Can participants retrieve information about the 2nd of 2 stimuli while they are processing the 1st? Four experiments suggest they can. Reaction times to the 1st stimulus were faster if it came from the same category as the 2nd than if it came from a different category. This category-match effect was observed for letter-digit discrimination (Experiment 1), magnitude and parity judgments about digits (Experiment 2), and lexical decisions (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 showed that the 2nd stimulus could semantically prime the 1st. The category-match effect was observed only when the same task was performed on the 2 stimuli. When the task changed from the 1st stimulus to the 2nd, there was no advantage of a category match. This dependence on task set may explain previous failures to find parallel retrieval. This article is concerned with the possibility of parallel memory retrieval in dual-task situations. Can people retrieve information about one stimulus while they are busy processing another? This question has been important in the memory literature for decades, and many studies have addressed it throughout that period (see below). Many of the studies had procedural limitations that undermined their ability to address the question of parallel retrieval precisely. Two recent studies overcame these limitations by using the psychological refractory period (PRP) procedure, but they suggested opposite conclusions: Carrier and Pashler (1995) argued that memory retrieval was strictly serial, whereas Hommel's (1998) results suggest that memory retrieval may be parallel. Our research addressed procedural, analytic, and logical differences between the studies and found evidence supporting parallel retrieval that has implications for theories of the PRP as well as theories of memory. We should make clear that we are addressing parallel retrieval between tasks rather than within tasks. Most formal theories of memory assume parallel retrieval within tasks, in that a single memory probe accesses all traces in memory concurrently (e.g.,

For word-cued autobiographical memories, older adults had an increase, or bump, from the ages 10 to 30. All age groups had fewer memories from childhood than from other years and a powerfunction retention function for memories from the most recent 10 years. There were no consistent differences in reaction times and rating scale responses across decades. Concrete words cued older memories, but no property of the cues predicted which memories would come from the bump. The 5 most important memories given by 20-and 35-year-old participants were distributed similarly to their word-cued memories, but those given by 70-year-old participants came mostly from the single 20-to-30 decade. No theory fully accounts for the bump.Gallon (1879) found that he could cue memories from his life by using objects in the environment. He then moved into the laboratory, used lists of words as cues, recorded his reaction times to produce memories, and noted the distribution of memories across the life span. Crovitz and Schiffman (1974) revived this technique by providing participants with word cues and requesting personal, episodic, autobiographical memories. As used here, autobiographical memory is episodic memory (Tulving, 1972), though it differs in the tasks used to measure it and its emphasis on a sense of reliving the past (Brewer, 1996). The English verb recollect offers a more precise description of the phenomenon than the verb remember (Baddeley, 1992;Brewer, 1996). In this form, autobiographical or recollective memory has become an active topic in cognitive psychology (for reviews, see Brewer, 1996;Conway, 1990;Conway & Rubin, 1993;Conway, Rubin, Spinnler, & Wagenaar, 1992;Neisser & Fivush, 1994;Rubin, 1986Rubin, , 1996.We add to what is known about the distribution of autobiographical memories across the life span by using standard techniques and methods from cognitive psychology. We ignore the issue of the accuracy of such memories both because it is an especially thorny one (Robinson, 1996) and because we make little of the contents of the memories themselves. Rather we analyze the memories mainly in terms of the date attributed to each. Although systematic errors in dating occur because of boundary effects and the cycl ical nature of our definition of time, for studies of autobiographical memory that are not restricted to

Words were used to cue autobiographical memories from 20-and 70-year-old subjects. Both groups showed a decrease in memories from the childhood years and a power-function retention function for their most recent 10years. Older subjects also had an increase in the number of memories from the ages 10to 30. These results held for individual subjects as well as grouped data and held when either 124or 921 memories were cued. Reaction times to produce memories were constant across decades except for childhood where they were longer.

No abstract

The use of background music within films provides a naturalistic setting in which to investigate certain issues of schematic processing. Here, the relative placement of music was manipulated such that music either accompanied a scene's outcome, and thereby accentuated its affective meaning, or foreshadowed the same scene, and thereby created expectancies about the future course of events. In addition, background music was either congruent or incongruent with the affect of an episode's outcome. When subjects were later asked to recall the series of filmed episodes, results showed that expectancy violations arising from mood-incongruent relations led to better memory in the foreshadowing condition, while mood-congruent relations led to better performance in the accompanying condition. Results from a recognition task further revealed that scenes unavailable for recall could be recognized when cued by background music. These overall findings are discussed in terms of selective-attending processes that are differentially directed as a function of background music.Music can perform several different functions in a culture, but perhaps the most salient of these is its ability to instill different moods and emotions within listeners. Depending on the style of performance (Clynes, 1983; Gabrielsson, 1985 Gabrielsson, , 1989Shaffer, 1989)and certain structural characteristics of the tune itself (Hevner, 1936;Levi, 1982;Rigg, 1964;Scherer, 1979), some melodies can express positive feelings oflightheartedness, gaity, or relaxation, whereas others can convey more negative feelings of anger, apprehension, or melancholy. Filmmakers have long acknowledged this function of music and have developed various techniques in which music is used to exert certain effects upon a viewing audience. In some cases, music is intended to create expectancies about the activities and outcomes of future scenes; in other instances, music is used to enhance (or reduce) the emotional impact of depicted activities. Although some investigators have examined effects of background music on emotional reactions, the impact of such music on cognitive processing activities remains an unexplored area. The present research provides a preliminary investigation of this issue by considering the potential influence of background music on the remembering offtlmed events. This, in tum, provides a naturalistic setting in which to investigate certain issues within the cognitive literature. One issue concerns effects of expectancy confirmation/violation upon This research was supported by a Faculty Research Grant from Haverford College. The authors thank Brian Knatz for assistance with the manuscript's preparation and W. Jay Dowling, John Sloboda, Portia Maultsby, Margaret Intons-Peterson, and one anonymous reviewer for critical comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Marilyn Boltz, Department of Psychology, Haverford College, Haverford, PA 19041 (e-mail: M-BOLTZ@HVRFORD.BITNET).the recall of filmed events and...