Showing papers in "Memory in 1996"
TL;DR: It is argued that current models of memory do not adequately account for the confabulations that are found in the recall of certain neurological patients, and a model of the relation between control processes and memory involved in recalling autobiographical episodes is put forward.
Abstract: It is argued that current models of memory do not adequately account for the confabulations that are found in the recall of certain neurological patients. A model of the relation between control processes and memory involved in recalling autobiographical episodes is put forward. It is based on detailed analysis of the protocols of healthy volunteers' autobiographical recollections of recent everyday events. It is held that damage to different components of the model fits with the different patterns of performance found in confabulators, and examples of the errors that confabulators make are discussed in terms of those made by normal subjects.
468 citations
TL;DR: This chapter illustrates how forgetting might be linked to inhibitory processes underlying selective attention, according to a new perspective that builds upon insights from modern work, while validating intuitions underlying several of the classical interference mechanisms.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the causes of memory interference and the extent of situations in which these mechanisms operate. First, the chapter discusses some widely held assumptions about the situation of interference, focusing on the idea that such effects arise from competition for access via a shared retrieval cue. This notion is sufficiently general that it may be applied in a variety of interference settings, which is illustrated briefly. Then the classical interference paradigms from which these ideas emerged are reviewed. The chapter also reviews more recent phenomena that both support and challenge classical conceptions of interference. These phenomena provide compelling illustrations of the generality of interference and, consequently, of the importance of understanding its mechanisms. A recent perspective on interference is highlighted that builds upon insights from modern work, while validating intuitions underlying several of the classical interference mechanisms. According to this new perspective, forgetting derives not from acquiring new memories per se, but from the impact of later retrievals of the newly learned material. After discussing findings from several paradigms that support this retrieval-based view, the chapter illustrates how forgetting might be linked to inhibitory processes underlying selective attention.
449 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that high working memory span subjects have more limited-capacity attentional resources available to them than low span subjects and that individual differences in working memory capacity will have implications for any task that requires controlled effortful processing.
Abstract: The causes of the positive relationship between comprehension and measures of working memory capacity remain unclear. This study tests three hypotheses for the relationship by equating the difficulty, for 48 individual subjects, of processing demands in complex working memory tasks. Even with difficulty of processing equated, the relationship between number of words recalled in the working memory measure and comprehension remained high and significant. The results favour a general capacity view. We suggest that high working memory span subjects have more limited-capacity attentional resources available to them than low span subjects and that individual differences in working memory capacity will have implications for any task that requires controlled effortful processing.
334 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of spaced presentations and test-spaces on learning and memory are discussed, and the authors conclude that spaced repetitions have considerable potential for enhancing student achievement.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the effects of encoding practice and retrieval practice. The effects of spaced practice provide important insights into the basic mechanisms of learning and memory. Moreover, spaced repetitions have considerable potential for enhancing student achievement. The effectiveness of repetition depends on a number of factors, including the time interval between repetitions, the frequency of repetitions, and even the form of the repetition, that is, whether it is in the form of an additional study opportunity or presentation (that is, a review) or a test. A review provides an additional encoding opportunity, whereas a test provides retrieval practice. Although the effects of spaced presentations on encoding are better known than the effects of tests on learning, there are indications that this gap is closing. One indicator is that the spacing effect and test-spacing effects are increasingly becoming understood in terms of the same psychological mechanism—namely, retrieval processes mediated, in part, by the accessibility of previously encoded information. Encoding trials are not retrieval trials; however, both are heavily influenced by retrieval operations. In general terms, the assumption is that repetitions are effective to the extent that (1) they engender successful retrieval of the results of earlier processing, and (2) that the effort and level of processing involved in a successful retrieval operation increase with spacing. A second indicator is that repetitions, in the form of either presentations or tests, have clear and verifiable implications for the classroom. Moreover, their potential for improving learning and retention is vast.
222 citations
TL;DR: Data show that personal involvement in the quake led to greatly improved recall, but do not show why; the authors suggest that repeated narrative rehearsals may have played an important role.
