Tinnitus and short-term serial recall in stable versus intermittent masking conditions

The relation between tinnitus and short-term memory performance in varying background sounds is not well understood. In the present study a sample of 18 persons with tinnitus completed a serial recall test in three conditions, silence, masking and intermittent masking. The performance of a matched control group without tinnitus was also investigated. Based on the literature on the "irrelevant sound effect" we expected that the tinnitus group would perform worse during intermittent masking and that they would score lower overall compared to the control group. Results revealed no statistically significant differences between the groups, nor any group interaction within sound conditions for the serial recall test. Groups did however differ regarding subjective measures of concentration problems, anxiety and depression. Results are discussed in relation to thought suppression and distraction from tinnitus.     

Overshadowing the Reminiscence Bump: Memories of a Struggle for Independence

We describe a study in which young and older groups of Bangladeshi participants recalled and dated autobiographical memories from across the lifespan. Memories were subsequently plotted in terms of the age of participants at time of encoding. As expected the reminiscence bump, preferential recall of memories from the period of 10 to 30 years of age, was observed. This was very marked in the younger group and but less so in the older group who also showed a second bump in the period 35 to 55 years of age. This second bump corresponded to the period of national conflict between Pakistan and the Bengalee people that resulted in the formation of an independent Bangladesh. It is proposed that both the reminiscence bump and later periods of unexpected rises in recall can be accounted for by the raised accessibility of sets of memories and this in turn is a product of the privileged encoding of highly self-relevant experiences.     

Honeybee Memory: Navigation by Associative Grouping and Recall of Visual Stimuli

Studies of navigation in bees and ants are beginning to reveal that foraging insects traveling repeatedly to a food source navigate by using a series of visual images of the environment acquired en route (Collett, 1996; Collett et al., 1993; Judd & Collett, 1998; Wehner et al., 1990, 1996). By comparing the currently viewed scene with the appropriate stored image, the insect is able to ascertain whether or not it is on the correct path and make any necessary corrections. If a bee happens to forage at more than one site, then she needs not only to memorize a separate set of images for each route that she has learned but also to retrieve the set of images that is appropriate to each route. Here we examine the bee's capacity to learn and later retrieve from memory two different sets of visual stimuli. Bees were trained to fly through a compound Y-maze where they were presented alternately with two different sequences of visual stimuli on their route to a food reward. We find that bees can indeed store two different sequences of images simultaneously. Furthermore, the trained bees are able to classify the memorized images into two groups, one pertaining to each three-stimulus set. Exposure to any of the images pertaining to one set triggers recall of all of the other images associated with that set. Associative grouping and recall of visual stimuli, demonstrated here for the first time in honeybees, provide an effective means of retrieving the appropriate navigational information from memory.     

Children's suggestibility for an instance of a repeated event versus a unique event: the effect of degree of association between variable details

Are children who experience an event repeatedly more suggestible about an instance of the event than children who experience it once? Researchers have answered this question both in the affirmative and in the negative. In this study, we hypothesized that the degree of association between details that changed across instantiations of the event would help to explain the discrepancy. Preschoolers (4- and 5-year-olds) and first graders (6- and 7-year-olds) participated in either a single play session or four repeated play sessions, each of which contained 16 critical details. Across play sessions in the repeat-event condition, half of the critical details were associated and half were not associated. During a biasing interview 2 weeks later, children were misinformed about half of the critical details. The next day, children answered free and cued recall questions about the target play session. Among older children, repeat-event participants were more suggestible than single-event participants, especially for high-association details. Among younger children, repeat-event participants were more suggestible than single-event participants for low-association details. Consistent with some current theories of children's memory, older children were more suggestible than younger children.     

