Multinomial models reveal deficits of two distinct controlled retrieval processes in aging and very mild Alzheimer disease

Dual-process models of episodic retrieval reveal consistent deficits of controlled recollection in aging and Alzheimer disease (AD). In contrast, automatic familiarity is relatively spared. We extend standard dual-process models by showing the importance of a third capture process. Capture produces a failure to attempt recollection, which might reflect a distinct error from an inability to recollect when attempted (Jacoby et al. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134(2), 131–148, 2005a). We used multinomial process tree (MPT) modeling to estimate controlled recollection and capture processes, as well as automatic retrieval processes, in a large group of middle-aged to older adults who were cognitively normal (N = 519) or diagnosed with the earliest detectable stage of AD (N = 107). Participants incidentally encoded word pairs (e.g., knee bone). At retrieval, participants completed cued word fragments (e.g., knee b_n_) with primes that were congruent (e.g., bone), incongruent (e.g., bend), or neutral (i.e., &&&) to the target (e.g., bone). MPT models estimated retrieval processes both at the group and the individual levels. A capture parameter was necessary to fit MPT models to the observed data, suggesting that dual-process models of this task can be contaminated by a capture process. In both group- and individual-level analyses, aging and very mild AD were associated with increased susceptibility to capture, decreased recollection, and no differences in automatic influences. These results suggest that it is important to consider two distinct modes of attentional control when modeling retrieval processes. Both forms of control (recollection and avoiding capture) are particularly sensitive to cognitive decline in aging and early-stage AD.     

Medical Psychology in Israel

Medical Psychology in Israel has been recently recognized as a separate specialty. Therefore, the thoughts and efforts of our professional community are mainly directed toward defining the concept of medical psychology and developing the field and the profession. In this article I discuss some of these issues and describe present achievements and future prospects.     

The process-dissociation approach two decades later: Convergence, boundary conditions, and new directions

The process-dissociation procedure was developed to separate the controlled and automatic contributions of memory. It has spawned the development of a host of new measurement approaches and has been applied across a broad range of fields in the behavioral sciences, ranging from studies of memory and perception to neuroscience and social psychology. Although it has not been without its shortcomings or critics, its growing influence attests to its utility. In the present article, we briefly review the factors motivating its development, describe some of the early applications of the general method, and review the literature examining its underlying assumptions and boundary conditions. We then highlight some of the specific issues that the methods have been applied to and discuss some of the more recent applications of the procedure, along with future directions.     

Quantifying phase correction in sensorimotor synchronization: empirical comparison of three paradigms

Tapping in synchrony with a metronome requires phase error correction, a process often described by a single-parameter autoregressive model. The parameter (α) is a measure of sensorimotor coupling strength. This study compares α estimates obtained from three experimental paradigms: synchronization with (1) a perfectly regular metronome (RM), (2) a perturbed metronome containing phase shifts (PS), and (3) an "adaptively timed" metronome (AT). Musically trained participants performed in each paradigm at four tempi, with baseline interval durations ranging from 400 to 1300 ms. Two estimation methods were applied to each data set. Results showed that all α estimates increased with interval duration. However, the PS paradigm yielded much larger α values than did the AT paradigm, with those from the RM paradigm falling in between. Positional analysis of the PS data revealed that α increased immediately following a phase shift and then decreased sharply. Unexpectedly, all PS α estimates were uncorrelated with the RM and AT estimates, which were strongly correlated. These results suggest that abruptly perturbed sequences engage a different mechanism of phase correction than do regular or continuously modulated sequences.     

Self-regulated learning of a natural category: Do people interleave or block exemplars during study?

Despite decades of research focused on the representation of concepts, little is known about the influence of self-regulatory processes when learning natural categories. Such work is vital, as many contexts require self-regulation when we form complex concepts. Previous research has demonstrated that interleaving, as compared to blocking, can improve classification. Thus, as an initial step to explore self-regulated learning of natural concepts, we evaluated whether people chose to block or interleave their practice. According to the search-for-differences hypothesis, people attempt to identify features of birds that distinguish one category (i.e., bird family) from another, and hence should interleave their study. According to the search-for-similarities hypothesis, people attempt to identify features that indicate inclusion into a single category, and hence are expected to block their study. To evaluate these hypotheses, we had participants learn exemplar birds (e.g., Song Sparrow) with their respective bird families (e.g., Sparrow) by selecting the order in which to study bird families. Across four experiments, different formats for selecting exemplars for study were used, so as to provide converging evidence for how participants regulated their learning. Participants overwhelmingly preferred to block their study, even though interleaving is normatively better for learning.     

Which route to recovery? Controlled retrieval and accessibility bias in retroactive interference

New learning often interferes with the production of older, previously learned responses. However, the original responses usually appear to spontaneously recover and regain their dominance after a delay. This article takes a new approach to questions of interference and recovery by examining performance on immediate and delayed tests using direct or indirect instructions. Direct instructions asked participants to deliberately retrieve the original responses, and indirect instructions allowed them to respond on a more automatic basis, using whatever response came to mind first. Results suggest that interference and recovery may have their largest effects via relatively automatic influences on memory, such as the accessibility of new versus original information. This finding adds a new perspective to classic theories of interference and recovery, and may also inform current understanding of performance in populations (e.g., older adults) that often rely predominantly on automatic memory processing.     

Conjunction errors in recognition memory: modality-free errors for older adults but not for young adults

A dual-process theory of memory was applied to processes in normal aging, with a focus on recognition errors in the feature-conjunction paradigm (i.e., false recognition of blackbird after studying parent words blackmail and/or jailbird). Study repetition was manipulated so that some parent words occurred once and others occurred three times. Age-related differences on hit scores occurred for two experiments. The results for feature and conjunction conditions showed repetition effects but no age-related differences when participants were uninformed of the lures (Experiment 1). However, age-related differences emerged when the retrieval of modality source information created a way to evade conjunction errors (Experiment 2). In the second experiment, study repetition decreased errors for the young adults but increased errors for the older adults, and young adults were better able than older adults to avoid conjunction errors when the parent words had been repeated. For older adults, the conjunction errors were modality-free. The results provide additional evidence that older adults experience difficulty in recollecting aspects of a study experience, and the results from groups of young adults required to respond quickly on the tests provide converging evidence for this conclusion.     

Direct versus indirect tests of memory for source: judgments of modality

We studied the relation between performance on direct versus indirect tests of memory for modality. Subjects read or heard words in a mixed list and then were tested by visual perceptual identification (the indirect test) and direct report of items as read, heard, or new. There was a dependent relation between perceptual identification performance and modality judgments, in accord with the hypothesis that subjects base their judgments of modality on relative perceptual fluency. In Experiment 2, we attempted to change the degree of dependence by providing subjects with an alternative basis for modality judgments. Subjects given a mnemonic to encode modality exhibited less dependence between perceptual identification performance and modality judgments than did subjects who encoded modality incidentally. The relation between direct and indirect tests of memory for source characteristics depends on the basis used for each.     

Reinstating study context produces unconscious influences of memory

Having read a word does more to benefit its later perceptual identification when many, rather than few, of the words in the test list have been previously read. Some have suggested that this proportion overlap effect is produced by an intentional use of recognition memory or recall in the perceptual identification task. Contrary to this account, we found that words that are easily recognized (words generated from an anagram at study) do not gain more from increasing overlap than do words that are poorly recognized (words read at study). These findings are problematic for claims that word perception relies on a module, such as a logogen system, that is separate from the rest of memory.