Spatial recall improved by retrieval enactment

Evidence from studies of intentional learning suggests that the accuracy of recall is not assisted by appropriate enactment at retrieval, as opposed to encoding. In the present study, long-term recall of spatial arrays following incidental learning (text messaging or calculator use) was tested under three different motor conditions at retrieval. For both letter and number arrays, the accuracy of recall was found to be improved by relevant enactment at the time of retrieval, relative to retrieval with no movement. In contrast, irrelevant movement was found to produce an impairment in accuracy. The overall accuracy of recalling a letter array was found to be a power-law function of the frequency of exposure to the array. The findings are discussed in terms of the hypothesis that appropriate movement during memory retrieval recruits egocentric representations that supplement allocentric representations subserving longer term spatial recall.     

Order information and retrieval distinctiveness: recall of common versus bizarre material

The order-encoding hypothesis (E. L. DeLosh & M. A. McDaniel, 1996) assumes that serial-order information contributes to the retrieval of list items and that serial-order encoding is better for common items than bizarre items. In line with this account, Experiment 1 revealed better free recall and serial-order memory for common than for bizarre items in pure lists, and Experiment 2 showed that recall for bizarre items increased and the recall advantage of common items was eliminated when serial-order encoding for bizarre items was increased to the level of common items. However, inconsistent with a second assumption that bizarre-item advantages in mixed lists reflect better individual-item encoding for bizarre items, Experiments 3 and 4 showed that the bizarreness effect in mixed lists is eliminated when alternative retrieval strategies are encouraged. This set of findings is better explained by the differential-retrieval-process framework, which proposes that contextual factors (e.g., list composition) influence the extent to which various types of information are used at retrieval, with the bizarreness advantage in mixed lists dependent on a distinctiveness-based retrieval process.     

Total retrieval time and hypermnesia: Investigating the benefits of multiple recall tests

Hypermnesia is an increase in recall over repeated tests. A core issue is the role of repeated testing, per se, versus total retrieval time. Prior research implies an equivalence between multiple recall tests and a single test of equal total duration, but theoretical analyses indicate otherwise. Three experiments investigated this issue using various study materials (unrelated word lists, related word lists, and a short story). In the first experimental session, the study phase was followed by a series of short recall tests or by a single, long test of equal total duration. Two days later, participants took a final recall test. The multiple and single test conditions produced equivalent performance in the first session, but the multiple test group exhibited less forgetting and fewer item losses in the final test. In a fourth experiment, using a brief delay (15 min) between the recall sessions, the multiple recall condition produced greater hypermnesia as well as fewer item losses. In addition, final recall was significantly higher in the multiple than in the single test condition in three of the four experiments. Thus, single and repeated recall tests of equal total duration are not functionally equivalent, but rather produce differences observable in subsequent recall tests.     

Forward and backward recall: different response time patterns,same retrieval order

How do people retrieve information in forward and backward recall? To address this issue, we examined response times in directional recall as a function of serial position and list length. Participants memorized lists of four to six words and entered responses at the keyboard. Recall direction was postcued. Response times exhibited asymmetry in terms of direction. In forward recall, response times peaked at the first position, leveling off for subsequent positions. Response times were slower in backward recall than in forward recall and exhibited an inverse U-shaped function with an initial slowdown followed by a continuous speedup. These asymmetries have implications for theoretical models of retrieval in serial recall, including temporal-code, rule-based, and network models. The response time pattern suggests that forward recall proceeds in equal steps across positions, whereas backward recall involves repeated covert cycles of forward recall. Thus, retrieval in both directions involves a forward search.     

Free recall and retrieval speed of categorized items by kindergarten children

Kindergarten Ss were presented with 16 pictorial items in four category sets or a partially random ordem with one item from each category composing the four presentation sets. The pictures were presented either on conceptually related background pictures or on white backgrounds. The categorically grouped presentation facilitated free recall performance, both in terms of number of items recalled and the speed with which the items were recalled, and increased the amount of clustering in recall. Categorical clustering in recall was associated with shorter within- than between-category intervals and for those Ss who recalled items from each of four categories successively, the over-all temporal pattern in recall closely approximated that found with adults. No background effects were found.     

Effects of list organization and retrieval cues on children's delayed recall.

Developmental differences in recall were investigated as a function of mode of presentation (blocked vs. random), recall condition (cued vs. noncued), and time of recall (immediate vs. delayed). Ninety-six second graders and 96 fourth graders were the subjects, and the stimuli were 20 pictured items from five categories. Data on three dependent variables (item recall, category recall, and clustering score) were analyzed. Immediate recall was better than delayed recall, the fourth graders' overall performance was superior to that of the second graders, and the blocked presentation of items and the presence of retrieval cues at recall enhanced recall and organization in recall. Furthermore, an analysis of a three-way interaction on two dependent measures indicated that, in the noncued condition, immediate recall was better than delayed recall for children in both grades. However, in the cued condition, the fourth graders performed better during delayed recall than during immediate recall, whereas the second graders did better during immediate recall than during delayed recall.     

