Does Controlling for Temporal Parameters Change the Levels-of-Processing Effect in Working Memory?

The distinguishability between working memory (WM) and long-term memory has been a frequent and long-lasting source of debate in the literature. One recent method of identifying the relationship between the two systems has been to consider the influence of long-term memory effects, such as the levels-of-processing (LoP) effect, in WM. However, the few studies that have examined the LoP effect in WM have shown divergent results. This study examined the LoP effect in WM by considering a theoretically meaningful methodological aspect of the LoP span task. Specifically, we fixed the presentation duration of the processing component a priori because such fixed complex span tasks have shown differences when compared to unfixed tasks in terms of recall from WM as well as the latent structure of WM. After establishing a fixed presentation rate from a pilot study, the LoP span task presented memoranda in red or blue font that were immediately followed by two processing words that matched the memoranda in terms of font color or semantic relatedness. On presentation of the processing words, participants made deep or shallow processing decisions for each of the memoranda before a cue to recall them from WM. Participants also completed delayed recall of the memoranda. Results indicated that LoP affected delayed recall, but not immediate recall from WM. These results suggest that fixing temporal parameters of the LoP span task does not moderate the null LoP effect in WM, and further indicate that WM and long-term episodic memory are dissociable on the basis of LoP effects.     

Does survival context enhance memory for source? A within-subjects comparison

ABSTRACT

Nairne, Thompson, and Pandeirada [2007. Adaptive memory: Survival processing enhances retention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 263–273] demonstrated that processing words according to their relevance to a survival scenario enhanced their subsequent retrieval in recall and recognition tasks compared to a variety of control scenarios. From an adaptive perspective, it is maintained that processing words in a survival context should also enhance memory for source; however, evidence in the literature is rather mixed regarding a survival context advantage for source memory. In the current study, we conducted four experiments to systematically investigate the survival advantage in source memory, when the context itself is the source, with both recall (Experiments 1A and 1B) and recognition tests (Experiments 2A and 2B). Results showed a survival advantage for item memory over the control contexts in all experiments. The survival context advantage was not extended to source memory performance in Experiment 1A. Results from all other experiments, however, indicated a survival context advantage for both item and source memory. Findings are discussed in relation to possible proximate mechanisms underlying the survival processing effect.     

Long-term spatial clustering in free recall

We explored the influence of space on the organisation of items in long-term memory. In two experiments, we asked our participants to explore a virtual environment and memorise discrete items presented at specific locations. Memory for those items was later on tested in immediate (T1) and 24 hours delayed (T2) free recall tests, in which subjects were asked to recall as many items as possible in any order. In experiment 2, we further examined the contribution of active and passive navigation in recollection dynamics. Results across experiments revealed a significant tendency for participants to consecutively recall items that were encountered in proximate locations during learning. Moreover, the degree of spatial organisation and the total number of items recalled were positively correlated in the immediate and the delayed tests. Results from experiment 2 indicated that the spatial clustering of items was independent of navigation types. Our results highlight the long-term stability of spatial clustering effects and their correlation with recall performance, complementing previous results collected in immediate or briefly delayed tests.     

Time-limited effects of emotional arousal on item and source memory

Two experiments investigated the time-limited effects of emotional arousal on consolidation of item and source memory. In Experiment 1, participants memorized words (items) and the corresponding speakers (sources) and then took an immediate free recall test. Then they watched a neutral, positive, or negative video 5, 35, or 50?min after learning, and 24 hours later they took surprise memory tests. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1 except that (a) a reality monitoring task was used; (b) elicitation delays of 5, 30, and 45?min were used; and (c) delayed memory tests were given 60?min after learning. Both experiments showed that, regardless of elicitation delay, emotional arousal did not enhance item recall memory. Second, both experiments showed that negative arousal enhanced delayed item recognition memory only at the medium elicitation delay, but not in the shorter or longer delays. Positive arousal enhanced performance only in Experiment 1. Third, regardless of elicitation delay, emotional arousal had little effect on source memory. These findings have implications for theories of emotion and memory, suggesting that emotion effects are contingent upon the nature of the memory task and elicitation delay.     

