There is considerable evidence (e.g., Pexman et al., 2008) that semantically rich words, which are associated with relatively more semantic information, are recognized faster across different lexical processing tasks. The present study extends this earlier work by providing the most comprehensive evaluation to date of semantic richness effects on visual word recognition performance. Specifically, using mixed effects analyses to control for the influence of correlated lexical variables, we considered the impact of number of features, number of senses, semantic neighborhood density, imageability, and body–object interaction across five visual word recognition tasks: standard lexical decision, go/no-go lexical decision, speeded pronunciation, progressive demasking, and semantic classification. Semantic richness effects could be reliably detected in all tasks of lexical processing, indicating that semantic representations, particularly their imaginal and featural aspects, play a fundamental role in visual word recognition. However, there was also evidence that the strength of certain richness effects could be flexibly and adaptively modulated by task demands, consistent with an intriguing interplay between task-specific mechanisms and differentiated semantic processing.

We compared the effects of item-specific versus relational encoding on recognition memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. In Experiment 1, we directly compared item-specific and relational encoding instructions, whereas in Experiments 2 and 3 we biased pleasantness and generation tasks, respectively, toward one or the other type of processing. A read condition was tested in each experiment for comparison purposes. Across experiments, item-specific and relational encoding both boosted correct recognition relative to reading, but only item-specific encoding typically reduced false recognition. Signal-detection measures revealed that less information was encoded about critical items after item-specific than after relational encoding. In contrast, item-specific and relational encoding led to equivalent increases in strategic monitoring at test (e.g., use of a distinctiveness heuristic). Thus, monitoring at test was less successful after relational than item-specific encoding because more information had been encoded about critical lures.

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In the present experiment, we examined age differences in the focus of retrieval using a dual-list free recall paradigm. Younger and older adults studied two lists of unrelated words and recalled from the first list, the second list, or both lists. Older adults showed impaired use of control processes to recall items correctly from a target list and prevent intrusions. This pattern reflected a deficit in recollection verified using a process dissociation procedure. We examined the consequences of an age-related deficit in control processes on the focus of retrieval using measures of temporal organization. Evidence that older adults engaged a broader focus of retrieval than younger adults was shown clearly when participants were instructed to recall from both lists. First-recalled items originated from more distant positions across lists for older adults. We interpret older adults’ broader retrieval orientation as consistent with their impaired ability to elaborate cues to constrain retrieval. These findings show that age-related deficits in control processes impair context reinstatement and the subsequent focus of retrieval to target episodes.

In two experiments, participants studied two types of word lists. Direct lists were taken from the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm (e.g., water, bridge, run) and contained words directly related to a nonpresented critical item (CI; e.g., river, Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Mediated lists (e.g., faucet, London, jog) contained words related to the CI through a nonpresented mediator. After each study list, participants completed either a recall test, a recall test with a warning about the CI, arithmetic problems, or a recognition test, or they guessed the CI. On a final recognition test, both warning and guessing decreased direct false recognition but increased mediated false recognition, an ironic effect of guessing. An initial recognition test also increased final mediated false recognition. We argue that warning and guessing tasks strengthened associative pathways to the CI, increased the accessibility of associated mediators, and increased monitoring for the CI at test. Increased monitoring was able to reduce CIs from direct, but not mediated, lists.