Repressive coping and the recall of emotional material

Abstract

Individuals who possess a repressive coping style are known to have difficulty in retrieving negative autobiographical memories. We investigated whether these findings were specific to autobiographical memories. After learning a story containing positive and negative information about mothers and fathers, repressors remembered significantly fewer negative phrases than did controls, although there were no differences in the recall of positive material.     

Dissociating word stem completion and cued recall as a function of divided attention at retrieval

The aim of this study was to investigate the widely held, but largely untested, view that implicit memory (repetition priming) reflects an automatic form of retrieval. Specifically, in Experiment 1 we explored whether a secondary task (syllable monitoring), performed during retrieval, would disrupt performance on explicit (cued recall) and implicit (stem completion) memory tasks equally. Surprisingly, despite substantial memory and secondary costs to cued recall when performed with a syllable-monitoring task, the same manipulation had no effect on stem completion priming or on secondary task performance. In Experiment 2 we demonstrated that even when using a particularly demanding version of the stem completion task that incurred secondary task costs, the corresponding disruption to implicit memory performance was minimal. Collectively, the results are consistent with the view that implicit memory retrieval requires little or no processing capacity and is not seemingly susceptible to the effects of dividing attention at retrieval.     

Dissociating word stem completion and cued recall as a function of divided attention at retrieval

The aim of this study was to investigate the widely held, but largely untested, view that implicit memory (repetition priming) reflects an automatic form of retrieval. Specifically, in Experiment 1 we explored whether a secondary task (syllable monitoring), performed during retrieval, would disrupt performance on explicit (cued recall) and implicit (stem completion) memory tasks equally. Surprisingly, despite substantial memory and secondary costs to cued recall when performed with a syllable-monitoring task, the same manipulation had no effect on stem completion priming or on secondary task performance. In Experiment 2 we demonstrated that even when using a particularly demanding version of the stem completion task that incurred secondary task costs, the corresponding disruption to implicit memory performance was minimal. Collectively, the results are consistent with the view that implicit memory retrieval requires little or no processing capacity and is not seemingly susceptible to the effects of dividing attention at retrieval.     

Exploring the relationship between retrieval disruption from collaboration and recall

When people recall together in a collaborative group they recall less than their potential. This phenomenon of collaborative inhibition is explained in terms of retrieval disruption. However, collaborative recall also re-exposes individuals to items recalled by others that they themselves might otherwise have forgotten. This re-exposure produces post-collaborative benefits in individual recall. The current study examined whether reduced retrieval disruption during group recall is related not only to less collaborative inhibition, but also to greater post-collaborative recall benefits. To test this we devised a paradigm to calculate the extent to which each individual experienced retrieval disruption during group recall. We also included two types of collaborative groups, one of which was expected to experience greater retrieval disruption than the other. Results suggest that the relationship between retrieval disruption and recall performance depends on the level at which retrieval disruption is measured. When retrieval disruption was assessed at the individual level, then minimising retrieval disruption was associated with higher recall (i.e., less collaborative inhibition and greater post-collaborative individual recall). However, when retrieval disruption was assessed at the group level there was no relationship with recall. Furthermore, the findings from this design suggest a role of cross-cueing in modulating group recall levels.     

Exploring the relationship between retrieval disruption from collaboration and recall

When people recall together in a collaborative group they recall less than their potential. This phenomenon of collaborative inhibition is explained in terms of retrieval disruption. However, collaborative recall also re-exposes individuals to items recalled by others that they themselves might otherwise have forgotten. This re-exposure produces post-collaborative benefits in individual recall. The current study examined whether reduced retrieval disruption during group recall is related not only to less collaborative inhibition, but also to greater post-collaborative recall benefits. To test this we devised a paradigm to calculate the extent to which each individual experienced retrieval disruption during group recall. We also included two types of collaborative groups, one of which was expected to experience greater retrieval disruption than the other. Results suggest that the relationship between retrieval disruption and recall performance depends on the level at which retrieval disruption is measured. When retrieval disruption was assessed at the individual level, then minimising retrieval disruption was associated with higher recall (i.e., less collaborative inhibition and greater post-collaborative individual recall). However, when retrieval disruption was assessed at the group level there was no relationship with recall. Furthermore, the findings from this design suggest a role of cross-cueing in modulating group recall levels.     

Effects of free and forced retrieval instructions on false recall and recognition.