Age-related differences on a new test of temporal order memory for everyday events

We developed a new test to examine incidental temporal order memory for a self-generated sequence of tasks one might complete in everyday life. Young and older adults were given 10 cards, each listing a task one might accomplish in a typical day. Participants were asked to self-generate a “to do” list by placing the 10 cards in a sequence representing the order in which they would accomplish the tasks, but were not informed of a subsequent memory test. We assessed immediate free recall, delayed free recall, and delayed cued recall for the order of the tasks in the sequence. Older adults were significantly impaired relative to young adults on immediate free recall, delayed free recall, and delayed cued recall. Correlation analyses with standardized neuropsychological tests provide preliminary evidence for construct validity for our test, which is portable and can be rapidly administered in clinical or laboratory settings.     

States of awareness across multiple memory tasks: obtaining a "pure" measure of conscious recollection

Four experiments were conducted to examine the nature of recollective experience across different explicit memory tests. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that the proportion of retrieved items that were given Remember responses were equivalent across free recall, category cued recall, category plus letter cued recall, and recognition memory tests unlike the result reported by Tulving [Can. Psychol. 26 (1985) 1]. Experiments 3 and 4 revealed that Remember judgments are influenced by both conceptual and perceptual variables not only in the recognition task but in other explicit memory tasks as well. Taken together, the empirical evidence from this study demonstrates that explicit memory performance is accompanied by different states of awareness not only in recognition but also across other memory tasks including free recall.     

A study of retrieval processes in action memory for school-aged children: the impact of recall period and difficulty on action memory

ABSTRACT

Research in action memory for adults has shown that enacted encoding is not only retrieved more frequently but is also faster in comparison to verbal encoding. The aim of this study was to investigate retrieval processes in terms of recall period and recall difficulty for different encoding conditions in school-aged children (8-, 10-, 12-, 14-years old). The participants studied verbal tasks, subject-performed tasks and experimenter-performed tasks, and received immediate and final free-recall tests. The results revealed that older children not only outperformed younger children in terms of accuracy but also outpaced them in all recall periods. Moreover, recalls of subject-performed tasks and experimenter-performed tasks were better and faster compared with verbal encoding on both types of recall test, by increasing throughout the recall periods. These results are discussed in terms of memory strategies and information processing methods. Pedagogic implications for the use of action memory in children's learning are also considered.     

Effortful semantic decision-making boosts memory performance in older adults

A major concern in age-related cognitive decline is episodic memory (EM). Previous studies indicate that both resource and binding deficits contribute to EM decline. Environmental support by task manipulations encouraging stronger cognitive effort and deeper levels of processing may facilitate compensation for these two deficits. To clarify factors that can counteract age-related EM decline, we assessed effects of cognitive effort (four levels) and level of processing (LoP, shallow/deep) during encoding on subsequent retrieval. Young (YAs, N?=?23) and older (OAs, N?=?23) adults performed two incidental encoding tasks, deep/semantic and shallow/perceptual. Cognitive effort was manipulated by varying decision-making demands. EM performance, indexed by d-prime, was later tested using a recognition task. Results showed that regardless of LoP, increased cognitive effort caused higher d-primes in both age groups. Compared to YAs, OAs showed a lower d-prime after shallow encoding across all cognitive effort levels, and after deep encoding with low cognitive effort. Deep encoding with higher levels of cognitive effort completely eliminated these age differences. Our findings support an environmental-compensatory account of cognitive ageing and can have important therapeutic implications.     

