Showing papers in "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition in 1993"
TL;DR: This article showed that a wide variety of feelings about the past are controlled by a fluency heuristic, including feeling about the meaning, pleasantness, duration, and recency of past events.
Abstract: Feelings of familiarity are not direct products of memory. Although prior experience of a stimulus can produce a feeling of familiarity, that feeling can also be aroused in the absence of prior experience if perceptual processing of the stimulus is fluent (e.g., Whittlesea, Jacoby, & Girard, 1990). This suggests that feelings of familiarity arise through an unconscious inference about the source of processing fluency. The present experiments extend that conclusion. First, they show that a wide variety of feelings about the past are controlled by a fluency heuristic, including feelings about the meaning, pleasantness, duration, and recency of past events. Second, they demonstrate that the attribution process does not rely only on perceptual fluency, but can be influenced even more by the fluency of conceptual processing. Third, they show that although the fluency heuristic itself is simple, people's use of it is highly sophisticated and makes them robustly sensitive to the actual historical status of current events
839 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that syntactic misanalysis effects in sentence complements (e.g., "The student forgot the solution was" ) occurred at the verb in the complement (i.e., was) for matrix verbs typically used with noun phrase complements, but not for verbs usually used with sentence complementments.
Abstract: Immediate effects of verb-specific syntactic (subcategorization) information were found in a cross-modal naming experiment, a self-paced reading experiment, and an experiment in which eye movements were monitored. In the reading studies, syntactic misanalysis effects in sentence complements (e.g., "The student forgot the solution was. . .") occurred at the verb in the complement (e.g., was) for matrix verbs typically used with noun phrase complements but not for verbs typically used with sentence complements. In addition, a complementizer effect for sentencecomplement-biased verbs was not due to syntactic misanalysis but was correlated with how strongly a particular verb prefers to be followed by the complementizer that. The results support models that make immediate use of lexically specific constraints, especially constraint-based models, but are problematic for lexical filtering models. Many aspects of language comprehension take place rapidly, with readers and listeners making commitments to at least partial interpretations soon after receiving linguistic input (e.g., Altmann & Steedman, 1988; Crain & Steedman, 1985; Frazier, 1989; Frazier & Fodor, 1978; Marslen-Wilson & Tyler, 1987; Tyler, 1989). The on-line nature of comprehension has important consequences for syntactic processing (parsing). Immediate interpretation requires some local syntactic commitments even though sentences often contain temporary ambiguities. As a result, readers and listeners will occasionally make incorrect commitments that will require revision when, an ambiguity is resolved at a later point in processing. The frequency of syntactic misanalysis or garden-pathing will depend on the types of commitments made by the system and the information used to determine these commitments. A system that makes complete syntactic commitments using only a restricted domain of syntactically
584 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that attentional and nonattentional learning operate independently, in parallel, do not share information, and represent sequential information in qualitatively different ways.
Abstract: This research investigated the hypothesis that sequential patterns of behavior can be learned by 2 independent mechanisms. One requires attention to the relation between successive events, whereas the other operates independently of such attention. In 4 experiments, subjects learned visuospatial sequences in a serial reaction time task. The relation between attentional and nonattentional learning was explored by assessing the extent to which learning transferred between conditions with or without distraction. The results suggest that attentional and nonattentional learning operate independently, in parallel, do not share information, and represent sequential information in qualitatively different ways. A fundamental type of learning in which humans excel is the learning of sequential patterns of behavior. In four experiments, we investigated the hypothesis that humans exhibit two forms of sequential learning. One form of learning requires attention to the relation between successive events in the sequence, not only for acquisition but also for the expression of the learning in performance. We hypothesized that the other type of sequential learning did not require attention to these relations. Furthermore, these two forms of learning are independent of one another, with no communication or sharing of information between them. If subjects perform a series of behavioral acts that occur in a predictable order and under conditions relatively free of distraction, we suppose that attentionally based and nonattentionally based learning of the sequence occur in parallel. If distraction is added during learning, the attentional form is disabled, but the nonattentional one is unmodified. That is, attention is neither necessary nor helpful to the nonattentional form of learning. This hypothesis is similar to ideas examined by other investigators but is also different in several ways. Nissen and her colleagues (Nissen & Bullemer, 1987; Willingham, Nissen, & Bullemer, 1989; see also Lewicki, Hill, & Bizot, 1988; Stadler, 1989) have suggested that learning of sequences can be either procedural (without awareness) or declarative (with awareness). Both of these, according to Nissen, require attention. We distinguish both of those forms from a third, nonattentional type of learning.