Abstract: Three groups of informants--two in California, one in Atlanta--recalled their experiences of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake shortly after the event and again 11/2 years later. The Californians' recalls of their own earthquake experiences were virtually perfect. Even their recalls of hearing the news of an earthquake-related event were very good: much higher than Atlantan recalls of hearing about the quake itself. Atlantans who had relatives in the affected area remembered significantly more than those who did not. These data show that personal involvement in the quake led to greatly improved recall, but do not show why. Many Californian informants reported low levels of stress/arousal during the event; arousal ratings were not significantly correlated with recall. The authors suggest that repeated narrative rehearsals may have played an important role.
186 citations
TL;DR: Three experiments contrasted the effects of directed forgetting instructions when given by item and given by list to show that the mechanisms underlying directed forgetting differ for the item and list methods.
Abstract: Three experiments contrasted the effects of directed forgetting instructions when given by item and given by list. In Experiment 1, which involved free recall of a single-category list, directed forgetting was greater with the item method than with the list method when the study format was pictures or words whose referents were imaged (these encouraged item-specific processing), but not when the study format was words not imaged (this encouraged relational processing). In Experiment 2, directed forgetting was observed with the item method but not with the list method in an indirect test of general knowledge. In Experiment 3, “Recollect” judgements showed directed forgetting with the item method but not with the list method. “Know” judgements did not show directed forgetting with either method. These experiments show that the mechanisms underlying directed forgetting differ for the item and list methods.
129 citations
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TL;DR: The authors examined four accounts of the nature of memory impairment in old age, including failures of strategic processing, deficits in semantic processing, problems in the utilization of context, and changes in basic mechanisms underlying all aspects of cognition.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter examines four accounts of the nature of memory impairment in old age. These range from the view that poorer memory in old age arises from inefficient encoding and retrieval strategies that are subject to remediation by appropriate interventions to less optimistic views that declining memory is the result of irreversible age-related changes in basic mechanisms underlying cognition, such as reductions in working memory capacity, reduced processing speed, and impaired inhibition. The four classes of hypotheses considered are that age-related decrements in memory are attributable to (1) failures of strategic processing, (2) deficits in semantic processing, (3) problems in the utilization of context, and (4) changes in basic mechanisms underlying all aspects of cognition. Processing-resource approaches are appealing because they seek to identify deficits in basic mechanisms underlying not only memory but also other aspects of cognition. The findings relevant to the hypotheses that memory changes in old age are due to reduced attentional capacity, smaller working-memory capacity, defective inhibitory processing, or general slowing have been reviewed.
127 citations
TL;DR: The authors report two experiments designed to test a multifactor transfer-appropriate processing explanation of generation effects, and the lack thereof, in free recall and cued recall, and conclude that the act of generating a target enhances the processing of one or more possible types of information (e.g. target-specific information, cue-target relationships, or target-target relationship) and subsequent retention tests will reveal an advantage (or disadvantage) of such generation (compared to a “read”; control) to the degree that a test is sensitive to the information on which processing
Abstract: We report two experiments designed to test a multifactor transfer-appropriate processing explanation of generation effects, and the lack thereof, in free recall and cued recall. The basic argument is that the act of generating a target enhances the processing of one or more possible types of information (e.g. target-specific information, cue-target relationships, or target-target relationships) and that subsequent retention tests will reveal an advantage (or disadvantage) of such generation (compared to a “read”; control) to the degree that a test is sensitive to the information on which processing was focused during study. Across the two experiments, manipulations of identical stimulus materials forced subjects to process different types of information in order to generate targets, producing a striking reversal in the relative levels of free recall and cued recall for targets that had been generated vs. read, and lending strong support to the transfer-appropriate processing aspect of the proposed framewo...
91 citations
TL;DR: Empirically, a parameter-free exemplar-based model of instantiation was applied to typicality judgments, indicating that subjects incorporate detailed information about category instances into their representations of categories.
