Variation in working memory capacity and intrusions: Differences in generation or editing?

The current study explored the reason for the relation between individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) and intrusions in free recall. High and low WMC individuals were tested in standard delayed free recall and externalised free recall in which participants recalled everything that came to mind. Additionally, in externalised free recall participants were instructed to press a key for each item that they knew was an intrusion. In delayed free recall, low WMC individuals recalled fewer correct items and more previous list and extralist intrusions than high WMC individuals. In externalised free recall, differences only arose in previous list intrusions. Furthermore, in externalised free recall it was found that low WMC were less likely to identify both types of intrusions than high WMC individuals. It is argued that the reason low WMC individuals recall more intrusions than high WMC in free recall is due to differences in both generation and editing abilities.     

Articulatory coding and phonological judgements on written words and pictures: The role of the phonological output buffer

Abstract

The ability of Italian subjects to make phonological judgements was investigated in three experiments. The judgements comprised initial sound similarity and stress assignment on pain of both written words and pictures. Stress assignment on both words and pictures as well as initial sound similarity on pictures required the activation of phonological lexical representations, but this was not necessarily the case for initial sound similarity judgements on word pairs. The first study assessed the effects of concurrent articulatory suppression on the judgements. Experiment 2 used a concomitant task (chewing), which shares with suppression the use of articulatory components but does not involve speech programming and production. The third experiment investigated the effects of unattended speech on the phonological judgements. The results of these three experiments showed that articulatory suppression had a significant disrupting effect on accuracy in all four conditions, while neither articulatory non-speech (chewing) or unattended auditory speech had any effect on the subjects' performance. The results suggest that these phonological judgements involve the operation of an articulatory speech output component, which is not implemented peripherally and does not require the involvement of a non-articulatory input system.     

Two modality effects in verbal short-term memory: Evidence from sentence recall

This paper investigates the mechanisms underlying the standard modality effect (i.e., better recall performance for auditorily presented than for visually presented materials), and the modality congruency effect (i.e., better memory performance if the mode of recall and presentation are congruent rather than incongruent). We tested the assumption that the standard modality effect is restricted to the most recent word(s) of the sentences but occurs in both verbatim and gist recall (Experiments 1 and 2), whereas the modality congruency effect should be evident for the rest of the sentence when using verbatim recall (Experiment 3) but not when using gist recall (Experiment 4). All experiments used the Potter-Lombardi intrusion paradigm. When the target word was the most recent word of the sentence, a standard modality effect was found with both verbatim recall and gist recall. When the target word was included in the middle of the sentences, a modality congruency effect was found with verbatim recall but not with gist recall.     

The Role of the Self in False Memory Creation

Summary

People will create false memories of childhood experiences. In this article, the research that demonstrates the creation of false memories is first described. Three processes that may be involved in memory creation are then outlined. First, individuals must accept a suggested event as plausible. Second, they construct an image and narrative of the false event. Third, they incorrectly attribute the source of the event to personal memory rather than external suggestion. We argue that the self plays a role in each of these processes. In addition, because memories are important components of the self, when memories change, the self changes as well.     

No effects of eye movements on the encoding of the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop in healthy participants: Possible implications for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy

Horizontal eye movement is an essential component of the psychological intervention “eye movement desensitization and reprocessing” (EMDR) used in posttraumatic stress disorder. A hypothesized mechanism of action is an overload of the visuospatial sketchpad and/or the phonological loop of the working memory.     

Accuracy of retrospective memory and covariation estimation in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Assessment methods relying on biased or inaccurate retrospective recall may distort knowledge about the nature of disorders and lead to faulty clinical inferences. Despite concerns about the accuracy of retrospective recall in general and in particular with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) patients, the accuracy of retrospective recall for one's own symptoms assessed in vivo is unknown in this population. This study used a prospective ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodology to create a criterion against which to assess recall accuracy in OCD patients. Although results indicated that patients’ retrospective recall of OCD symptoms was fairly accurate, they consistently overestimated the magnitude of OCD symptom covariation with non-OCD facets (e.g., sleep duration, contemporaneous stress level, etc.). Findings suggest that even when recall of OCD symptoms is accurate, patients may be inaccurate in estimating symptom covariation. The findings have implications for the research, case conceptualization, and assessment of OCD, and may extend to other disorders.     

Pauses in elementary school children's verbatim and gist free recall of a story

The aim of the research was to explore the function of pauses in children's oral verbatim and gist-based free recall, assuming that pauses indicate cognitive processing. The main question guiding this research was whether verbatim and gist recall constituted two different ways of cognitive processing associated with different time patterns of speech. Elementary school children (n = 180) between the ages of 8 and 10 years heard a story and were then instructed to either retell the story verbatim or retell its gist. They orally recalled the story for the first time immediately after hearing the story and again 1 week later. The results confirmed the main hypothesis of independence of verbatim and gist traces in that mean pause lengths were longer when verbatim retrieval was asked for as compared to gist retrieval. High correct gist recall was characterized by more and shorter pauses, indicating fluent retrieval.     

Learnings from a qualitative study into counselling supervision: Listening to supervisor and supervisee

This paper draws on the authors' recent experience of piloting qualitative research into helpful and hindering events in supervision using interpersonal process recall with three supervisor‐supervisee dyads. This paper presents in some detail the findings from one dyad. The authors draw on their experience of the research to raise questions relating to ethics and methodology and the implications for practice are considered.     

Complete Axiomatizations for Reasoning about Knowledge and Branching Time

Sound and complete axiomatizations are provided for a number of different logics involving modalities for the knowledge of multiple agents and operators for branching time, extending previous work of Halpern, van der Meyden and Vardi [to appear, SIAM Journal on Computing] for logics of knowledge and linear time. The paper considers the system constraints of synchrony, perfect recall and unique initial states, which give rise to interaction axioms. The language is based on the temporal logic CTL*, interpreted with respect to a version of the bundle semantics.     

Further differentiating item and order information in semantic memory: students’ recall of words from the “CU Fight Song”, Harry Potter book titles,and Scooby Doo theme song

University of Colorado (CU) students were tested for both order and item information in their semantic memory for the “CU Fight Song”. Following an earlier study by Overstreet and Healy [(2011). Item and order information in semantic memory: Students’ retention of the “CU fight song” lyrics. Memory & Cognition, 39, 251–259. doi:10.3758/s13421-010-0018-3], a symmetrical bow-shaped serial position function (with both primacy and recency advantages) was found for reconstructing the order of the nine lines in the song, whereas a function with no primacy advantage was found for recalling a missing word from each line. This difference between order and item information was found even though students filled in missing words without any alternatives provided and missing words came from the beginning, middle, or end of each line. Similar results were found for CU students’ recall of the sequence of Harry Potter book titles and the lyrics of the Scooby Doo theme song. These findings strengthen the claim that the pronounced serial position function in semantic memory occurs largely because of the retention of order, rather than item, information.