One hundred undergraduates heard 6 lists of 14 words that were each associated with 1 of 6 central concepts not on the lists (the DRMRS procedure). The participants were instructed to recall as many words as possible (free retrieval) or to fill all 14 spaces (forced retrieval) and were subsequently given a recognition test. False recall and recognition of the critical central concepts were higher with forced than with free retrieval instructions, but correct recall and recognition were not affected. Confidence was lower for false than for correct recall and recognition. Confidence was also lower with forced than with free retrieval instructions for false recall but not for false recognition. The DRMRS procedure easily elicited false memories, but confidence judgments helped more in detecting them in recall than in recognition. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.     

Source variability and recall of auditory material

Recall of auditory narrative material was measured under three conditions of presentation. These were a single source condition with material from one speaker, a four source fired sequence condition with material from four speakers in a fired sequence of 3-sec. lengths, and a four source random condition with material from four speakers in a random sequence of 3-sec. lengths. Recall was better for the single source condition than for the four source conditions. No significant difference was found between the fixed and random sequential presentations. Results are discussed in terms of the attentional behaviors involved in the tasks.     

A developmental study of relations between free recall, cued recall, and recall of incidental material

Six-, 9-, 17–19-, 45–55-, and 65-year-old subjects were shown 16 slides depicting one colored object and two uncolored context objects in a common setting, the task being to learn the names of the colored objects. Free and cued recall of both colored and context items were tested, the context objects being used as retrieval cues for the colored ones, and vice versa. The relative superiority of cued recall to free recall decreased regularly with increasing age. In the oldest subjects the level of free recall of TBR-objects was still fairly high, the level of recall of context objects being very low. The results support the hypothesis that adults encode nominally irrelevant context materials to a decreasing extent with increasing age, and that memory traces of young people in this sense are "richer", i.e., contain a greater number/variety of potential retrieval cues, than those of the elderly.     

The time course of episodic associative retrieval: Electrophysiological correlates of cued recall of unimodal and crossmodal pair-associate learning

Little is known about the time course of processes supporting episodic cued recall. To examine these processes, we recorded event-related scalp electrical potentials during episodic cued recall following pair-associate learning of unimodal object-picture pairs and crossmodal object-picture and sound pairs. Successful cued recall of unimodal associates was characterized by markedly early scalp potential differences over frontal areas, while cued recall of both unimodal and crossmodal associates were reflected by subsequent differences recorded over frontal and parietal areas. Notably, unimodal cued recall success divergences over frontal areas were apparent in a time window generally assumed to reflect the operation of familiarity but not recollection processes, raising the possibility that retrieval success effects in that temporal window may reflect additional mnemonic processes beyond familiarity. Furthermore, parietal scalp potential recall success differences, which did not distinguish between crossmodal and unimodal tasks, seemingly support attentional or buffer accounts of posterior parietal mnemonic function but appear to constrain signal accumulation, expectation, or representational accounts.     

Improving understanding and recall of the probation service contract

The role of the probation service within the Criminal Justice System is to provide support to probationees so they can serve out their probation orders in accordance with certain regulations. These regulations are expressed in a formal contract. The current article reports an assessment of the readability of the current Kent Probation Service's users' contract. A Flesch (1948) analysis of the original document indicated that it required an IQ of 111+ for full comprehension. Using several criteria suggested by the Flesch formula and other literature, the document was revised to improve its readability. Analysis revealed the revised document to require an IQ of 84+ for full comprehension, indicating that the revised contract should be considerably easier to understand than the original. An exploratory study revealed that both understanding and recall were significantly greater for the revised contract than for the original. We conclude that in assessing readability of written materials, it is important that (in conjunction with a Flesch analysis) documents are actually tested on the intended readership. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of short-term retrieval on adult age differences in long-term recall of actions.

In Experiment 1 young and elderly subjects either recalled or repeated after every block of 4 actions, whereas control subjects received neither interpolated short-term recall nor action repetition. On a later long-term memory test, experimental subjects, regardless of age or condition, recalled slightly more actions than control subjects. In Experiment 2 young adult and elderly subjects received 12 short-term memory trials in which 2 actions were performed on each trial, but only 1 was cued for recall after a brief retention interval filled with a distracting activity. On a later long-term memory test for the actions performed on the short-term trials, both young and elderly subjects recalled significantly more previously cued than noncued actions. The Age X Cuing Condition interaction was negligible. Prior retrieval of actions appears to enhance later recall regardless of age but seemingly only when prior retrieval requires considerable cognitive effort (as in Experiment 2).     

Rehearsal and retrieval processes in free recall of categorized lists

The relationships between rehearsal and subsequent retrieval characteristics were examined in the context of free recall of categorized lists. The results indicated a direct correspondence between the frequency of rehearsal and the order and speed of retrieval within categories. The same relationship obtained for the categories themselves. It was suggested that both retrieval time and order effects can be predicted in terms of the organization of input processing and the resultant repetition frequency of categories and exemplars.