Abstract: According to the instantiation principle, the representation of a category includes detailed information about its diverse range of instances. Many accounts of categorisation, including classical and standard prototype theories, do not follow the instantiation principle, because they assume that detailed, exemplar-level information is filtered out of category representations. Nevertheless, the instantiation principle can be implemented in a wide class of models, including both exemplar and abstraction models. To assess the instantiation principle empirically, a parameter-free exemplar-based model of instantiation was applied to typicality judgments for 16 simple categories (e.g. mammal, beverage) and 14 complex categories (e.g. dangerous mammal) in four superordinates (animal, food, small animal, dangerous animal). Across three studies, the model did an excellent job of predicting mean typicality judgments (correlations generally above 0.9) and a good job of predicting standard deviations (fits generally from 0.6 to 0.9). In Study 3, predicting the skew of typicality distributions was successful as well (a fit of 0.87), and dropping atypical exemplars from the simulations degraded prediction. All of these results support the instantiation principle, indicating that subjects incorporate detailed information about category instances into their representations of categories.
89 citations
TL;DR: Using data from a long-term follow-up study it is shown that age, severity of memory impairment, and additional cognitive deficits are important variables in predicting independence and use of compensations several years post-rehabilitation.
Abstract: This paper describes a framework for understanding compensatory behaviour in people with organic memory impairment. It builds on a theoretical framework proposed by Backman and Dixon (1992) who distinguish four steps in the evolution of compensatory behaviour: (a) origins, (b) mechanisms, (c) forms, and (d) consequences. Although this framework is useful in understanding compensation in neurologically impaired adults, other factors need to be taken into account. Using data from a long-term follow-up study it is shown that age, severity of memory impairment, and additional cognitive deficits are important variables in predicting independence and use of compensations several years post-rehabilitation. The paper concludes with a consideration of how the framework might be used in future studies.
87 citations
TL;DR: An alternative framework is proposed in which the location memory deficit observed in mixed-etiology amnesics is interpreted as a disruption to the ability to bind item and location information.
Abstract: Items located within an array were presented to alcoholic Korsakoff and nonalcoholic mixed-etiology amnesics and to alcoholic and normal controls. Recognition memory for the locations of items was tested after incidental and intentional encoding. When equated on item recognition, neither Korsakoff amnesics nor alcoholic controls benefited from intentional, relative to incidental, encoding instructions. Furthermore, Korsakoff amnesics showed neither disproportionately impaired incidental nor intentional location recognition memory relative to alcoholic controls. In contrast, mixed-etiology amnesics profited significantly from intentional location acquisition relative to incidental instructions, and were impaired somewhat in incidental, but not intentional, location memory relative to normal controls. We discuss these data in relation to Mayes' (1992) contextual memory deficit hypothesis and Hirst's (1982) automatic encoding deficit account, and propose an alternative framework in which the location memory ...
TL;DR: It is suggested that the articulatory loop has a special compensatory role for anxious individuals in reading comprehension, and that the importance of this auxiliary mechanism is enhanced when other strategies, such as regressive fixations and control of reading speed, cannot be used.
Abstract: Texts were presented sentence by sentence (Experiment 1) or word by word (Experiment 2) at a fixed rate to subjects high or low in test anxiety, under various conditions: no interference, concurrent articulatory suppression, and concurrent irrelevant speech (presented auditorily). High-anxiety subjects produced overt articulation more frequently than low-anxiety subjects, especially in the irrelevant speech condition. The most salient finding was an interaction between anxiety and interference on comprehension performance: under word-by-word—but not under sentence-by-sentence—presentation, anxious subjects showed poorer comprehension than non-anxious subjects in both conditions known to interfere with the articulatory loop (i.e. articulatory suppression, and irrelevant speech), but equivalent comprehension in the no interference condition. These findings suggest (a) that the articulatory loop has a special compensatory role for anxious individuals in reading comprehension, and (b) that the importance of t...
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that temporal schedules of presentation control recall probability in predictable ways, and concluded that very fleeting lists obey similar principles as do longer-lasting lists.
Abstract: The serial position function reflects better memory for the first and last few items in a list than for the middle items. Four experiments examined the effects of temporal spacing on the serial position function for five-item lists that took between 0.5 seconds and 1.1 seconds to present. As with recall of far longer-lasting lists, recency and other robust serial position effects were observed with both free and serial recall. We demonstrate that temporal schedules of presentation control recall probability in predictable ways, and conclude that very fleeting lists obey similar principles as do longer-lasting lists. We compare both sets of findings with predictions from the dimensional distinctiveness framework.