565 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated dynamic properties of representations of intentions and found that words from the to-be-executed script produced faster latencies than did words from a second to be-memorized script.
Abstract: In 4 experiments we investigated dynamic properties of representations of intentions. After Ss had memorized 2 texts describing simple activities, they were instructed that they would have to later execute one of the scripts. On an intervening recognition test, words from the to-be-executed script produced faster latencies than did words from a second to-be-memorized script. This intention-superiority effect was obtained even when (a) selective encoding and poststudy imagery or rehearsal of the to-be-executed script was prohibited and (b) subjects expected a final free-recall test for both scripts. In a control condition in which subjects had to observe someone else executing a script, latencies for words from the to-be-observed script did not differ from neutral words
491 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated whether readers experience comprehension difficulty when they read texts in which local coherence is maintained but global incoherence is introduced, and found that reading times for critical sentences were significantly longer when the earlier description and the critical sentences are inconsistent.
Abstract: In 2 experiments we investigated whether readers experience comprehension difficulty when they read texts in which local coherence is maintained but global incoherence is introduced. Ss read passages containing an elaborate description of a main character presented early in the text that was inconsistent with actions carried out by the main character later in the text. In Experiment 1, reading times for critical sentences were significantly longer when the earlier description and the critical sentences were inconsistent. In Experiment 2, resolution of global inconsistencies improved memory for the regions of the text that involved the inconsistencies. The results are discussed within a mental model approach to comprehension in which readers attempt to maintain both local and global coherence
455 citations
TL;DR: This article found that a stream of changing tones is as disruptive of visual serial recall as 4 syllables (Experiments 1 and 2) and that the effect of tones is not at encoding but during storage of the serial lists.
Abstract: A series of studies addresses the possibility that tones disrupt serial recall of visually presented material in the same way as speech. A stream of changing tones is as disruptive of visual serial recall as 4 syllables (Experiments 1 and 2). Similar effects were also shown with a repeated syllable that changed only in pitch (Experiment 3). Just as for speech, the effect of tones is not at encoding but during storage of the serial lists (Experiments 4 and 5). The results suggest that speech and tones are equipotent in their capacity to disrupt short-term memory. A «blackboard» model of working memory to account for the effects is outlined
449 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that detailed information about a talker's voice is retained in long-term episodic memory representations of spoken words.
Abstract: Recognition memory for spoken words was investigated with a continuous recognition memory task. Independent variables were number of intervening words (lag) between initial and subsequent presentations of a word, total number of talkers in the stimulus set, and whether words were repeated in the same voice or a different voice. In Experiment 1, recognition judgements were based on word identity alone. Same-voice repetitions were recognized more quickly and accurately than different-voice repetitions at all values of lag and at all levels of talker variability. In Experiment 2, recognition judgments were based on both word identity and voice identity. Subjects recognized repeated voices quite accurately. Gender of the talker affected voice recognition but not item recognition. These results suggest that detailed information about a talker's voice is retained in long-term episodic memory representations of spoken words.
444 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a theoretical framework that integrates distinctive-relational processing theory with revised generation-recognition theory was proposed to predict directed forgetting in both implicit and explicit retention tests that provided the same stimulus conditions.
