The testing effect is the finding that prior retrieval of information from memory will result in better subsequent memory for that material. One explanation for these effects is that initial free recall testing increases the recollective details for tested information, which then becomes more available during a subsequent test phase. In three experiments we explored this hypothesis using a source-monitoring test phase after the initial free recall tests. We discovered that memory is differentially enhanced for certain recollective details depending on the nature of the free recall task. Thus further research needs to be conducted to specify how different kinds of memorial details are enhanced by free recall testing.
Two experiments are reported that examined the effect of both valence and arousal on recognition memory performance. Each experiment used two classes of negative items that differed in arousal, as well as a neutral and non-arousing set of items. In Experiment 1 a difficult divided attention task was crossed with the learning and test phases of the experiment. In Experiment 2 encoding time was manipulated and remember-know judgements were collected. The emotional enhancement effect often found with verbal materials survived the depletion of cognitive resources, as did the extra benefit accruing from high arousal. Although we found that arousal led to more recollection, the general conclusion that we draw is that the effect of emotion on recognition memory can be attributed to relatively automatic influences.
Summary: We conducted three experiments to examine the dynamics of a delayed-execute prospective memory task involving task interruptions. In the delayed-execute paradigm, participants must delay a response until some future condition is met. After an intention was formed to a salient cue, an interruption reduced prospective memory relative to a no-interruption condition. Prospective memory for cues encountered during an interrupting task was worse than for cues occurring before an interruption, but the location of the cue in either the ongoing task or the interruption did not affect prospective memory. Importantly, reinstating the prevailing context after the interruption alleviated the negative influence of the interruption. Providing participants with information about the future context for making the delayed-execute response also alleviated some of these deficits presumably because participants could encode more specific features of the performance context. These results highlight the potential importance of contextual associations and reminders in completing everyday intentions successfully.
When retrieving information from memory, temporarily irrelevant material may influence future retrieval endeavours. According to an accessibility account, the amount and intensity of this information can be used to predict the availability of related material. A dual-source paradigm was used to investigate whether information that was not relevant (i.e., noncriterial recollection) to the current memory search would influence metacognitive judgements about a relevant, criterial dimension. In two experiments, participants gave higher feelings-of-knowing judgements for a weakly encoded source dimension when they could subsequently recall the other source dimension later. Furthermore, the influence of the noncriterial information appeared to be driven more so by the subjective state of remembering rather than knowing. Thus, strong memorial information that is temporarily irrelevant influences behaviour.
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