TL;DR: The encoding/retrieval paradigm is introduced that represents a fundamentally important method of studying retrieval processes and their interaction with encoding processes.
Abstract: Publisher Summary
Processes of learning and memory are typically conceptualized as involving at least three stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Retrieval refers to accessing the stored information. Retrieval processes are inextricably bound to those of encoding and storage. This chapter reviews two basic ways of studying retrieval processes: (1) giving retrieval cues during a test and (2) testing people repeatedly with the same cues. The methods of studying retrieval include (1) repeated testing (without intervening study opportunities); (2) presentation of cues at test; (3) judgments made during retrieval; and (4) comparison of different instructions at retrieval. The chapter describes one general principle that is considered as governing retrieval of memories; and presents two other principles that seem to apply. The encoding/retrieval paradigm is introduced that represents a fundamentally important method of studying retrieval processes and their interaction with encoding processes. The chapter then reviews how the encoding/retrieval paradigm has been applied to understand various phenomena; and discusses the effects of prior retrieval on later retrieval.
TL;DR: Mnemonic devices are natural in many of the same ways that schema-base learning is natural, and both enhance learning by facilitating positive transfer from existing knowledge to the acquisition of new knowledge.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the study of mnemonic devices by discussing the types of mnemonic devices and the nature of their operation; the mnemonic devices in the framework of associative network theories; and the mnemonic devices in the classroom. When using a mnemonic device, the learner must elaborate new information to an unusual extent. The learner often must search memory for information, no matter how bizarre, that will relate what he or she is trying to remember to what is already known. The elaborations later function as mental cues for the recall of the new information. These mental cues must have certain properties to support new learning. Mnemonic devices represent artificial learning only in the sense that any learning using a deliberate strategy is the exercise of an art. On the other hand, mnemonic learning is natural in many of the same ways that schema-base learning is natural, and both enhance learning by facilitating positive transfer from existing knowledge to the acquisition of new knowledge; that is, both mnemonic devices and memory schemas utilize existing knowledge structures in memory.
TL;DR: Picture naming is an implicit task relatively immune from explicit memory contamination, and single test priming decreased within one hour after initial exposure, with little change from one hour to two weeks.
Abstract: Using a picture naming task, we compared the magnitude of repetition priming after one prior study episode (single test priming) versus multiple prior study presentations (multiple test priming) Pictures were repeated either one, two, or three times, and the interval between tests was either several minutes (blocked test) or one week (spaced test) Priming increased with additional prior presentations (beyond one) in the multiple test format In addition, single test priming decreased within one hour after initial exposure, with little change from one hour to two weeks Priming was unaffected by a simultaneous recognition task, suggesting that picture naming is an implicit task relatively immune from explicit memory contamination
TL;DR: The results of this study do not support the thesis of a hippocampal role in the working memory component examined, but point to a frontal lobe focus for this janusian cognitive function.
Abstract: Patients with medically intractable epilepsy and either hippocampal sclerosis or frontal lobe lesions were compared with healthy controls, to investigate a possible neuroanatomical correlate of a component of working memory: the central executive. Patients were tested on a short-term memory task which comprised visuo-spatial and verbal components, in single and concurrent trials. Differences were found between the patient groups for dual-task capacity, despite being equated on single-task trials. Patients with frontal lobe damage were the most affected by the demands of attention division. The results of this study do not support the thesis of a hippocampal role in the working memory component examined, but point to a frontal lobe focus for this janusian cognitive function. An unexpected finding of an increment in performance over the trials of visuo-spatial assessment, in patients with hippocampal sclerosis, is presented.
TL;DR: Although most subjects perceived their eras to begin at approximately the same age, those subjects who attended college perceived extended era periods (by 2.5 years), as well as the relationship between the era and the autobiographical memory phenomenon of the reminiscence peak.
Abstract: Do individuals perceive a time of their lives that is special with regard to their identity as part of a generation or era? In an interview study, 89 subjects were asked to list favourite films (and the ages at which they saw them) and to list films that defined their era (and the ages at which they saw them). Subjects also stated the years that they felt began and ended their eras. Additional age-information questions about ages of schooling and co-workers and friends were asked. Results suggest that subjects perceive their era to be between ages 14 and 24; the mean age at which subjects viewed era films was 21.85 (inside the era), whereas the mean age at which subjects viewed favourite films was 27.59 (outside the era). Although most subjects perceived their eras to begin at approximately the same age (14), those subjects who attended college perceived extended era periods (by 2.5 years). Relationships between an era and social identity are discussed, as well as the relationship between the era and the ...
