Autobiographical and text recall in the elderly: An investigation of a processing resource deficit

This study examined different explanations of age-related impairments in recall of details from text and autobiographical events. An interpretation of Central Executive Capacity Deficit was supported and explored further. This suggests that details are more demanding of capacity than main points, and that ability to appropriately integrate details with context is likely to be impaired. An implication was that irrelevant and false information may occur, and this was supported in both autobiographical and text recall. The effects were then examined in relation to various measures of ability. The aim was to determine whether declining capacity (as indicated by “Fluid Intelligence” measures) predicted ability to recall in a detailed manner. The difficulty with details was predicted independently by chronological age and by measures of fluid (e.g. AH4 intelligence test) and the more crystallized verbal ability (Mill Hill vocabulary test). Only a measure of the specificity of autobiographical recall was predicted solely by measures of fluid intelligence. Decreased specificity was not a result of faster decay of memory for details, as there was little difference across the lifespan. The resource deficit appears to affect retrieval and appropriate implementation of detail. It was concluded that lower-ability elderly subjects have decreased Central Executive resources, which leads to poor (often inappropriate) integration of details with central thematic points, but that subjects' verbal ability, which does not decline with age, still has an important part to play.     

Encoding processes and the recall of text

Two experiments investigated the proposition that the amount of cognitive effort expended to encode information will be directly related to recall of that information. While previous research has shown that amount of processing may affect recall, these studies have generally drawn on the notion of an elaborated memory representation to explain their results. In this study, the amount of processing required to correctly interpret anaphoric relations was varied while the elaboration of the memory trace was held constant. These experiments employed a self-paced reading paradigm in which subjects read a series of short paragraphs and later were cued to recall the final sentence of each paragraph. It was found that recall was significantly improved when more processing was required to correctly interpret the anaphoric relationship expressed in the final sentence. These findings suggest that encoding processes can affect recall performance without elaboration of the memory representation.     

Improving text recall with multiple summaries

Background. QuikScan (QS) is an innovative design that aims to improve accessibility, comprehensibility, and subsequent recall of expository text by means of frequent within‐document summaries that are formatted as numbered list items. The numbers in the QS summaries correspond to numbers placed in the body of the document where the summarized ideas are discussed in full. Aim. To examine the influence of QS summaries on participants’ perceptions of text quality (i.e., comprehensibility, structure, and interest) and recall, an experimental – control group design compared the effects of a QS text with a structured abstract (SA) text. Sample. Forty psychology students participated voluntarily or received course credits. Method. Students first read a control (SA) or experimental (QS) text on flashbulb memory (FBM). Next, their perceptions of text quality were measured through a questionnaire. Recall was assessed with an open answer test with items for facts, comprehension and higher order information. Results. Perceptions of text quality did not vary across conditions. But QS did lead to significantly and substantially (d= 1.57) higher overall recall scores. Participants with the QS text performed significantly better on all item types than participants with the SA text. Conclusion. Studying a QS text led to a substantial improvement in recall compared to an SA text. Further research is needed to examine how readers study QS texts and whether a text model hypothesis or a repetition effect hypothesis accounts for the effectiveness. The first hypothesis posits that the QS summaries support the reader in constructing a text schema. The second attributes the effects of these summaries to their repetition of text topics.     

Diagrams increase the recall of nondepicted text when understanding is also increased

Multimedia presentations typically produce better memory and understanding than do single-medium presentations. Little research, however, has considered the effect of multimedia on memory for nonmultimedia information within a large multimedia presentation (e.g., nondepicted text in a large text with diagrams). To this end, the present two experiments compared memory for target text information that was either depicted in diagrams or not. Participants (n 5 180) studied either a text-only version of a text about lightning or a textwith-diagrams version in which half the target information was depicted in diagrams. Memory was tested with both free recall and cued recall questions. Overall, diagrams did not affect memory for the entire text; diagrams increased memory only for the information they depicted. Diagrams exerted a generalized effect on free recall only when diagrams increased the overall understanding of the text (i.e., when the participants studied the materials twice before the test).     

Intraindividual variability in infant behavior.

Longitudinal observational data of infant crying, fretting/fussing, and smiling and the time spent in physical contact with the mother were used in a study on behavioral variability. The infants were followed weekly for a 15-month period. Evidence was found of an important intraindividual variability in the studied behaviors, specifically between the ages of 0 and 5 months, 5 and 10 months, but not between 10 and 15 months. Results are discussed and analyzed in the light of earlier literature. The possible functions and the factors underlying variability in development as well as its methodological implications are discussed.     

