“I Said What?” Partner Familiarity, Resistance, and the Accuracy of Conversational Recall

Abstract

We examined the influence of two structural parameters on the content and valence of conversational recall. 144 females had two conversations defined by relationship type (close friend or stranger) and partner resistance (resistance or none). Conversational recall statements were coded for accuracy of content (self, partner, or neutral) and valence (positive, negative, or neutral). Overall, respondents were less accurate in recalling the content of stranger conversations than friend exchanges, and when partners were agreeable compared to resistant. However, those who experienced little partner resistance more accurately recalled positively valenced information than respondents who encountered resistance. When partners resisted, friend interactions were recalled less accurately in terms of positivity, but more accurately for negative information, compared to the recall of stranger conversations.

How We Remember Conversation: Implications in Legal Settings

“…We know of no experimental evidence that speaks directly to the question of the quantity and quality of notes taken in such a fashion. We can, however, extrapolate from results of experiments that test conversational recall in the minutes following a conversation (Samp & Humphreys, 2007; Stafford & Daly, 1984), along with accuracy of notes taken during the conversation itself (Lamb et al, 2000), and evidence that highly salient and contextually surprising information is more likely to be recalled (Keenan et al, 1977; Pezdek & Prull, 1993). An additional consideration is the possibility that memory for nonmemorialized elements of the conversation can be blocked by virtue of having taken the notes.…”

“…Estimates of how much of a conversation can be accurately recalled in detail after delays of several minutes to several weeks are quite low and range from 0% to 20% of the total idea units that occurred in the original conversation (Miller, deWinstanley, & Carey, 1996; Pezdek & Prull, 1993; Ross & Sicoly, 1979; Samp & Humphreys, 2007; Stafford, Burggraf, & Sharkey, 1987; Stafford & Daly, 1984). For example, Samp and Humphreys (2007) tested memory after a 5-min delay and reported gist recall of 14% of the idea units from a 5-min problem-solving conversation. Stafford and Daly (1984) also tested memory after a 5-min delay and reported 10% gist recall of idea units from a 7-min unstructured conversation, with the best participant (out of 128 participants total) recalling only 40% of the idea units, and the worst recalling none.…”

I remember emotional content better, but I’m struggling to remember who said it!

“…This information may then be resorted to during subsequent interactions to support dialogic partner-adaptation (for examples, see Clark & Schaefer, 1989;Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986;Horton & Brennan, 2016;Horton & Gerrig, 2005Kronmüller & Barr, 2015). Various factors may affect memory for the content of an interaction, including the nature of the partners' relationship (acquaintances vs. friends; Samp & Humphreys, 2007), or whether they share the same job status (e.g., Holtgraves, Srull, & Socall, 1989). In this context, the fact that this previous work has seldom investigated the link between conversational memory and emotion is surprising, as some authors have already pointed out that emotion could be the key to understanding conversational memory.…”

“…Key to the proposal that emotion can influence conversational memory is the evidence that emotional words are memorized better than neutral ones in standard memory tasks involving free recall (e.g., Talmi & Moscovitch, 2004), short-term memory (e.g., Monnier & Syssau, 2008) or recognition (e.g., Thapar & Rouder, 2009). The few studies which have directly examined the influence of emotion on conversational memory per se have shown, for instance, dialogue partners recall conversational content more accurately after pleasant interactions (Samp & Humphreys, 2007).…”

The Dialectics of the Exit Interview: A Fresh Look at Conversations About Organizational Disengagement

“…Familiarity with the discloser. The degree of acquaintanceship between conversational partners is a structural parameter of interpersonal communication (Samp & Humphreys, 2007). A discussion between two individuals will be influenced by the information each possesses about the other's typical interaction patterns, opinions, and conversational choices.…”