TL;DR: A more inclusive term, working memory, is used to refer to the internal machinery that collectively selects short-term memories, maintains them in an active state, and underlies most on-line psychological functioning as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Publisher Summary Short-term memories are the active contents of mind, and are typically conceived in psychological theory as the by-products, or end results, of a perceptual analysis. A more inclusive term, working memory, is used to refer to the internal machinery that collectively selects short-term memories, maintains them in an active state, and underlies most on-line psychological functioning. The development of internal machinery that keeps the by-products of perceptual analyses in an active state is clearly adaptive. This chapter focuses on the creation, storage, and recovery of short-term memories. The chapter discusses what it means to be part of the “active” contents of mind, including how the concept of activation is typically defined and measured as well as discusses some of the logical implications of this notion for theory. Some specific short-term storage mechanisms that have been proposed are reviewed and the interpretive tools that researchers typically employ for the analysis of short-term forgetting are examined. The chapter discusses briefly the retrieval processes in working memory and offers some speculations about the proper role of short-term memories in the current psychology of memory.
TL;DR: In this paper, the characteristics of initial visual storage and early conceptualizations of iconic memory are described and an analogous treatment of initial auditory storage is presented, where a semichronological organization is used to present findings from three major tasks that have been used to study both visual and auditory sensory storage: partial report, backward masking, and subjective estimation of phenomenal presence.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter describes the characteristics of initial visual storage and discusses the early conceptualizations of iconic memory. The chapter presents an analogous treatment of initial auditory storage. In both domains, a semichronological organization is used to present findings from the three major tasks that have been used to study both visual and auditory sensory storage: partial report, backward masking, and subjective estimation of phenomenal presence. The chapter addresses how the early conceptions of the icon have changed over recent years in response to certain seemingly contradictory results about its nature; and discusses a new linear-systems approach for thinking about iconic storage and visual information processing that reconciles these apparently contradictory results within a unitary framework. The evidence for multiple types of perceptual memories as opposed to stores for more abstract or symbolic information is reviewed and the issue of how such perceptual memories or stores should be represented, if at all, within models of information processing is discussed.
TL;DR: How the different amounts and kinds of knowledge that people possess influence their ability to acquire new knowledge; and how that knowledge is organized in long-term memory is discussed.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses how the different amounts and kinds of knowledge that people possess influence their ability to acquire new knowledge; and how that knowledge is organized in long-term memory. The chapter examines the recent work differentiating implicit from explicit remembering. It also reviews how people differ in their ability to retrieve knowledge from long-term memory. The chapter discusses three realms of research that reflect the theoretical development in the area of working memory: memory span, information processing tasks, and working memory capacity. In summary, with respect to individual differences, memory span has received immense attention, far more than any other memory task. There is a reliably identified common factor relating memory span tasks across both sensory modalities and stimulus material. Furthermore, there are established individual differences in this factor that are at least moderately stable. One of the information processing task has been the visual search task (search). Here, a single item—a digit, letter, or word—is first presented to serve as the target for which the subject must search. This target is then followed by the simultaneous presentation of one to seven items, the set of items through which the subject must search. Subjects indicate, as quickly as possible, whether the search set includes the target. As in the scanning task, the dependent measure is response latency (search time). Most contemporary approaches to memory distinguish between an short-term memory (STM) storage buffer, as exemplified by simple immediate recall tasks such as memory span, and a “mental scratch pad” where processing is carried out.
TL;DR: Memory for conversation is treated as a source of coherence in social encounters and its connections with social competence are tested in a study of problem-solving conversations, and accurate recall is found to correlate positively withsocial competence and negatively with social anxiety.