Abstract: Directed forgetting has been studied by instructing Ss to forget either (a) an initial list or (b) individually selected words. Differential encoding was hypothesized to be responsible for word-method directed forgetting, and retrieval inhibition for list-method directed forgetting. In Experiments 1 and 2, directed forgetting was observed in recognition with the word method but not with the list method. Release from directed forgetting occurred in final recall after recognition but only with the list method. These results are interpreted in terms of a theoretical framework that integrates distinctive-relational processing theory with revised generation-recognition theory. In Experiments 1-3, predictions from that framework were generally well supported on implicit and explicit retention tests that provided the same stimulus conditions
364 citations
TL;DR: For an MMN to be elicited in response to a change in tone frequency, the representation of the standard tone must be both (a) well-established as a standard in memory, and (b) in a currently active state.
Abstract: The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a component of the auditory event-related brain potential that occurs in response to infrequent changes in the physical properties of homogeneous series of sounds, even when subjects are instructed to ignore the auditory channel of stimulation. It has been proposed (e.g., Naatanen, 1990) that the MMN is generated by an automatic process in which a difference between the deviant sound and the previous, standard sound is detected by the brain. However, it is unclear how the form of memory involved is related to the rest of the memory system. The present study indicates that, for an MMN to be elicited in response to a change in tone frequency, the representation of the standard tone must be both (a) well-established as a standard in memory, and (b) in a currently active state. The relation between physiological and psychological aspects of memory representation is discussed.
357 citations
TL;DR: All 4 experiments supported the cue-familiarity hypothesis, because FKJs and TOTs were directly related to the number of presentations (and thereby the familiarity) of the cues, and little support was found for the target-retrievability hypothesis.
Abstract: Four experiments contrasted the cue-familiarity hypothesis of feeling-of-knowing judgments (FKJs) and tip-of-the-tongue feelings (TOTs) to the target-retrievability hypothesis. Familiarity of the cues was contrasted to memorability of the targets in a paired-associate design (e.g., A-B A-B, A-B A-B', A-B A-D, A-B C-D), in which the number of repetitions of the cue A terms was dissociated from the memorability of the target B terms. Little support was found for the target-retrievability hypothesis, because in none of the 4 experiments were FKJs related to target memorability. In one experiment, an omnibus retrieval hypothesis (which implicates total retrieval rather than just correct retrieval) and the cue-familiarity hypothesis produced isomorphic predictions that were borne out by the FKJ and TOT results. All 4 experiments supported the cue-familiarity hypothesis, because FKJs and TOTs were directly related to the number of presentations (and thereby the familiarity) of the cues.
327 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that low-working-memory Ss showed the positive fan effect typically found with thematically unrelated sentences, whereas high-span Ss were more likely to experience a negative fan effect when the slope of the fan effect was partialed out of the relationship between working-memory span and verbal abilities, the relationship was reduced to nonsignificance.
Abstract: One explanation of the correlation often observed between working-memory span scores and reading comprehension is that individuals differ in level of activation available for long-term memory units. Two experiments used the fan manipulation to test this idea. In Experiment 1, high- and low-working-memory Ss learned a set of unrelated sentences varying in the number of shared concepts (fan) and then performed speeded recognition for those sentences. Low-working-memory Ss showed a larger increase in recognition time as fan increased. When the slope of the fan effect was partialed out of the relationship between working-memory span and verbal abilities, the relationship was reduced to nonsignificance. In Experiment 2, Ss learned thematically related sentences that varied in fan. Low-span Ss showed the positive fan effect typically found with thematically unrelated sentences, whereas high-span Ss showed a negative fan effect. The results are discussed in terms of a general capacity theory.
TL;DR: In this article, a cross-modal priming paradigm was used to examine the comprehension of metaphors varying in familiarity and aptness, and the locus of activation was investigated in Experiment 5 in which the individual words of the metaphor served as primes.
Abstract: A cross-modal priming paradigm was used to examine the comprehension of metaphors varying in familiarity and aptness. In Experiments 1 and 2 high-familiar metaphors showed availability of the figurative meaning, but low-familiar (LF) metaphors did not. In Experiment 3, only LF metaphors that had been rated highly apt showed evidence of figurative activation. Experiment 4 showed evidence of figurative activation for most LF and moderate-apt metaphors. The locus of activation was investigated in Experiment 5 in which the individual words of the metaphor (topic and vehicle) served as primes. Neither topic nor vehicle showed evidence of priming the metaphor target, suggesting that activation of the metaphorical target in Experiments 1-4 was not caused by lexical activation of the words within the metaphors, but rather was due to activation of emergent properties of the metaphorical phrase.