The drawing effect: Evidence for reliable and robust memory benefits in free recall

In 7 free-recall experiments, the benefit of creating drawings of to-be-remembered information relative to writing was examined as a mnemonic strategy. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were presented with a list of words and were asked to either draw or write out each. Drawn words were better recalled than written. Experiments 3–5 showed that the memory boost provided by drawing could not be explained by elaborative encoding (deep level of processing, LoP), visual imagery, or picture superiority, respectively. In Experiment 6, we explored potential limitations of the drawing effect, by reducing encoding time and increasing list length. Drawing, relative to writing, still benefited memory despite these constraints. In Experiment 7, the drawing effect was significant even when encoding trial types were compared in pure lists between participants, inconsistent with a distinctiveness account. Together these experiments indicate that drawing enhances memory relative to writing, across settings, instructions, and alternate encoding strategies, both within- and between-participants, and that a deep LoP, visual imagery, or picture superiority, alone or collectively, are not sufficient to explain the observed effect. We propose that drawing improves memory by encouraging a seamless integration of semantic, visual, and motor aspects of a memory trace.     

The origins of levels-of-processing effects in a conceptual test: evidence for automatic influences of memory from the process-dissociation procedure

In three experiments, we explored automatic influences of memory in a conceptual memory task, as affected by a levels-of-processing (LoP) manipulation. We also explored the origins of the LoP effect by examining whether the effect emerged only when participants in the shallow condition truncated the perceptual processing (the lexical-processing hypothesis) or even when the entire word was encoded in this condition (the conceptual-processing hypothesis). Using the process-dissociation procedure and an implicit association-generation task, we found that the deep encoding condition yielded higher estimates of automatic influences than the shallow condition. In support of the conceptual processing hypothesis, the LoP effect was found even when the shallow task did not lead to truncated processing of the lexical units. We suggest that encoding for meaning is a prerequisite for automatic processing on conceptual tests of memory.     

The influence of levels of processing on recall from working memory and delayed recall tasks

Recent research in working memory has highlighted the similarities involved in retrieval from complex span tasks and episodic memory tasks, suggesting that these tasks are influenced by similar memory processes. In the present article, the authors manipulated the level of processing engaged when studying to-be-remembered words during a reading span task (Experiment 1) and an operation span task (Experiment 2) in order to assess the role of retrieval from secondary memory during complex span tasks. Immediate recall from both span tasks was greater for items studied under deep processing instructions compared with items studied under shallow processing instructions regardless of trial length. Recall was better for deep than for shallow levels of processing on delayed recall tests as well. These data are consistent with the primary-secondary memory framework, which suggests that to-be-remembered items are displaced from primary memory (i.e., the focus of attention) during the processing phases of complex span tasks and therefore must be retrieved from secondary memory.     

Enactment enhances integration between verb and noun, but not relational processing, in episodic memory

Improved recall has consistently been demonstrated following motor activation at encoding (SPT), compared to traditional verbal learning (VT). Enhancements of item-specific processing and relational processing have been proposed as possible mechanisms to account for this SPT effect. There is ample evidence supporting the notion of enhanced item-specific processing, however it is still unclear whether enhancement of relational processing contributes to improved recall. In the present study, 2 experiments were designed to address this issue. In Experiment 1, memory under 2 encoding conditions (VT vs. SPT) and 3 recall conditions (free recall vs. category-cued recall vs. verb-cued recall) were studied in 3 large samples (N= 500-600). Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1, and controlled for the use of actual objects, short-term memory effects, and carryover effects, in Experiment 1. The results in both experiments showed an interaction between type of encoding and type of recall. Verb-cued recall was affected differently by SPT encoding, as compared to category-cued recall and free recall. The results indicate that enhanced integration between verb and noun is an effect of SPT encoding, whereas enhanced relational processing is not.     

