A comparison of backward and forward spatial spans

The standard Corsi blocks task is frequently used to measure the capacity of visuospatial working memory, but the implications of the use of both forward and backward recall are still unclear. In the present study, we showed that the backward Corsi task is particularly powerful in discriminating between low- and high-spatial-ability individuals and involves different processes from those involved in the forward task. From a sample of 425 participants we selected one group of 20 high-spatial-ability participants and one of 20 low-spatial-ability participants. The results demonstrated that a backward spatial span offers specific information not available from a forward spatial span, and that there was no facilitation due to a descending format. In particular, in the low-spatial-ability group, performance was generally poorer, but backward Corsi recall was lower than forward recall, and participants did not show any advantage following the descending presentation format—which in some contexts is considered to reduce proactive interference. We conclude that the backward Corsi task has specific value and that the assumption of fully parallel verbal and visuospatial working-memory systems can lead to a variety of misunderstandings.     

A computational model of spatial visualization capacity

Visualizing spatial material is a cornerstone of human problem solving, but human visualization capacity is sharply limited. To investigate the sources of this limit, we developed a new task to measure visualization accuracy for verbally-described spatial paths (similar to street directions), and implemented a computational process model to perform it. In this model, developed within the Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational (ACT-R) architecture, visualization capacity is limited by three mechanisms. Two of these (associative interference and decay) are longstanding characteristics of ACT-R’s declarative memory. A third (spatial interference) is a new mechanism motivated by spatial proximity effects in our data. We tested the model in two experiments, one with parameter-value fitting, and a replication without further fitting. Correspondence between model and data was close in both experiments, suggesting that the model may be useful for understanding why visualizing new, complex spatial material is so difficult.     

Children's note taking as a mnemonic tool

When given the opportunity to take notes in memory tasks, children sometimes make notes that are not useful. The current study examined the role that task constraints might play in the production of nonmnemonic notes. In Experiment 1, children played one easy and one difficult memory game twice, once with the opportunity to make notes and once without that opportunity. More children produced functional notations for the easier task than for the more difficult task, and their notations were beneficial to memory performance. Experiment 2 found that the majority of children who at first made nonmnemonic notations were able to produce functional notations with minimal training, and there was no significant difference in notation quality or memory performance between spontaneous and trained note takers. Experiment 3 revealed that the majority of children could transfer their training to a novel task. The results suggest that children’s production of nonmnemonic notes may be due in part to a lack of knowledge regarding what task information is important to represent or how to represent it in their notes rather than to an inability to make functional notes in general.     

Children's false memory and true disclosure in the face of repeated questions

The current study was designed to investigate children's memory and suggestibility for events differing in valence (positive or negative) and veracity (true or false). A total of 82 3- and 5-year-olds were asked repeated questions about true and false events, either in a grouped order (i.e., all questions about a certain event asked consecutively) or in a nongrouped order (i.e., questions about a certain event were interspersed with questions about other events). Interviewer gender was also varied. Individual differences, including attachment style, inhibition, and behavioral adjustment, were examined as potential predictors of memory and suggestibility. Results revealed significant age, valence, and veracity effects on children's memory reports. Path analysis demonstrated that individual differences in behavioral problems and inhibitory ability predicted children's provision of inaccurate information. Implications for psychological theory and legal application are discussed.     

Adaptive Memory: Remembering With a Stone-Age Brain

ABSTRACT— If memory evolved, sculpted by the processes of natural selection, then its operating characteristics likely bear the "footprints" of ancestral selection pressures. Psychologists rarely consider this possibility and generally ignore functional questions in their attempt to understand how human memory works. We propose that memory evolved to enhance reproductive fitness and, accordingly, its systems are tuned to retain information that is fitness-relevant. We present evidence consistent with this proposal, namely that processing information for its survival relevance leads to superior long-term retention—better, in fact, than most known memory-enhancement techniques. Even if one remains skeptical about evolutionary analyses, adopting a functional perspective can lead to the generation of new research ideas.     

The role of autonomic arousal in feelings of familiarity

Subjective feelings of familiarity associated with a stimulus tend to be strongest when specific information about the previous encounter with the stimulus is difficult to retrieve (e.g., the butcher-on-the-bus phenomenon; [Mandler, G. (1980). Recognizing: The judgment of previous occurrence. Psychological Review, 87, 252-271.]). When a stimulus has been encountered previously and the circumstances of the encounter cannot be recollected, additional cognitive resources may be directed toward recollection processes; this resource allocation is accompanied by autonomic arousal [Dawson, M. E., Filion, D. L., & Schell, A. M. (1989). Is elicitation of the autonomic orienting response associated with allocation of processing resources?. Psychophysiology, 26, 560-572]. One easily measurable index of autonomic arousal is the skin conductance response (SCR). In the present study, participants studied lists of words and then gave recognition ratings to briefly displayed and masked studied and nonstudied test words while their SCRs were monitored. Results revealed a relationship between recognition ratings and the temporal characteristics of the SCR, supporting the idea that feelings of familiarity are indeed "feelings" in that they stem from autonomic arousal associated with cognitive resource allocation.     

