In a context of time: the impact of delay and exposure time on the emergence of memory context effects

Abstract

Research on context-mediated facilitation of recognition memory distinguishes between the effects of reinstating the exact same context previously associated with a target and a context that is familiar but not directly associated with the target. As both effects are difficult to produce reliably in recognition experiments, attention has turned to measures that may explain inconsistencies, such as the extent to which instructions encourage association between targets and contexts. The aim of the current study was to examine the distinctive and interactive effects of three factors that may lead to variability in context effects (CEs), namely type of instructions given at learning, delay between learning and test, and exposure time for targets and contexts at learning. Using a comprehensive paradigm developed by Vakil and colleagues, with photographs of faces serving as target and context stimuli, both exposure time and delay were shown to be associated with the occurrence of CEs and appeared to interact with one another in determining the nature of these effects. Unlike several previous studies, false alarms did not increase when foils were presented with familiar contexts. Also unexpectedly, the instruction manipulation did not appear to strengthen target-context binding. It may instead have increased attention to contexts at the expense of targets, as suggested by the finding that direct memory for context improved under associative instruction conditions. Overall, the study demonstrates the importance of understanding and controlling various factors that may potentially influence the emergence of both reinstatement and familiarity-based CEs, among them exposure time and learning-to-test delay.

Encoding Factors Affecting Context Effects on Memory: Congruency, Attention and Exposure Time

“…The findings of this study are consistent with previous studies that demonstrated that the emergence of CE is dependent on the interaction of several moderating factors (e.g., Bloch & Vakil, 2016). Longer exposure time enabled participants to process target stimuli better than under the short exposure time.…”

“…Though context effects on free and cued recall are generally robust, findings regarding context effects on recognition have been widely divergent. Therefore, several studies have attempted to identify the factors that mediate emergence of CE in recognition (e.g., Bloch & Vakil, 2016;Smith & Vela, 2001). …”

The Value of Handwritten Notes: A Failure to Find State-Dependent Effects When Using a Laptop to Take Notes and Complete a Quiz

“…The results of Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) in which longhand notes improved performance, conflict with the findings of Bui et al (2013) during which those who took notes on a computer recalled more information than those who took notes by hand. According to the encoding specificity principle, the context of encoding (e.g., environmental cues or words in the surrounding area) is stored alongside learned information in a way that enables this environmental material to later serve as a retrieval cue (Bloch & Vakil, 2017;Tulving & Thomson, 1973). As a result, individuals who complete an assessment under conditions that match the initial learning environment recall more information than those who complete learning and testing under differing conditions (Tulving & Thomson, 1973).…”

Metamemory in a familiar place: The effects of environmental context on feeling of knowing.

“…One unexpected finding in Experiment 1 concerns memory performance in the re-paired context condition. In recognition studies, a comparison of this condition to a novel context condition commonly fails to reveal any differences (Hockley, 2008; Hockley, Bancroft, & Bryant, 2012; Macken, 2002), and one recent study actually revealed better recognition performance in the re-paired context condition (Bloch & Vakil, 2016). Against this background it is somewhat surprising that cued-recall performance in the present experiment showed reduced performance in the re-paired compared to the novel context condition.…”