Effects of an intervention in active strategies for text comprehension and recall

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an intervention program to promote active text-processing strategies (main-idea identification and summarization) at two developmental levels (12- and 16-year-olds). The independent variables were training condition (experimental and control) and school level (7th and 10th grades). Several measures were taken as dependent variables: reading span, reading time, construction of macrostructure, and structural recall. The hypothesis claimed that training would increase comprehension and recall significantly. Furthermore, as a result of the training program, a reduction in developmental differences in the experimental groups at posttest was also expected. Results supported the predictions, showing a significant improvement in the experimental groups' reading comprehension and recall. These results are discussed in terms of the importance of active and self-controlled strategies for text comprehension and recall.     

Memorability functions as an indicator of qualitative age differences in text recall

An analysis in which the probability of text unit recall for older adults [p(Re/O)] is plotted as a function of this probability for the young [p(Re/Y)] is considered as one way to assess whether there are qualitative differences in text recall for young and old. The application of this relative memorability analysis to previously reported data dealing with the immediate recall of spoken sentences (Stine, Wingfield, & Poon, 1986) revealed that although older adults show qualitative recall similar to younger adults when informational density is low, they show less discrimination among text elements when informational density is increased.     

Text recall and text recognition with and without a title

Abstract: Recall and recognition memory for a text were investigated in two conditions: in one, subjects could understand the text well because they were presented with the title of the text prior to reading it; in the other, they could not understand the text so well because they were not presented with the title. Results showed that recall was better and sentence recognition more accurate when subjects had understood the text. A 1-h delay of the memory test after reading decreased recall performance, but not recognition performance. Different memory representations may have been operating when subjects had understood the text from when they had not.     

Prediction accuracy of text recall: Ease, effort and familiarity

Prediction accuracy of text recall was studied in two experiments. Text characteristics (i.e., consistency and distinctiveness) were manipulated in Experiment 1, and familiarity with the reading-task in Experiment 2. The results were also analyzed and discussed in terms of easy processing (Experiment 1), and in terms of increased and more active processing (Experiment 2). Text characteristics did not affect prediction accuracy. However, being familiar with the reading-task led to good and long-lasting prediction accuracy. Thus, subjects reading a school-book text, instructed to learn the contents of it demonstrated reliable memory awareness, both for immediate recall and for delay of one week. It was also suggested that increased processing demands and active reading enhances prediction accuracy.     

Text recall in adulthood: The roles of text imagery and orienting tasks

Summary Three experiments were conducted to investigate dual-code theory and the levels-of-processing approach in discourse processing. Three concrete and three abstract tests were constructed to be equivalent in the degree to which they were perceived as concrete vs. abstract. All experiments presented concrete and abstract texts under three orienting tasks. Results of the first experiment showed main effects for both text concreteness and orienting tasks and an interaction that can be described by the lack of a difference between the recall rates for the concrete and the abstract texts under the intentional-learning condition. In the second experiment, longer texts were used and a second trial was introduced. The interaction was not replicated. There were main effects for concreteness, orienting tasks, and trials. The third experiment replicated Experiment 2 with subjects in their late 40s and over 70. Main effects were obtained as before. Age interacted with both orienting task and concreteness, indicating that older adults gain less than middle-aged adults from intentional-learning instructions and benefit less from highly concrete texts. The discussion focuses on the relation of Materials and Subjects as factors to dual-code theory and levels of processing approach.     

Intraindividual differences dimensions of mood change during pregnancy identified in five P-technique factor analyses

Daily-self-ratings of mood and state were obtained for approximately 120 days of observation from five pregnant subjects. Measurements were based on a total pool of 75 adjectives culled from the literature to represent eight dimensions of affect established in primarily cross-sectional studies. The data were analyzed in a P-technique factor analysis context to determine both the extent to which interindividual differences and intraindividual variability concepts were interchangeable and how general such intraindividual variability concepts were among different subjects. Although evidence was found that subjects construe many adjectives differently, for dimensions such as Energy, Well Being, Fatigue, and Concentration, the data indicate that cross-sectionally and longitudinally based personality concepts exhibit a fair degree of convergence.     

Effect of reutilization of retrieval cues on free recall of a text

Undergraduates, 20 women and 25 men, studied an expository text containing only isolated paragraphs. Each paragraph was accompanied by a potential retrieval cue. During the retention interval experimental subjects received a sentence-completion task or a new learning task in which half of these cues were used again. Processing of interpolated textual materials appeared generally to hamper access to the original text. Moreover, reutilization of cues appears to reduce their evocative power with respect to the original text.     