Be aware of the rifle but do not forget the stench: differential effects of fear and disgust on lexical processing and memory

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of discrete emotions in lexical processing and memory, focusing on disgust and fear. We compared neutral words to disgust-related words and fear-related words in three experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants performed a lexical decision task (LDT), and in Experiment 3 an affective categorisation task. These tasks were followed by an unexpected memory task. The results of the LDT experiments showed slower reaction times for both types of negative words with respect to neutral words, plus a higher percentage of errors, this being more consistent for fear-related words (Experiments 1 and 2) than for disgust-related words (Experiment 2). Furthermore, only disgusting words exhibited a higher recall accuracy than neutral words in the memory task. Moreover, the advantage in memory for disgusting words disappeared when participants carried out an affective categorisation task during encoding (Experiment 3), suggesting that the superiority in memory for disgusting words observed in Experiments 1 and 2 could be due to greater elaborative processing. Taken together, these findings point to the relevance of discrete emotions in explaining the effects of the emotional content on lexical processing and memory.     

Testing complex animal cognition: Concept learning,proactive interference,and list memory

This article describes an approach for assessing and comparing complex cognition in rhesus monkeys and pigeons by training them in a sequence of synergistic tasks, each yielding a whole function for enhanced comparisons. These species were trained in similar same/different tasks with expanding training sets (8, 16, 32, 64, 128 … 1024 pictures) followed by novel‐stimulus transfer eventually resulting in full abstract‐concept learning. Concept‐learning functions revealed better rhesus transfer throughout and full concept learning at the 128 set, versus pigeons at the 256 set. They were then tested in delayed same/different tasks for proactive interference by inserting occasional tests within trial‐unique sessions where the test stimulus matched a previous sample stimulus (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 trials prior). Proactive‐interference functions revealed time‐based interference for pigeons (1, 10 s delays), but event‐based interference for rhesus (no effect of 1, 10, 20 s delays). They were then tested in list‐memory tasks by expanding the sample to four samples in trial‐unique sessions (minimizing proactive interference). The four‐item, list‐memory functions revealed strong recency memory at short delays, gradually changing to strong primacy memory at long delays over 30 s for rhesus, and 10 s for pigeons. Other species comparisons and future directions are discussed.     

The differential effect of background music on memory for verbal and visuospatial information

Background music is a part of our everyday activities. Considerable evidence suggests that listening to music while performing cognitive tasks may negatively influence performance. However, other studies have shown that it can benefit memory when the music played during the encoding of information is also provided during the retrieval of that information, in the so-called context dependent memory effect. Since controversial results may be attributed to the nature of the material to be memorized, the aim of the present study is to compare the potential effect of consistent background music on the immediate and long-term recall of verbal and visuospatial information. Experiment 1 showed that instrumental background music does not benefit nor decrease recall of a list of unrelated words, both at the immediate and the 48-hours-delayed tests. By contrast, Experiment 2 revealed that the same background music can impair immediate and therefore long-term memory for visuospatial information. Results are interpreted in terms of competition for neurocognitive resources, with tasks mostly relying on the same brain hemisphere competing for a limited set of resources. Hence, background music might impair visuospatial memory to a greater extent than verbal memory, in the context of limited capacity cognitive system. In conclusion, the nature of the material to be learnt must be considered to fully understand the effect of background music on memory.     

Recall initiation strategies must be controlled in training studies that use immediate free recall tasks to measure the components of working memory capacity across time

There has been great interest in using working memory (WM) training regimens as an alternative treatment for ADHD, but it has recently been concluded that existing training regimens may not be optimally designed because they target the primary memory component but not the secondary component of WM capacity. This conclusion requires the ability to accurately measure changes in primary and secondary memory abilities over time. The immediate free recall task has been used in previous studies to measure these changes; however, one concern with these tasks is that the recall order required on training exercises may influence the recall strategy used during free recall, which may in turn influence the relative number of items recalled from primary and secondary memory. To address this issue, previous training studies have explicitly controlled recall strategy before and after training. However, the necessity of controlling for recall strategies has not been explicitly tested. The present study investigated the effects of forward-serial-order training on free recall performance under conditions in which recall strategy was not controlled using a sample of adolescents with ADHD. Unlike when recall order was controlled, the main findings showed selective improvement of the secondary memory component (as opposed to the primary memory component) when recall order was uncontrolled. This finding advances our understanding of WM training by highlighting the importance of controlling for recall strategies when free recall tasks are used to measure changes in the primary and secondary components of WM across time.     

