Word Meaning Contributes to Free Recall Performance in Supraspan Verbal List-Learning Tests

Abstract

Supraspan verbal list-learning tests, such as the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), are classic neuropsychological tests for assessing verbal memory. In this study, we investigated the impact of the meaning of the words to be learned on three memory stages [short-term recall (STR), learning, and delayed recall (DR)] in a cohort of 447 healthy adults. First, we compared scores obtained from the RAVLT (word condition) to those of an alternative version of this test using phonologically similar but meaningless items (pseudoword condition) and observed how each score varied as a function of age and sex. Then, we collected the participants' self-reported strategies to retain the word and pseudoword lists and examined if these strategies mediated the age and sex effects on memory scores. The word condition resulted in higher memory scores than pseudoword condition at each memory stage and even canceled out, for the learning stage, the detrimental effect of age that was observed for the short-term and DR. When taking sex into account, the word advantage was observed only in women for STR. The self-reported strategies, which were similar for words and pseudowords, were based on the position of the item on the list (word: 53%, pseudoword: 37%) or the meaning of the item (word: 64%, pseudoword: 58%) and were used alone or in combination. The best memory performance was associated with the meaning strategy in the word condition and with the combination of the meaning and position strategies in the pseudoword condition. Finally, we found that the word advantage observed in women for STR was mediated by the use of the meaning strategy. The RAVLT scores were thus highly dependent on word meaning, notably because it allowed efficient semantic knowledgebased strategies. Within the framework of Tulving's declarative memory model, these results are at odds with the depiction of the RAVLT as a verbal episodic memory test as it is increasingly referred to in the literature.

Associative Learning of New Word Forms in a First Language (L1) and Haptic Referents in a Single-Day Experiment

“…The low proportions would be associated with the meaningless words (pseudowords) used in this experiment. In general, the recall performances of real words are better than those of pseudowords [ 39 ]. Additionally, the participants in this study only learned the pseudowords once in learning tasks.…”

Novel characterization of the relationship between verbal list‐learning outcomes and hippocampal subfields in healthy adults

“…VLT completion induces the use of association mnemonics based either on semantic or temporal (i.e., serial order) clustering (Cremona et al, 2020; Gross & Rebok, 2011; Worthen & Hunt, 2017). Here, we showed that the use of association‐based mnemonics mediated the VLT–CA1 volume relationship, revealing that the best VLT performers used association‐based mnemonics that positively correlated with CA1 volume.…”

“…Finally, to explore whether an association‐based hippocampal computation explains the VLT–HsVol relationship, we collected mnemonics reported by the participants to retain the list of words in Sample 1. The method is detailed in Cremona et al (2020). In short, 377 participants reported association‐based mnemonics, grouping words from either their meaning (semantic clustering) or position in the list (temporal clustering).…”

“…We further explored two neuropsychological processes that could explain the VLT–HsVol relationship. First, the items of VLTs are concrete words in which the meaning partially determines recall performance (Cremona, Jobard, Zago, & Mellet, 2020). To test the role of a meaning‐based hippocampal computation, we replicated the paradigm with pseudowords similar to words except that they are meaningless.…”

“…If meaning‐based hippocampal processing explains the VLT–HsVol relationship, we expect a distinct VLT–HsVol relationship when items in the learning list are words compared to pseudowords. Second, the supraspan length of VLT lists encourages mnemonics based on intra‐ and extralist associations (Cremona et al, 2020; Gross & Rebok, 2011; Worthen & Hunt, 2017), and the hippocampus is thought to contribute to the formation of representations composed of associations among multiple elements (Dalton, Zeidman, McCormick, & Maguire, 2018; Jabès & Nelson, 2015; Moses & Ryan, 2006). If an association‐based hippocampal computation explains the VLT–HsVol relationship, we expect self‐reported association‐based mnemonics to mediate this relationship.…”