TL;DR: Four verbal implicit memory tests, word identification, word stem completion, word fragment completion, and anagram solution, were directly compared in one experiment and were contrasted with free recall.
Abstract: Four verbal implicit memory tests, word identification, word stem completion, word fragment completion, and anagram solution, were directly compared in one experiment and were contrasted with free recall. On all implicit tests, priming was greatest from prior visual presentation of words, less (but significant) from auditory presentation, and least from pictorial presentations. Typefont did not affect priming. In free recall, pictures were recalled better than words. The four implicit tests all largely index perceptual (lexical) operations in recognizing words, or visual word form representations.
TL;DR: It is suggested that the visual paired-comparison test also depends on declarative memory when the task is given to human infants, and successful performance on this task by infants probably reflects an early capacity for declaratives memory.
Abstract: In the visual paired-comparison task, which has been used to demonstrate memory abilities in human infants, Ss view pairs of pictures and then view new pictures paired with old ones. Memory is demonstrated when Ss spend more time looking at new pictures than at old ones. In a series of studies involving amnesic patients and normal Ss, the authors evaluated what kind of memory is exhibited in this task. The results suggest that performance ordinarily depends on the brain structures essential for declarative memory. These and other findings suggest that the visual paired-comparison test also depends on declarative memory when the task is given to human infants. Thus, successful performance on this task by infants probably reflects an early capacity for declarative memory. The relevance of these findings to the phenomenon of infantile amnesia is discussed.
TL;DR: The authors investigated syntactic and lexical-semantic processes during the production of Dutch noun phrases of the form adjective+noun or adjective + noun or adjective+ noun, and found that noun phrases with different grammatical genders had different utterance onset latencies than those with the same grammatical gender.
Abstract: Two picture-word interference experiments investigated syntactic and lexical-semantic processes during the production of Dutch noun phrases of the form article + adjective + noun or adjective + noun. For both types of noun phrases, utterance onset latencies were longer when the distractor word and the target noun had different grammatical gender than when they had the same grammatical gender. Adjective distractors that were semantically related to the target adjectives led to longer utterance onset latencies for noun phrases of the form adjective+noun, but not for noun phrases of the form article + adjective + noun. The results are discussed in the framework of recent models of language production
TL;DR: This article investigated the role of the conditional probabilities of an outcome given a response P(O|R) and of a outcome given the absence of a response O|NoR in mediating college students' judgments of response-outcome contingency.
Abstract: We investigated the possible role of the conditional probabilities of an outcome given a response P(O|R) and of an outcome given the absence of a response P(O|NoR) in mediating college students'judgments of response-outcome contingency. A total of 150 subjects in three experiments was asked to describe the effect that telegraph key tapping had on the brief illumination of a lamp
TL;DR: The experiments reported here show that, among other things, Word Frequency interacts with Context but is additive with Stimulus Quality in the context of a lexical decision experiment that also produces an interaction between Stimulus quality and Context.
Abstract: Although many models of word recognition have postulated loci for the simple effects of Context, Stimulus Quality, and Word Frequency, most of them are problematic in that they do not account for the pattern of joint effects among these factors. The experiments reported here show that, among other things, Word Frequency interacts with Context but is additive with Stimulus Quality in the context of a lexical decision experiment that also produces an interaction between Stimulus Quality and Context. The pattern of joint effects among these factors is accommodated by a multistage activation model that is based on the framework proposed by Besner and Smith (1992a).
TL;DR: For instance, this paper found that physicians generated diagnostic hypotheses for case histories for which two types of diagnoses were plausible, with one having a higher population base rate but less severe clinical consequences than the other.