Developmental differences in episodic memory across school ages: evidence from enacted events performed by self and others

The aim of this study was to examine action memory as a form of episodic memory among school-aged subjects. Most research on action memory has focused on memory changes in adult populations. This study explored the action memory of children over time. A total of 410 school-aged child participants, comprising 201 girls and 208 boys in four age groups (8, 10, 12, and 14), were included in this study. We studied two forms of action encoding, subject-performed tasks (SPTs) and experimenter-performed tasks (EPTs), which were compared with one verbal encoding task as a control condition. At retrieval, we used three memory tests (free recall, cued recall, and recognition). We observed significant differences in memory performance in children aged 8–14 years with respect to free recall and cued recall but not recognition. The largest memory enhancement was observed for the SPTs in the 8–14-year-old participants under all test conditions. Participants performed equally well on the free recall of SPTs and EPTs, whereas they displayed better performances on the cued recall and recognition of SPTs compared to EPTs. The strategic nature of SPTs and the distinction between item-specific information and relational information are discussed.     

Levels of processing and phonological priming in Chinese character completion tests

This study investigated the level of processing (LoP) effect in the Chinese character completion task. Stem cues, either graphemically or phonetically related to a target character, were used to generate two different kinds of perceptual tests. By giving participants either direct or indirect instructions, the character completion tests could be either an explicit or an implicit memory test. For the implicit test, LoP effects were not found between Read and Generation conditions, whereas the Physical condition did not produce priming. In addition, no priming was found when participants received graphemic cues during the test. For the explicit test, on the other hand, a standard pattern of LoP effects was found between the Physical, Read, and Generation conditions. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of lexical access for character completion tests and the role of phonology in processing Chinese characters.     

Levels-of-processing effects on Chinese character completion: The importance of lexical processing and test cue

The levels of processing (LoP) effect was studied in Chinese character completion tasks. The same stem cue, either graphemically or semantically related to the target character, was used to generate either a perceptual or a conceptual test. Participants received either direct or indirect instructions, so that the same stem cue also produced either an explicit or an implicit test of memory. This allowed us to examine simultaneously the roles of perceptual versus conceptual test and retrieval intentionality in the LoP effect. No LoP effects were found when the memory test was implicit. LoP effects were also not found for stems and characters related graphemically (perceptually), but were found for stems and characters related semantically (conceptually) when the memory test was explicit. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of lexical processing for character completion tests and the importance of reinstatement of the study process during retrieval for explicit memory tests.     

High-priority event instructions affect implicit and explicit memory tests

Previous work has shown that instructing subjects to give special priority to one target event in a list enhances recall for that event, but impairs recall for the events immediately preceding it (Tulving, 1969). We examined the benefit of high-priority instructions, and the retrograde amnesia for previous items, in three experiments that included two explicit tests of memory (free recall and cued recall with word-stem cues) and an implicit test (word-stem completion). Experiments 1 and 2 revealed a beneficial effect of high-priority instructions on memory for the target events in both free recall and primed word-stem completion. Retrograde amnesia for previous events was either absent (Experiment 1) or modest (Experiment 2) in free recall; however, no evidence for amnesia occurred on the implicit test. In Experiment 3, we asked if the benefit of high-priority instructions on the implicit test was due to contamination from intentional recollection, by employing the logic of the retrieval-intentionality criterion via a levels-of-processing manipulation. The results showed a beneficial effect of high-priority instructions on free recall, word-stem cued recall, and word-stem completion. Level of processing affected the two explicit tests, but not the implicit test, indicating that it induced incidental retrieval. We conclude that the benefit of high-priority instructions occurred on all three tests used in these experiments. In contrast, the phenomenon of retrograde amnesia occurred in free recall, but not in primed word-stem completion.