Ordinal position knowledge within and across lists as a function of instructions in free-recall learning

Reported serial positions of true and illusory memories in the Deese/Roediger/McDermott paradigm

One of the easiest ways to induce illusory memories in the laboratory is to use the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) word-list paradigm. Researchers have used this paradigm not only to study people's memories of stimuli that were not actually presented, but also to study the phenomenological qualities of these illusions. In four experiments, the current investigation explored a phenomenological quality of illusory memories that has received almost no attention, specifically, temporality. A serial position task was incorporated into the DRM paradigm to examine temporal attributes of participants' true and false memories. Effects of list strength, presentation order, and types of warnings were examined. Results showed consistent serial position responses for true and false memories. However, only responses for illusory memories were affected by manipulations at study. The current findings thus lend support to encoding-based explanations of false recollections.

Eye movements provide an index of veridical memory for temporal order

The present research examined whether eye movements during retrieval capture the relation between an event and its temporal attributes. In two experiments (N=76), we found converging evidence that eye movements reflected the veridicality of memory for temporal order seconds before overt memory judgments, suggesting that these movements captured indirect access to temporal information. These eye movements did not entirely depend on the amount of contextual cueing available (Experiment 1) and reflected the unique ordinal position of an event in a sequence (Experiment 2). Based on our results, we conclude that eye movements reflected the absolute temporal order of past events.

Expectation of a final cumulative test enhances long-term retention

In the present study, subjects studied lists of words across four experimental conditions: whether (or not) subjects received initial testing for these lists and whether (or not) they were made aware of an upcoming final free-recall test. Initial testing enhanced final-test performance; however, subjects benefited more from initial testing when they also knew they would need to remember the information for a later test. The data suggest that holding an expectation of the final test encouraged the continued processing of study materials following an initial test, affecting the accessibility of these materials at the time of final recall. The results clearly illustrate how an expectation of a cumulative test might influence long-term retention, which may have important implications for educational practice.

Temporal-spatial memory: retrieval of spatial information does not reduce recency

Factors influencing the shape of serial position curves in non-verbal serial short-term memory were examined, using a task testing memory for the position of dots. Similar recency slopes were found when both position and order were recalled (Experiment 1A) and when order only was required (Experiment 1B). This observation was confirmed and tested further in conditions requiring the same encoding but different amounts of spatial information at retrieval (Experiment 2). However, Experiment 2 also revealed an effect of spatial information retrieval on the overall level of memory for recency items. Overall, the results indicate that spatial items produce bow-shaped serial positions curves in tasks requiring the maintenance of order information and that recency is affected by the demand on spatial information retrieval in terms of the overall level of performance but not in terms of the recency slope. These findings are contrary to what is found in the literature on serial verbal recall when both item and order information are required.

Direction of report in spatial and verbal serial short-term memory

Four experiments examined the role played by item and order information in determining the effects of order of report of a sequence from short-term memory. Experiments in which list items were re-presented prior to recall so that only their order had to be reported showed no differences in performance between the forward and backward direction of report. This result was found with lists of auditory-verbal, visual-verbal, and spatial stimuli. When the list items were not re-presented, so that recall of both items and order was required, recall in the backward direction of report was significantly worse than in the forward direction of report, both in spatial and verbal tasks. The results point to the symmetry of inter-item associations, though only equivocally so, but they suggest strongly that the processes of spatial and verbal serial recall share many functional characteristics.

Visual memory for place on the page

Sixty-four Ss were asked to read a lengthy prose passage and were subsequently tested for (a) information recall, (b) memory for location of information answers; and (c) discrimination of information answers in a multiple-choice (MC) task. In aggrement with previous studies, spatial memory was highly reliable and significantly greater for correct than incorrect information answers. However, the present experiments showed that cueing Ss to a spatial test did not raise the level of spatial recall over that for a noncued group. Further, proportion of both item and spatial recall was found to increase directly with degree of visual memory for location as indexed by a five-point subjective knowledge scale. There was also a general trend for multiple-choice performance ot improve as degree of visual knowledge for an answer's true location increased. It is apparent that visually mediated spatial memory is a fundamental attribute when text material is encoded, and may be of mnemonic worth when retention of information is required.

Serial Recall and Position Cue in the Verbal Maze

2 verbal mazes differing in number of alternatives per choice were employed in Exp. I. The number of alternatives significantly affected acquisition but not retention. In Exp. II, 3 groups of Ss learned a 4-alternative, 8-choice maze. Retention was tested under conditions of recognition, serial recall, or cued serial recall. Results indicated that cues including the position of the correct alternative did not provide an advantage over serial recall. Some methodological advantages of the verbal maze such as that of manipulating the stimulus phase while holding the response task constant, were mentioned.