Memory for questions and amount of processing

Johnson‐Laird, P. N.; Bethell-Fox, C. E.

doi:10.3758/bf03198237

Cited by 21 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, once a model has been formed, the propositional representation on which it is based is likely to be discarded. Third, since a greater depth of processing (e.g., Craik & Lockhart, 1972) or a greater amount of processing makes for enhanced memorability (e.g., Johnson-Laird & Bethell-Fox, 1978), a mental model should be easier to remember than a propositional representation. We can accordingly distinguish two modes of encoding: mental models, which are easier to remember but contain no information about the specific sentences on which they are based, and propositional representations, which are harder to remember but do distinguish between such assertions as "A is to the right of B" and "B is to the left of A."…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mental representation of spatial descriptions

1982

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Two experiments investigated the mental representation of spatial descriptions. In Experi· ment 1, the subjects classified a series of diagrams, each presented after a spatial description, as either consistent or inconsistent with the description. They were then given an unexpected recognition test of their memory for the descriptions. The subjects remembered the meanings of determinate descriptions very much better than those of grossly indeterminate descriptions; their memory for a description was not reliably affected by whether or not the diagram had been consistent with it. Experiment 2 extended these findings and showed that, although the semantic implications of a determinate description are better remembered than are those of an indeterminate description, the verbatim details of an indeterminate description are easier to recall than are those of a determinate description. The results are taken to imply the existence of two different sorts of encoding: propositional representations that are relatively hard to remember but correspond closely to the sentences in the description, and mental models that are relatively easy to remember but are analogous to spatial arrays and accordingly poor in linguistic detail.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mental representation of spatial descriptions

1982

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“…If this is the case, the relative strength of the associative pathways may differ between information stored alone or in a more elaborated trace. For example, there is a large body of literature (e.g., Johnson-Laird & Bethell-Fox, 1978;Walker, Jones, & Mar, 1983) that suggests that the amount of processing involved in creating or rehearsing a pathway between two propositions increases the relative strength of the pathway. As the strength of the pathway increases, the amount of activation energy needed to spread down the pathway decreases, making the pathways more accessible at time of retrieval.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct retrieval from elaborated memory traces

Walker

1986

Mem Cogn

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Four experiments were performed to investigate the beneficial effects of elaborative processing on recall performance. Specifically, the experiments investigated J. R. Anderson's (1983)claim that increasing the number of associative pathways between propositions in a memory trace improves recall performance through direct retrieval. In this study, procedures were used that allowed the amount of elaboration to be systematically varied while the use of inferential reconstruction to aid recall was eliminated, thus providing a test of J. R. Anderson's model. Across all experiments, the results showed that recall of a name was better when it had been stored in a less elaborated memory trace. The results suggest that when reconstructive processes are eliminated, elaboration decreases rather than increases recall performance.321

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“…While the work of Johnson-Laird and his colleagues (Johnson-Laird & Bethell-Fox, 1978; does show that extra processing increases the probability of correct recall, their work does not prove that the increased recall is due to the extra processing per se. Their results easily could be explained by assuming that the extra processing resulted in a more elaborated memory trace.…”

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“…Some previous research has sought to identify cognitive effort as a measure of distinctiveness or depth of processing (Johnson-Laird & Bethell-Fox, 1978 ;JohnsonLaird, Gibbs, & deMowbray, 1978;Tyler, Hertel, McCallum, & Ellis, 1979). In these experiments, JohnsonLaird and others have attempted to show that the number of processes engaged in while encoding infonnation affects the accessibility of that information in long-term memory.…”

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“…In these experiments, JohnsonLaird and others have attempted to show that the number of processes engaged in while encoding infonnation affects the accessibility of that information in long-term memory. Johnson-Laird and Bethell-Fox (1978) reported that subjects' recall of a question depended, in part, upon the difficulty level of the question. The more difficulty subjects experienced in arriving at an answer, the better was the recall of that question.…”

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Encoding processes and the recall of text

1983

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Two experiments investigated the proposition that the amount of cognitive effort expended to encode information will be directly related to recall of that information. While previous research has shown that amount of processing may affect recall, these studies have generally drawn on the notion of an elaborated memory representation to explain their results. In this study, the amount of processing required to correctly interpret anaphoric relations was varied while the elaboration of the memory trace was held constant. These experiments employed a self-paced reading paradigm in which subjects read a series of short paragraphs and later were cued to recall the final sentence of each paragraph. It was found that recall was significantly improved when more processing was required to correctly interpret the anaphoric relationship expressed in the final sentence. These findings suggest that encoding processes can affect recall performance without elaboration of the memory representation.Although the original formulation of the levels-ofprocessing framework (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) has been the subject of considerable criticism (see Baddeley, 1978;Nelson, 1977), revised versions of the model have been proposed that attribute differences in recall to various encoding activities. These versions can generally be divided into two groups. The elaboration model, proposed by Anderson and his colleagues (Anderson & Reder, 1979), claims that deeper processing at encoding results in the creation of a set of multiple propositions that facilitate recall of the information. The distinctiveness theory, advanced by Jacoby Jacoby, Craik, & Begg, 1979), predicts that deeper processing at encoding results in a more distinct memory representation that has a greater probability of being recalled at time of retrieval. In the present article, both of these models will be outlined and the results of two experiments will be reported that test the adequacy of the models to account for differences in the retention of prose.The elaboration model, as proposed by Anderson and Reder (1979), suggests that different encoding processes result in more or less elaborated memory traces. Passages or sentences vary in the degree to which they encourage readers to draw inferences about consequences, causes, or outcomes. When the reader is able to draw an inference, the inferred information is stored along with the explicitly stated information. The storageWe are grateful to Jeff franks, Miriam Goldberg, and John Limber for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. The second author is now at the Professional Examination Service, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, New York 10115. of inferred and explicit information results in an elaborated memory trace. The degree to which a passage or sentence is elaborated upon depends in part on task demands, readers' prior knowledge, and other nontextual factors. Bradshaw and Anderson (1982) suggest that elaborated traces are more easily recalled for two reasons. First, the presence of an elaborated trac...

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Memory for questions and amount of processing

Cited by 21 publications

References 9 publications

The mental representation of spatial descriptions

The mental representation of spatial descriptions

Direct retrieval from elaborated memory traces

Encoding processes and the recall of text

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