Encoding strategy affects false recall and recognition: Evidence from categorical study material

The present research investigated memory vulnerability to distortions. Different encoding strategies were used when categorized lists were studied. The authors assumed that an imagery strategy would be responsible for decreasing false memories more than a word-whispering strategy, which is consistent with the model of semantic access and previous research in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (the DRM paradigm; Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995). A normative study of category lists and 4 experiments were conducted to verify the memory vulnerability to different encoding strategies (imagery, word-whispering, control). Half of subjects recalled and half recognized previously studied words. The results revealed a marked reduction in false recognition and recall after imagery encoding, relative to after word-whispering encoding.     

Parent-Adolescent Relationship and Adolescent Psychological Functioning among African-American Female Adolescents: Self-Esteem as a Mediator

African-American female adolescents living in urban areas are at increased risk for adverse adjustment outcomes. The present study accomplished two goals. First, the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship across age groups was examined for differences among younger (i.e., 12'14) versus mid-range (i.e., 15'16) versus older (i.e., 17'18) adolescents. Second, self-esteem was examined as a possible mediator of the relationship between the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship and adolescent psychological functioning in a sample of 608 African-American urban adolescent females. With regard to developmental shifts in the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship, midrange adolescents reported a significantly poorer relationship with their mother than older adolescents. Results also indicated that self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between parent-child relationship and adolescent psychological functioning. Mental health professionals can broaden their interventions that aim to improve adolescent psychological functioning by either focusing on the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship or adolescent self-esteem.     

Recognition memory and the mere exposure effect

Repeated exposure to novel stimuli tends to make the stimuli better liked. Examined here is the relation between this increment in liking and recognition of the stimuli. An attempt was made to replicate findings taken as evidence that liking is used as a basis for inferring prior exposure and thus for making recognition decisions (e.g., Matlin, 1971; Moreland & Zajonc, 1977). The claim was not supported. Although in each of five experiments liking and recognition were positively correlated, liking was less sensitive to prior exposure than was recognition. Moreover, statistical analyses suggested that if liking and recognition were causally related, recognition mediated liking rather than the other way around.     

Learning the Experimenter's Design Tacit: Sensitivity to the Structure of Memory Lists

Two experiments are reported that draw an analogy between experiments on verbal memory and experiments on tacit learning. Rules that experimenters use to select words for memory experiments, such as frequency, length, and grammatical class, produce consistencies to which subjects can become sensitive. Replicating the key results from the tacit learning literature, subjects in our experiments discriminated new words consistent with the experimenters' selection rules from inconsistent words, even when they could not describe those rules. The results also reveal a close relation between the information underlying both recognition memory and classification judgements. In particular, a 'mirror effect' (Glanzer & Bowles, 1976) is found with both tasks. Implications for research on memory and learning are discussed.