Abstract: Physicians generated diagnostic hypotheses for case histories for which 2 types of diagnoses were plausible, with one having a higher population base rate but less severe clinical consequences than the other. The number of clinical and background symptoms pointing towards the 2 diagnoses was factorially manipulated. The order and frequency with which physicians generated hypotheses varied with the amount of relevant clinical and background information and as a function of population incidence rates, with little evidence of base rate neglect. Availability of a hypothesis, made possible by diagnosis of a similar case before, also made doctors generate this diagnosis earlier and more frequently. Physicians' experience affected hypothesis generation solely by increasing the availability of similar cases. The results are consistent with the use of similaritybased hypothesis generation processes that operate on memory for prior cases. The process of hypothesis generation in problem solving has received inadequate attention. Increasing concern with problem-solving skills in areas as diverse as medicine or manufacturing has resulted in descriptive and prescriptive accounts of human problem solving that typically divide the solution process into the subprocesses of hypothesis generation, information acquisition, and hypothesis testing. However, psychological researchers from Bruner, Goodnow, and Austin (1956) through Wason and Johnson-Laird (1972), Newell and Simon (1972) to Klayman and Ha (1987), have
TL;DR: This paper examined the degree to which individuals adapt their decision processes to the degree of interattribute correlation and conflict characterizing a decision problem, and they predicted that the more negatively correlated the attribute structure, the more people will use strategies that process much of the relevant information and make trade-offs.
Abstract: We examined the degree to which individuals adapt their decision processes to the degree of interattribute correlation and conflict characterizing a decision problem. On the basis of an effort-accuracy framework for adaptive decision making, we predicted that the more negatively correlated the attribute structure, the more people will use strategies that process much of the relevant information and make trade-offs. A computer simulation study supported these predictions, and two experiments using process-tracing techniques to monitor information acquisition indicated that individuals did indeed respond to interattribute correlation by shifting their processing strategies in ways that are adaptive according to the effort-accuracy framework
TL;DR: Results confirmed the prediction that age-related slowing is larger in coordinative complexity than in sequential complexity conditions.
Abstract: Dimensions of cognitive complexity in figural transformations were examined in the context of adult age differences. Sequential complexity was manipulated through figural transformations of single objects in a multiple-object array. Coordinative complexity was induced through spatial or nonspatial transformations of the entire array. Results confirmed the prediction that age-related slowing is larger in coordinative complexity than in sequential complexity conditions. The effect was stable across 8 sessions (Experiment 1), was obtained when age groups were equated in accuracy with criterion-referenced testing (Experiment 2), and was corroborated by age-differential probabilities of error types (Experiments 1 and 2). A model is proposed attributing age effects under coordinative complexity to 2 factors: (a) basic-level slowing and (b) time-consuming reiterations through the processing sequence due to age-related working memory failures.
TL;DR: This experiment demonstrated that naming time of a target word is facilitated more by a homophone of a semantic associate than by a visually similar control, providing support for Van Orden's (1987) verification model, which posits that meaning is accessed through the automatic activation of phonological information.
Abstract: An important issue in reading research is the role of phonology in visual word recognition. This experiment demonstrated that naming time of a target word (e.g., nut) is facilitated more by a homophone of a semantic associate (e.g., beach) than by a visually similar control (e.g., bench). However, this priming effect from the homophone obtained only when the prime word was exposed for 50 ms and was followed by a pattern mask and not when it was exposed for 200 ms before the pattern mask. In contrast, the "appropriate" prime (e.g., beech) provided facilitation at both exposure durations. Because the priming was obtained with a stimulus onset asynchrony of 250 ms, these data provide support for Van Orden's (1987) verification model, which posits that meaning is accessed through the automatic activation of phonological information.
TL;DR: In this article, an elbow flexion movement was made in the left limb together with a flexion-extension-flexion movement in the right limb in order to perform different upper-limb actions simultaneously.