Ethanol state-dependent memory: involvement of dorsal hippocampal muscarinic and nicotinic receptors

In the present study, the effects of bilateral injections of cholinergic agents into the hippocampal CA1 regions (intra-CA1) on ethanol state-dependent memory were examined in mice. A single-trial step-down passive avoidance task was used for the assessment of memory retention in adult male NMRI mice. Pre-training intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) of ethanol (0.25, 0.5 and 1 g/kg) dose dependently induced impairment of memory retention. Pre-test administration of ethanol (0.5 and 1 g/kg, i.p.) induced state-dependent retrieval of the memory acquired under pre-training ethanol (1 g/kg, i.p.) influence. Pre-test intra-CA1 injection of physostigmine (2.5 and 5 μg/mouse, intra-CA1) or nicotine (0.3 and 0.5 μg/mouse, intra-CA1) improved pre-training ethanol (1 g/kg)-induced retrieval impairment. Moreover, pre-test administration of physostigmine (2.5 and 5 μg/mouse, intra-CA1) or nicotine (0.3 and 0.5 μg/mouse, intra-CA1) with an ineffective dose of ethanol (0.25 g/kg) significantly restored the retrieval and induced ethanol state-dependent memory. Pre-test intra-CA1 injection of the muscarinic receptor antagonist, atropine (4 and 8 μg/mouse, intra-CA1) or the nicotinic receptor antagonist, mecamylamine (2 and 4 μg/mouse, intra-CA1) 5 min before the administration of ethanol (1 g/kg, i.p.) dose dependently inhibited ethanol state-dependent memory. Pre-test intra-CA1 administration of physostigmine (0.5, 2.5 and 5 μg/mouse), atropine (2, 4 and 8 μg/mouse), nicotine (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 μg/mouse) or mecamylamine (1, 2 and 4 μg/mouse) alone cannot affect memory retention. These findings implicate the involvement of a dorsal hippocampal cholinergic mechanism in ethanol state-dependent memory and also it can be concluded that there may be a cross-state dependency between ethanol and acetylcholine.     

Message content,group identification and the intergroup sensitivity effect: Responses to the message and recognition memory

An intergroup sensitivity effect (ISE) is people's tendency to react more negatively to a criticism when it was made by an outgroup member than when the same criticism was made by an ingroup member. The present study investigated variation in ISE when the criticism was varied in terms of valence (absence of positive qualities or presence of negative qualities) and level of abstraction (traits or behaviours). Dependent measures were emotional reactions to the criticism, perceived constructiveness, ingroup bias, and recognition memory for the criticism. All participants showed an ISE to the negative abstract criticism. In addition, consistent with the social identity account of ISE, participants' levels of identification with their ingroup moderated the ISE in some of the measures.     

Spontaneous recovery of consummatory behavior, but not of consummatory successive negative contrast

Five experiments were designed to study spontaneous recovery (SR) in two situations involving consummatory behavior: consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC) and consummatory extinction (cE). SR of consummatory suppression should occur if incentive downshift induces an egocentric memory encoding information about the emotional reaction to the downshift that is counterconditioned or extinguished during exposure to the downshifted reward. SR of cSNC failed to occur after resting periods of 24, 96, or 336 h interpolated following complete (Experiment 1) and incomplete (Experiment 2) recuperation of consummatory behavior, and was not induced by the opioid-receptor antagonist naloxone (2 mg/kg), known to enhance cSNC (Experiment 3). However, SR of consummatory behavior occurred across sessions in cSNC (Experiment 3) and cE (Experiments 4-5). Furthermore, naloxone facilitated cE without affecting SR (Experiments 4-5). These results are discussed in relation to evidence for the development of an egocentric memory of the aversive downshift experience in consummatory situations.     

Culture and the Development of Self-Knowledge

ABSTRACT— Although a great deal of work in the past decades has shown cultural variations in self-knowledge among adults, not until recently have researchers started to examine developmental processes and mechanisms that give rise to the variations. I discuss our research on the development of two kinds of self-knowledge: autobiographical memory and self-concept. Our findings indicate that children develop culture-specific self-knowledge early in life; the two kinds of self-knowledge reinforce each other at both individual and cultural levels; and early narrative practices constitute an important resource from which children draw cultural views about the self to incorporate into their self-understanding and remembering.