phonemic, and semantic processing conditions. Separate groups of subjects were tested with a list of pictures, concrete words, or abstract words. Results indicated that retention of concrete words increased as a direct function of the processing-task variable (structural < phonemic 相似文献   

The word-frequency paradox in recognition

High-frequency words are recalled better than are low-frequency words, but low-frequency words produce higher hit rates in a recognition test than do high-frequency words. Two experiments provided new date on the phenomenon and also evidence relevant to the dual process model of recognition, which postulates that recognition judgments are a function of increments in item familiarity and of item retrievability. First, recall and recognition by subjects who initially performed a single lexical decision task were compared with those of subjects who also gave definitions of high-, low-, and very low-frequency target words. In the second experiment, subjects initially performed either a semantic, elaborative task or an integrative task that focused attention on the physical, perceptual features of the same words. Both experiments showed that extensive elaborative processing results in higher recall and hit rates but lower false alarm rates, whereas word frequency has a monotonic, linear effect on recall and false alarm rates, but a paradoxical, curvilinear effect on hit rates. Elaboration is apparently more effective when the potential availability of meaningful connections with other structures is greater (as for high-frequency words). The results are consistent with the dual process model.     

Activation and metacognition of inaccessible stored information: potential bases for incubation effects in problem solving

Two experiments were conducted with a hybrid procedure that involved a battery of indirect criterion tests designed to study the activation and metacognition of inaccessible stored information. In each experiment, subjects first attempted to recall some rare target words in response to a series of definitions meant to cue retrieval from long-term semantic memory. For the words that could not be recalled initially, the subjects rated their feelings of knowing. They then performed a lexical-decision task in which the target words and other control words were presented. Reaction times were measured as a function of the feeling-of-knowing ratings and the length of the interval between the initial exposure to the definitions and the subsequent lexical decisions. Faster decisions occurred for the target words than for the controls, especially when strong feelings of knowing had been expressed about the targets. Similar facilitation was obtained in a subsequent old-new recognition task. It appears that unsuccessful attempts to retrieve inaccessible stored information prime the later recognition of the information through a process of spreading activation. Such activation may sensitize people to future occurrences of stimulus inputs needed for insightful solutions of semantically rich problems.     

Relationship between affect and memory: motivation-based selective generation.

Two experiments examined the influence of anger and retaliatory motivation on memory for negative material. In the 1st study, 60 male undergraduates memorized words with positive, negative, and neutral semantic connotations. It was found that angered men who expected to retaliate against their provocateur recalled more negative words than other words, and more than Ss in all other affect and evaluation conditions. Angered men in the nonretaliation condition displayed no differences in negative word recall. The 2nd experiment investigated memory for details of a provoking experience. Angered men who expected to retaliate more accurately recalled the details of their provocation, but whether they were given the retaliation information before or after provocation had no bearing on memory for these details. Results are discussed in terms of a motivation-based selective generation hypothesis for the relationship between anger and memory.     

Trait congruence in the study of the cognitive consequences of emotional arousal

This study investigated the possible influence of mood and emotional vulnerability on recall. Mood was induced by projecting highly emotionally laden slides. In the first experiment, 64 female subjects, rated low or high on emotional vulnerability, were tested on recall of mood-congruent, mood-incongruent and neutral words, under mood induction and non-mood induction conditions. Emotionally low-vulnerable subjects recalled more mood-congruent than mood-incongruent words in the mood induction condition, whereas the opposite was the case in the non-mood induction condition. Highly vulnerable subjects recalled more mood-congruent than mood-incongruent words in the non-mood induction condition and fewer mood-congruent words in the mood induction compared with non-mood induction condition. The results are discussed in terms of ‘mood congruence’ (to explain low-vulnerable (LV) subjects' performance) and in terms of ‘trait congruence’ (to explain highly-vulnerable (HV) subjects' performance). In a second experiment, which investigated LV and HV subjects' galvanic skin responses to highly- and low-emotionally laden slides, the highest values were those for HV subjects when exposed to emotional slides. The different activation of LV and HV subjects led us to reconsider previous reasoning regarding mood congruence and trait congruence in the light of the inverted U theory.     

The effects of individual differences in test anxiety and type of orienting task on levels of organization in free recall

In Experiment 1, high and low test-anxious subjects recalled a list composed of words that could be organized either by taxonomic categories or first letters. High-anxiety subjects showed less recall and conceptual clustering. There was no anxiety difference in alphabetic clustering, but low-anxiety subjects used alphabetic clusters to bridge transitions between conceptual categories more often than did high-anxiety subjects. An initial orienting task which required semantic processing reduced the recall deficit for high-anxiety subjects but not the clustering deficit. Low-anxiety subjects seemed minimally affected by a nonsemantic-orienting task. Experiment 2 used a list that could be organized by associates or rhymes. High-anxiety subjects recalled less and exhibited less clustering of both types. The nonsemantic-orienting task depressed performance for both anxiety levels, though the effect was somewhat greater for high-anxiety subjects. Overall, these results provide little evidence to support the hypothesis that high-anxiety subjects process differently only for semantic content, but methodological limitations preclude unequivocally rejecting that view.     