Abstract: The present experiments addressed the learner's capability to perform different upper-limb actions simultaneously with the help of various sources of information feedback. An elbow flexion movement was made in the left limb together with a flexion-extension-flexion movement in the right limb. Interlimb interactions were assessed at the structural as well as the metrical level of movement specification during acquisition and retention. Despite a strong initial tendency for the limbs to be synchronized, findings revealed that Ss became gradually more successful in interlimb decoupling as a result of practice with augmented feedback. However, detailed knowledge of movement kinematics was no more effective than global outcome information for interlimb decoupling, indicating that knowledge of results may have more potential for acquiring multiple degree-of-freedom tasks than previously believed. Finally, the data support the general notion that learning new coordination tasks involves the suppression of preexisting preferred coordination tendencies, which is often a prerequisite for building new coordination modes. Language: en
TL;DR: An experiment is reported that addresses concerns about the explicit test in which evidence is found that supports the dissociation of implicit and explicit knowledge of a repeating sequence in a perceptuomotor skill.
Abstract: Previous studies have shown a dissociation of implicit and explicit knowledge of a repeating sequence in a perceptuomotor skill developed by MJ Nissen and P Bullemer (1987) P Perruchet and MA Amorim (1992) raised the concern that the dissociation was an artifact of the cued-recall task used to assess explicit knowledge and reported high correlations between implicit and explicit memory (as assessed by recall and recognition) We report an experiment that addresses their concerns about the explicit test in which we found evidence that supports the dissociation
TL;DR: The authors examined the effect of homophony on semantic categorization of Japanese Kanji and found that reaction times (RTs) were longer and more errors occurred to homophone foils than to control foils.
Abstract: It is generally assumed that access to phonology for words written in logographic Japanese Kanji must be mediated by access to their meaning. This proposal was examined in a semantic categorization task with homophones. If the assumption about Kanji processing were true, then homophony should have no effect on semantic judgments. However, there was a significant homophone effect: Reaction times (RTs) were longer and more errors occurred to homophone foils than to control foils. There was also a significant effect of visual similarity: Incorrect target words that were virually similar to correct exemplars of the category names yielded longer RTs and higher error rates. The effects of both visual similarity and homophony were obtained even under conditions of pattern masking (though only on errors)
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of a reduced feedback frequency on the learning of generalized motor programs and movement parameterization were examined, and it was shown that reduced feedback frequencies enhanced GMP learning but generally degraded parameter learning.
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of a reduced feedback frequency on the learning of generalized motor programs and movement parameterization. Subjects practiced three movement patterns with the same relative timing and the same relative amplitude, but with varied movement time (Experiment 1) or varied movement amplitude (Experiment 2). KR was given either on 100% or 63% of the trials, with learning being assessed by retention and transfer tests. In both experiments, reduced KR frequency enhanced GMP learning but generally degraded parameter learning. These data provide converging evidence for the dissociation of the program and parameterization processes postulated in GMP theory.
TL;DR: The authors found that substantial priming occurred from studying pictures, whereas little or no priming occured from studying the pictures' names (read or generated) and that priming was specific to the exact contour presented at study.
Abstract: Five experiments were conducted to examine whether varying certain perceptual attributes of study and test items influences priming on pictorial tasks. Priming was found to be specific to the form of studied items; substantial priming occurred from studying pictures, whereas little or no priming occured from studying the pictures' names (read or generated). Priming was specific to the exact contour presented at study. Studying the same fragment that was presented at test resulted in greater priming than did studying an intact image or a different fragment of the object. Priming was also specific to the viewing angle of studied objects. Same study-test views showed the greatest priming, whereas priming across different views was greater when subjects studied an unusual view of the object and were tested on a canonical view than when the reverse was true
TL;DR: This article used a rich and systematic set of noncontingent problems to examine humans' ability to detect the absence of an inter-event relation, and found that subjects who used non-normative strategies were quite inaccurate in judging some types of non-constraint problems.
Abstract: Two experiments used a rich and systematic set of noncontingent problems to examine humans' ability to detect the absence of an inter-event relation. Each found that subjects who used nonnormative strategies were quite inaccurate in judging some types of noncontingent problems. Group data indicated that subjects used the 2 × 2 information in the order Cell A > Cell B > Cell C > Cell D; individual subject data indicated that subjects considered the information in Cell A to be most important, that in Cell D to be least important, and that in Cells B and C to be of intermediate importance. Trial-by-trial presentation led to less accurate contingency judgments and to more uneven use of 2 × 2 cell information than did summary-table presentation. Finally, the judgement processes of about 70% and 80%, respectively, of nonnormative strategy users under trial-by-trial and summary-table procedures could be accounted for by an averaging model
TL;DR: In this article, a detailed analysis of recall latency distributions during the buildup of and release from proactive interference (PI) was provided, and it was found that free-recall latency may be a sensitive index of the increased search set size that has often been assumed to accompany PI.