The effect of question repetition within interviews on young children's eyewitness recall

This study investigated the influence of question repetition and question type (answerable, unanswerable, or opinion seeking) on children's recall. A total of 136 children (5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds) watched a live 15-min presentation. One week later, the children were asked 20 questions that were repeated an additional two times within the interview. Accuracy of children's responses to unanswerable questions declined with repetition. Children were more likely to change a response to an unanswerable question than to an answerable question. Overall, children maintained the same answers to only three-quarters of the repeated questions. The most common pattern of change was for children to change their answer the second time a question was asked and then to maintain that answer when questioned again. The high percentage of changed answers within a single interview has important implications for forensic interviewing.     

建议者面部宽高比对决策者建议采纳的影响

在建议采纳过程中,建议者面孔宽高比作为可靠性线索可能影响决策者的决策与判断。本研究通过3个实验来分析建议者面孔宽高比对决策者建议采纳的影响及其机制,并探讨了建议者性别与决策情境的调节作用。结果显示: (1) 相较于女性与低面孔宽高比建议者,男性高面孔宽高比建议者的建议被更低程度地采纳,建议者可靠性感知中介了这一过程。(2) 建议情境的情绪困难程度调节了上述关系,高情绪困难会削弱面孔宽高比对建议采纳的影响。     

故事阅读中句子加工时间与理解的研究

被试是３０名大学生,实验材料为两个双情节故事。实验采用计算机按键计时的方式进行,每个故事一句一句地呈现在计算机屏幕上,每读完一句就按一下空格键,读完一个故事就马上回忆。实验结果表明：阅读时间呈现出一种递减模式,回忆量呈现出一种波浪模式,而且回忆量不受阅读时间的影响。     

A position of influence: Variation in offender identification rates by location in a lineup

Researchers have identified several threats to the validity of the use of the lineup as a test of true recognition. One concern is related to the structure of the simultaneous lineup. It is argued here that a simultaneous presentation of an array nonetheless requires the viewer to undertake sequential processing of the items in the array. This sequential pattern is unlikely to be random and therefore the position of a culprit in a lineup may have a significant effect on the accuracy of witness selection. A simulated crime (snatching of a handbag) was shown to a convenience sample of 84 undergraduates aged between 18–23 years. In 84 subsequent live lineups, the offender was placed with four foils. He was positioned on the far left (position 1) in 42 cases (50%), and in 14 cases respectively in positions 3 (centre), 4 (centre right) and 5 (extreme right). A very strong association was found between position and correct identification with position 1 placement leading to a significantly lower proportion of correct identification (7.1%) compared to position 3 (50.0%), position 4 (64.3%), and position 5 (21.4%). Steps to remedy possible positional biases are considered. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The processing of inter-item relations as a moderating factor of retrieval-induced forgetting

We investigated influences of item generation and emotional valence on retrieval-induced forgetting. Drawing on postulates of the three-factor theory of generation effects, generation tasks differentially affecting the processing of inter-item relations were applied. Whereas retrieval-induced forgetting of freely generated items was moderated by the emotional valence as well as retrieval-induced forgetting of read items, even though in the reverse direction (Experiment 1), fragment completion eliminated the moderation of retrieval-induced forgetting by emotional valence (Experiment 2). The results corroborate the assumption that the processing of inter-item relations is crucial for the immunization against retrieval-induced forgetting. Moreover, differential processing of inter-item relations may clarify the mixed results on moderating factors of retrieval-induced forgetting that have been reported.     

Temporal texture of associative encoding modulates recall processes

Binding aspects of an experience that are distributed over time is an important element of episodic memory. In the current study, we examined how the temporal complexity of an experience may govern the processes required for its retrieval. We recorded event-related potentials during episodic cued recall following pair associate learning of concurrently and sequentially presented object-picture pairs. Cued recall success effects over anterior and posterior areas were apparent in several time windows. In anterior locations, these recall success effects were similar for concurrently and sequentially encoded pairs. However, in posterior sites clustered over parietal scalp the effect was larger for the retrieval of sequentially encoded pairs. We suggest that anterior aspects of the mid-latency recall success effects may reflect working-with-memory operations or direct access recall processes, while more posterior aspects reflect recollective processes which are required for retrieval of episodes of greater temporal complexity.