Testing the limits of the phonetic mnemonic system

Three experiments tested the efficacy of the phonetic mnemonic system under varying conditions of application. The first study attempted unsuccessfully to replicate and extend the work of Morris and Greer (1984), who had shown training in the phonetic mnemonic method to facilitate memorization of a serial list of two-digit numbers. In the present study, subjects trained in the phonetic mnemonic method failed to learn lists of two-, four-, and six-digit numbers better than control subjects. The second experiment partially replicated the first, the differences being that training in the phonetic mnemonic method was strengthened, and time allotted for number recall was extended. Under these circumstances the phonetic mnemonic group recalled the two-, four-, and six-digit numbers significantly better than the control groups, a finding conforming with Morris and Greer's (1984) results. The third experiment partially replicated the second, everything being the same except that, in this case, subjects constructed their own key words representing each number, instead of these words being supplied by the experimenter. Under these conditions, subjects trained in the phonetic mnemonic method recalled significantly fewer numbers than control subjects.     

The effects of noise on recall of lists of associated words

An experiment investigated the effect of noise on recall of lists consisting of pairs of strong and weak associates. Noise improved recall (both number recalled and organization of recall) and did so with both types of list. The subjects who were initially tested in noise continued to show better recall and organization of recall even when they were transferred to the quiet condition. This finding shows that noise may reinforce the use of the dominant strategy and that this strategy may be used more in noise when experimental conditions are changed and even when the subject is transferred from the noise to the quiet. This research was supported by a grant from the Social Science Research Council.     

Spontaneous speech generation

A speech generation task was performed by bilingual subjects whilst they received irrelevant messages in one ear. The irrelevant messages varied in content as well as in language. Although these messages appeared to have a significant influence on the rate of speech, this variation was not consistent with any of the three hypotheses suggested. A further speech generation experiment was then carried out in which subjects received as irrelevant auditory input, in one ear, either a prose passage or “emotional” words repeated over a period of 1 min. Although the rate of speech did not seem to be affected by the irrelevant input, a memory test for words spoken, as distinct from words heard seemed to indicate that the “emotional” words were significantly better recalled than the words from the prose passage. When a control experiment was performed with prose or repeated neutral words as auditory input, no such difference in recall was obtained. This result was seen as favouring Deutsch's model of the blocking of irrelevant speech.     

Facilitation of recall with intralist cues: Time-dependent characteristics of cued recall

List items were given as retrieval cues in a free-recall experiment which factorially combined the presence or absence of cues with the amount of time allowed for use of each cue (10 sec or 30 sec). A categorizable list of 75 randomly presented words was learned, and 48 h later a free-recall test trial was given, followed by a final memory search task. During the final task, cued subjects received words from categories that had not been recalled during the free-recall test. With both time intervals, cued subjects recalled more words than noncued subjects, indicating that random presentation of categorized words does not necessarily preclude the observation of a cueing effect with list items, as has been reported previously. The composition of recall, whether from previously recalled or nonrecalled categories, varied as a function of time for both groups. The results were interpreteod in terms of retrieval strategies employed by cued and noncued subjects and the effect of time on these strategies.     

Involuntary aware memory enhances priming on a conceptual implicit memory task

This study investigated the role of involuntary aware memory (phenomenological awareness of the study episode) on a conceptual implicit memory task. Subjects studied words under levels of processing conditions (LOP: nonsemantic vs. semantic) and then received a category exemplar generation priming task. Subjects were either aware or unaware of the study test relationship. Subjects who were study test aware showed more priming for semantic study than subjects who were study test unaware, thus producing an LOP dissociation between them. The findings suggest that involuntary aware memory can enhance performance on conceptual implicit memory tasks, thus having theoretical implications for implicit and explicit memory.     

Noise effects on rehearsal rate in short term serial order memory

Three experiments are reported which were designed to test the hypothesis that the rate of rehearsal during noise is slower than that under quiet conditions. The first experiment measured directly the rate of articulation while subjects either read or rehearsed a set of five consonants. It was shown that while the rate of articulation when reading aloud did not differ under the two noise levels [65 dB(C) and 85 dB(C)], rate of articulation during overt rehearsal in loud noise was significantly slower than under quiet conditions. In Experiment II a similar effect was demonstrated where words were required to be read or rehearsed; here it was shown that the greatest impairment due to noise was on the rate of rehearsal of words of long spoken length.

The third experiment showed that loud noise impaired recall performance more markedly for a set of words of long spoken length presented early on in the sequence than for a set of shorter words, even though both sets were equal in the number of syllables and phonemes they contained.

It was concluded that in verbal memory tasks where rote rehearsal of the to-be-remembered material is the predominant strategy for enhancing trace duration, noise may affect memory performance by slowing down the rehearsal rate.     

Manipulating the word frequency effect in free recall

A recall advantage for common words was not evidenced when subjects generated or rated the list words on the basis of commonness and on a semantic, phonological, or orthographic basis prior to recall. Recall of the same set of words following only structural judgments of the words resulted in the usual recall advantage for common words. Results were not consistent with interpretations based only on the associative strengths of the recalled items. A process based on categorization of the words to be recalled was suggested as an alternative explanation.