Music training and rate of presentation as mediators of text and song recall

The present research addresses whether music training acts as a mediator of the recall of spoken and sung lyrics and whether presentation rate is the essential variable, rather than the inclusion of melody. In Experiment 1, 78 undergraduates, half with music training and half without, heard spoken or sung lyrics. Recall for sung lyrics was superior to that for spoken lyrics for both groups. In Experiments 2 and 3, presentation rate was manipulated so that the durations of the spoken and the sung materials were equal. With presentation rate equated, there was no advantage for sung over spoken lyrics. In all the experiments, those participants with music training outperformed those without training in all the conditions. The results suggest that music training leads to enhanced memory for verbal material. Previous findings of melody's aiding text recall may be attributed to presentation rate.     

Intraindividual variability in perceived locus of control in adults: P-technique factor analyses of short-term change

Multivariate correlational methods such as P-technique factor analysis provide a way to structure intraindividual change by identifying dimensions of covariation in intensive longitudinal measurements. For example, for 20 years or more researchers have acknowledged that some major personality constructs such as anxiety exhibit both trait (relatively stable, interindividual) and state (intraindividual) variability. However, the consideration that state variability might be quite general and can “intrude” in the measurement of putatively more stable attributes has not generally entered into construct validation work and other manifestations of theoretical development. Locus of control, as with many personality constructs, is considered to be a dimension of relatively stable interindividual differences. Levenson's three-dimensional locus of control scale was adapted for use in a measurement-intensive P-technique study involving 10 participants (5 mothers and fathers who were expecting their first child) to examine the extent to which responses manifested systematic liability. The data indicated that perceived locus of control exhibits coherent, day-to-day variability; especially the dimensions identified as internality and powerful others. Such state variation manifestations are discussed in relation to their important implications for measurement, long-term prediction, and theorizing about the nature of personality.     

Expecting to teach enhances learning and organization of knowledge in free recall of text passages

The present research assessed the potential effects of expecting to teach on learning. In two experiments, participants studied passages either in preparation for a later test or in preparation for teaching the passage to another student who would then be tested. In reality, all participants were tested, and no one actually engaged in teaching. Participants expecting to teach produced more complete and better organized free recall of the passage (Experiment 1) and, in general, correctly answered more questions about the passage than did participants expecting a test (Experiment 1), particularly questions covering main points (Experiment 2), consistent with their having engaged in more effective learning strategies. Instilling an expectation to teach thus seems to be a simple, inexpensive intervention with the potential to increase learning efficiency at home and in the classroom.     

Effects of sentence importance on text recall and recognition: The inferential hypothesis

Abstract

The hypothesis that sentences with important information are more likely to be remembered than less important sentences because the former are inferred to a greater extent than the latter, was explored. In three previous studies, sentence importance in the structure of texts had been established: Main sentences were assigned higher importance ratings, and recalled and recognised better than secondary sentences. In the present experiment, the subjects read two out of six 500-word texts at their own pace and performed a recall or a recognition test 8 min and 7 days later. Different text versions were written; in each version, one main sentence and one secondary sentence were removed from the original texts. me results showed: (1) a higher false alarm rate and intrusion proportion for main sentences compared to secondary sentences; (2) superior net recall scores (after deduction of intrusions) and memory scores (after correction for guessing) for main sentences; but (3) equivalent net recognition scores (after deduction of false alarms) and discrimination (d') scores in the immediate test, and a superior net recognition and discrimination of secondary sentences in the delayed test. It is concluded that the inferential hypothesis is consistent with most of the results, and that the probability of coding and retention does not differ as a function of sentence importance, though main information may be retrieved more easily than less important information.     

Three types of schemata in children's recall of cohesive and noncohesive text

Children, ranging in ages from 7.3 to 9.6 years, were identified according to the type of schemata structure they used to recall picture sequence events. These children were then required to recall several written text passages representing four different conditions: (1) theme first paragraphs, (2) theme final paragraphs, (3) paragraphs with no theme but having thematic structure, and (4) paragraphs with no theme and no thematic structure. It was found that the manner and the amount of the child's recall were a function of how the child's schemata structure interacted with a given paragraph structure. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the generally unquestioned assumption that only one “ideal” text grammar is needed to describe children's schemata for processing test.