Abstract: Memory for conversation is treated as a source of coherence in social encounters and its connections with social competence are tested in a study of problem-solving conversations. As predicted, accurate recall is found to correlate positively with social competence and negatively with social anxiety. Partners have better memory for their own contributions than for each other's, and this difference is exacerbated by topic importance. Differences in recall are also found for differing amounts of involvement in the conversations. Results are explained in terms of resource allocation during conversation.
TL;DR: It is concluded that the provision of contextual support at encoding and at retrieval can enhance residual memory in individuals with DAT.
Abstract: Three experiments using variations of the Subject Performed Task (SPT) paradigm examined whether structuring the learning and retrieval environment would improve learning in individuals with mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). Experiment 1 examined the role of enactment at encoding and retrieval, and found that with appropriate retrieval support DAT volunteers do benefit from enactment at encoding. Experiment 2 showed that recall was further enhanced when the list of SPTs formed a cohesive, goal-directed sequence of actions. In Experiment 3, DAT subjects acquired a more complex action-based sequence and maintained it accurately over a short period of time. It is concluded that the provision of contextual support at encoding and at retrieval can enhance residual memory in individuals with DAT.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a set of guidelines to improve the conditions of training and instruction so as to facilitate long-term retention of knowledge and skills, including periodic retrieval practice.
Abstract: Publisher Summary Knowledge and skills, acquired during training, often are not reactivated for considerable time periods. Disuse can lead to skill deterioration, which, in the extreme, might mean that a skill is no longer functional when needed. Training procedures must be developed to maintain skills at functional levels over periods of disuse. This chapter reviews the empirical results and theories from recent experimental research on long-term retention. The chapter develops a set of guidelines to improve the conditions of training and instruction so as to facilitate long-term retention of knowledge and skills. It includes a preliminary question concerning skill decay, a discussion of some groundbreaking work on long-term retention of knowledge, and some of the problems typically encountered in the training and subsequent assessment of skills. Although the guidelines should facilitate long-term retention, they may also inhibit the rate of initial acquisition in some circumstances. Some of the guidelines include (1) periodic retrieval practice benefits retention after a long delay interval, especially when there is a large spacing between the successive practice attempts, (2) if more than one task is to be acquired, it is better to use random rather than blocked scheduling of the tasks during training, (3) to ensure generalizability, training should maximize variability of practice, and (4) learning spatial information can be facilitated by increasing the distinctiveness of the to-be-learned information.
TL;DR: It is argued that articulatory suppression and tactile interference operate on separate mechanisms to impair recall accuracy for a tactile stimulus.
Abstract: In each of three experiments subjects were required to point to the location of a discrete tactile stimulus applied to the underside of the forearm after delays of 10, 15, 20, & 30 seconds. Experiment 1 showed that recall accuracy was impaired independently by both concurrent articulatory suppression and increased delay between stimulation and recall. Experiment 2 compared two types of articulatory suppression task (repeating “the” continuously and counting backwards in threes) and showed that both exert the same effect on recall accuracy. Experiment 3 showed that, in comparison to a quiet condition, recall accuracy was impaired equally by: concurrent articulatory suppression; additional tactile interference; and both applied in combination. It is argued that articulatory suppression and tactile interference operate on separate mechanisms to impair recall accuracy for a tactile stimulus. In particular, tactile interference reduces the discriminability of the target tactile location, whereas articulatory suppression results in a depletion of central processing resources concerned with memorisation of the original location of the tactile stimulus. Such memorisation is not necessarily underpinned by an articulatory code.
TL;DR: A tentative analysis of processes involved in copying information among different memory structures is presented, postulating several distinct forms of “attention” with specifiably different properties.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter presents an overview of the structures and processes involved in human information processing through sensor-motor and memory. Human memory can be divided into different systems using a model known as the “Modal Memory Model.” The Modal Model postulates three broad sets of memory systems: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM). The basic properties of sensory memory systems, STM, and LTM are discussed. The chapter reviews some major findings about how the flow of information between memory systems is regulated, including encoding and storage, rehearsal, and retrieval. These four concepts are useful in describing activities involved in the use of memory stores. The chapter focuses on the demands these various processes place on limited capacity mechanisms and on how the flow of information between different memory systems is controlled. A tentative analysis of processes involved in copying information among different memory structures is presented, postulating several distinct forms of “attention” with specifiably different properties.