Abstract: Proactive interference (PI) has long been recognized as a major cause of forgetting. We conducted two experiments that offer another look at the subject by providing a detailed analysis of recall latency distributions during the buildup of and release from PI. These functions were accurately characterized by the convolution of the normal and exponential distributions (viz., the ex-Gaussian), which previously has been shown to describe recognition latency distributions. Further, the fits revealed that the increase in recall latency associated with the buildup of PI results from a slowing of the exponential retrieval stage only. The same result was found even when a short retention interval was used (and recall probability remained constant). These findings suggest that free-recall latency may be a sensitive index of the increased search set size that has often been assumed to accompany the buildup of PI. A central insight emerging from the memory literature of the 1950s and 1960s was that previously learned information can result in the rapid forgetting of more recently learned information. Underwood (1957) argued that this phenomenon, termed proactive interference (PI), was by far the major cause of forgetting in everyday life. Indeed, even in laboratory experiments, the degree of retroactive interference encountered over the course of hours or days was assumed to pale in comparison with the degree of proactive interference resulting from years of prior learning. Although its preeminent (and still unexplained) role in the process of forgetting continues to be recognized, interest in the subject of PI has waned in recent years. The present article contributes a new empirical analysis of this important subject and pursues a detailed theoretical exploration into its underlying nature. In a typical PI experiment, subjects receive blocks of Brown-Peterson trials involving words from a single category (Wickens, 1972). Within a block, free-recall performance declines with each successive trial (the buildup of PI) but recovers each time a new category is introduced (release from PI). In most cases, the dependent variable used in these experiments was the percentage of correct free-recall responses. However, in the research to be presented here, we focus on latency to free recall. Research on free-recall latency in any context is very limited, and in the study of PI it is almost nonexistent. Why might free-recall latency be an interesting variable to investigate? Because such a measure provides important information about the process of retrieval that is likely to be missed by static measures, such as probability of recall. Before addressing the question of exactly what that information might be, we review the scant literature pertaining to the more general and purely empirical question of whether these
TL;DR: In this paper, the Rescorla-Wagner model was used to explain why strong positive or negative contingencies caused the subjects to reduce judgments of contingencies of the opposite polarity.
Abstract: In 5 experiments, humans played video games in which 2 events or causes covaried with an outcome. In Experiments 1 and 2, a highly correlated cause (a plane) of an outcome (success at traversing a minefield) reduced judgments of the strength of a weaker cause (camouflaging or painting a tank). In Experiment 3, similar results were found when both causes were negatively correlated with the outcome. In Experiment 4, strong positive or negative contingencies caused the subjects to reduce judgments of contingencies of the opposite polarity. These results can be accounted for by associative or connectionist models from animal learning such as the Rescorla-Wagner model. In Experiment 5, this type of model was contrasted with a representational model in which subjects are claimed to monitor accurately the various contingencies but use a rule in which the presence of a strong contingency causes them to discount weaker contingencies
TL;DR: This article investigated the structure of autobiographical memories and found that distinctive and beginning details of memories provided significantly faster access to individual memories than beginning and ending details, and that distinctive details were associated with the most personally important detail in a memory.
Abstract: Five experiments investigated the structure of autobiographical memories. In Experiments 1-3 a timed production paradigm was used, and Ss listed details of memories in free recall, in forward order (from first to last), in reverse order, in terms of centrality, and in terms of the interest value of the details. Memory detail production rates were significantly higher under free recall and forward order listing, and details listed in free recall were associated with the most personally important detail in a memory. Experiment 4 found that once a memory was accessed, both distinctive and beginning details of memories were available equally quickly, whereas Experiment 5 found that distinctive details provided significantly faster access to individual memories than beginning and ending details