Can survival processing enhance story memory? Testing the generalizability of the adaptive memory framework.

Abstract

Research from the adaptive memory framework shows that thinking about words in terms of their survival value in an incidental learning task enhances their free recall relative to other semantic encoding strategies and intentional learning (Nairne, Pandeirada, & Thompson, 2008). We found similar results. When participants used incidental survival encoding for a list of words (e.g., "Will this object enhance my survival if I were stranded in the grasslands of a foreign land?"), they produced better free recall on a surprise test than did participants who intentionally tried to remember those words (Experiment 1). We also found this survival processing advantage when the words were presented within the context of a survival or neutral story (Experiment 2). However, this advantage did not extent to memory for a story's factual content, regardless of whether the participants were tested by cued recall (Experiment 3) or free recall (Experiments 4-5). Listening to a story for understanding under intentional or incidental learning conditions was just as good as survival processing for remembering story content. The functionalist approach to thinking about memory as an evolutionary adaptation designed to solve reproductive fitness problems provides a different theoretical framework for research, but it is not yet clear if survival processing has general applicability or is effective only for processing discrete stimuli in terms of fitness-relevant scenarios from our past.

The longevity of adaptive memory: Evidence for mnemonic advantages of survival processing 24 and 48 hours later

“…While it has been convincingly shown that survival-related processing can boost memory across different types of stimuli, memory domains, and research populations (Aslan & Bä uml, 2012;Burns, Burns, & Hwang, 2011;Burns, Hart, Griffith, & Burns, in press;Kang, McDermott, & Cohen, 2008;Kostic, McFarlan, & Cleary, 2012;Nairne, Pandeirada, & Thompson, 2008;Nairne, VanArsdall, Pandeirada, & Blunt, 2012;Otgaar et al, 2011;Otgaar, Howe, Smeets, Raymaekers, & van Beers, in press;Otgaar, Smeets, & van Bergen, 2010;Raymaekers, Smeets, Otgaar, Peters, & Merckelbach, in press;Smeets, Otgaar, Raymaekers, Peters, & Merckelbach, 2012;Weinstein, Bugg, & Roediger, 2008; but see Klein, 2012;Seamon et al, 2012), a common feature of all previous studies is that they were concerned with illustrating the beneficial effects of survival processing in the short run (typically 2Á3 minutes, maximum 10 minutes, see Savine, Scullin, & Roediger, 2011). Thus far not a single study has investigated the persistence of the survival recall advantage after extended delay periods.…”

Adaptive memory: Temporal, semantic, and rating-based clustering following survival processing

“…Some boundary conditions have since been identified-for example, survival processing advantages may not extend to the processing of stories (Seamon et al, 2012) or faces (Savine, Scullin, & Roediger, 2011) or indirect tests of retention (Tse & Altarriba, 2010)-but the effect has proven robust across various age groups, stimuli, and experimental designs.…”

Fit to last: Exploring the longevity of the survival processing effect

“…Following these findings, there has been a surge of interest in adaptive memory. Research appears to show consistently that survival processing is a more effective encoding task than other types of semantic processing paradigms, including imagery and selfreference (Kang, McDermott & Cohen, 2008;Nairne, Pandeirada & Thompson, 2008;Nairne, Pandeirada, Gregory & Van Arsdall, 2009;Burns, Burns & Hwang, 2011;Otgaar et al, 2011;Soderstrom & McCabe, 2011;Seamon et al, 2012;Bröder, Krüger & Schütte, 2011;Klein, 2012;Nairne, VanArsdall, Pandeirada & Blunt, 2012;Nouchi & Kawashima, 2012;Howe & Otgaar, 2013;Pandeirada, Pinho & Faria, 2014; but for exceptions, see Butler, Kang & Roedier, 2009;Klein, Robertson & Delton, 2010;Klein, Robertson & Delton, 2011). All in all, it has been suggested that survival processing may be "the 'best of the best' of known encoding procedures" (Nairne, Pandeirada & Thompson, 2008, p. 180).…”