TL;DR: Six actors generated think-aloud protocols while studying a theatrical script and found that, although the mnemonist employed imagery-mediation (usually used for learning discrete items), he had devised an original variation capable of yielding verbatim retention.
Abstract: Previous research has shown that actors recall text with word-for-word fidelity by using a type of meaning-based learning strategy that usually results only in retention of the gist (Noice, 1993). Six actors generated think-aloud protocols while studying a theatrical script. Analysis of these protocols indicated that the actors' application of their strategy required minute attention to the exact wording, punctuation, etc. in order to derive the deep meaning they require for interpretation and performance. A think-aloud protocol of the well-known mnemonist, Harry Lorayne, was collected for the same theatrical script. Although the strategies of the actors and the mnemonist were totally different, they appear to be dependent on the same underlying processes. An additional finding was that, although the mnemonist employed imagery-mediation (usually used for learning discrete items), he had devised an original variation capable of yielding verbatim retention. The reasons why mnemonic devices might be useful to actors in certain situations are discussed.
TL;DR: A review of the empirical results, theoretical interpretations, and methodological issues that have arisen in recent researches comparing direct and indirect memory tests can be found in this article, where it is shown that recognition memory performance is better when study instructions orient subjects to attend to the meaning of the words than when instructions orient them to their superficial characteristics.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the empirical results, theoretical interpretations, and methodological issues that have arisen in recent researches comparing direct and indirect tests of memory. Dissociations between performance on direct and indirect memory tests can occur in subjects with normally functioning memory. Recognition memory performance is better when study instructions orient subjects to attend to the meaning of the words than when instructions orient subjects to attend to their superficial characteristics. Three forms of evidence have emerged for a distinction between whatever is being measured by direct versus indirect memory tests: (1) stochastic independence between performance on the repeated two types of tests; (2) functional dissociations, in which a variable has different effects on a direct versus an indirect test; and (3) dissociations among populations, including amnesics, children, the elderly, and “normal” controls (for example undergraduate students). Systems accounts explain dissociations between tests by positing that different tests reflect the operation of different memory systems, for example, an episodic system that supports performance on direct tests and a variety of non-episodic systems that support performance on particular kinds of indirect tests.
TL;DR: The results demonstrated an interaction between design type and distinctiveness, indicating an increase in the rate of misidentifications and a decrease in the response criterion to distinctive faces in the distinctive-only set relative to distinctive Faces in the mixed-list condition.
Abstract: The effect of experimental design on memory for typical and distinctive faces was investigated in three experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, a between-subjects, between-lists (distinctive-only faces, or typical-only faces) manipulation of distinctiveness was compared with a within-subjects mixed-list design. The results demonstrated an interaction between design type and distinctiveness, indicating an increase in the rate of misidentifications and a decrease in the response criterion to distinctive faces in the distinctive-only set relative to distinctive faces in the mixed-list condition. Experiment 3 addressed the locus of this effect by comparing the standard mixed-list within-subjects design with two sets of faces in which the target images were different in type from the distractor images, i.e. a typical target-distinctive distractor set and a distinctive target-typical distractor set. The results of this experiment demonstrated that distinctive distractor faces were more readily rejected as new face...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the autobiographical memory, which is a collection of multiple types of knowledge and cannot easily be compartmentalized into classes of memory that are defined by a single knowledge type.
Abstract: Publisher Summary
This chapter focuses on the autobiographical memory. Autobiographical memories always contain both spatiotemporal knowledge and factual knowledge. The personal factual knowledge appears to contextualize the remembered event in terms of the rememberer's own personal history. Thus, one important characteristic of autobiographical memories is that they consist of multiple types of knowledge and, consequently, cannot easily be compartmentalized into classes of memory that are defined by a single knowledge type. Another characteristic of autobiographical memories is their strong and direct relation to the self. This self relation is the major distinguishing feature of autobiographical memories. Indeed, one possibility is that autobiographical memories are part of the self system, providing, a record of the past selves and records of events that were at one time significant to the self. The chapter also reviews the autobiographical memory knowledge base. Although structure in the autobiographical knowledge base might generally take the form of autobiographical memory organization packets (A-MOPs), other well-developed but more local organization may also be present.