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A Processing Resource Account of Age Differences in Recall

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Jan C. Rabinowitz
Jan C. Rabinowitz
Jan C. Rabinowitz
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Fergus I M Craik at Baycrest
Fergus I M Craik
Brian Ackerman at University of Delaware
Brian Ackerman
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Abstract

Hypothesized that age deficits in recall are due to a reduction in available processing resource. It is also argued that the formation of a distinct encoding, in which unique aspects of the context are integrated with the target item, requires a substantial amount of attentional resource but that the core semantic features of words are encoded relatively automatically. Thus, under conditions of reduced processing resource, a general, stereotyped encoding is predicted. The effectiveness of general, categorical retrieval cues was compared to the effectiveness of contextually specific retrieval cues in 3 experiments with 84 undergraduates and 60 elderly (approximately 66–69 yrs old) Ss. Young adults recalled more than older adults when they were cued with specific retrieval cues, but no age differences were observed when general retrieval cues were used. A similar pattern of results was obtained when the amount of processing resource was experimentally reduced by requiring young adults to perform a concurrent task during encoding. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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CANADIAN JOURNAL
OF
PSYCHOLOGY,
1982, 36(2),
325-344
A Processing Resource Account of
Age Differences in Recall*
Jan C. Rabinowitz, Fergus I.M. Craik, and Brian P. Ackerman
Centre for Research in Human Development,
Erindale College, University of Toronto
ABSTRACT
It is hypothesized that age deficits in recall are due to a reduc-
tion in available processing resource. It is argued that the formation of a
distinct encoding in which unique aspects of the context are integrated
with the target item requires a substantial amount of attentional resource,
but that the core semantic features of words are encoded relatively auto-
matically. Thus, under conditions of reduced processing resource, a gener-
al,
stereotyped encoding will result. The effectiveness of general, categori-
cal retrieval cues was compared to the effectiveness of contextually
specific retrieval cues in three experiments. Young adults recalled more
than old adults when they were cued with specific retrieval cues, but no
age differences were observed when general retrieval cues were used. A
similar pattern of results was obtained when the amount of processing
resource was experimentally reduced by requiring young adults to perform
a concurrent task during encoding.
RESUME
Etude des deficiences dues a
I'age
dans le rappel qui, selon I'hy-
pothese des auteurs, proviendraient d'une reduction des ressources dispo-
nibles de traitement. La formation d'un encodage distinctif qui integre les
aspects specifiques du contexte avec
I'item
cible exigerait des lors une
quantite importante des ressources de I'attention alors que les caracteris-
tiques semantiques essentielles des mots seraient encodees relativement
automatiquement. Des lors, des conditions de ressources reduites de
trai-
tement conduiront a un encodage general stereotype. L'efficacite d'indices
de recouvrement categoriels generaux a ete comparee, dans trois expe-
riences, a l'efficacite d'indices de recouvrement specifiques et contextuels.
Quand les indices de recouvrement sont specifiques, les jeunes adultes
se rappellent mieux que les plus vieux, mais aucune difference due a
I'age
n'a pu etre observee quand ce sont des indices generaux de recouvrement
qui sont utilises. Des resultats semblables ont ete obtenus quand la quan-
tite de ressource de traitement a ete experimentalement reduite en exi-
geant des jeunes adultes d'accomplir une tache concurrente pendant
I'encodage.
Many recent views of human memory have been couched in terms of enco-
ding processes, retrieval processes, and their interrelations. Within such a
*This research was supported by a University of Toronto grant to the Centre for Research in
Human
Development.
The
first
author
was
supported
by a
Research Fellowship
from
the
Gerontology
Research
Council
of
Ontario.
We are
indebted
to
Marjorie
Swanson
for
coor-
dinating
our
pool
of
older subjects
and to
Steven Sibley
for
experimental
assistance.
Brian
Ackerman
is now at the
University
of
Delaware.
Address
reprint
requests
to Jan
Rabinowitz,
Centre
for
Research
in
Human
Development,
Erindale
College,
Mississauga,
Ontario,
Canada
L5L 1C6.
325
... This assumption is predicted by fuzzy-trace theory (Brainerd & Reyna, 1990), which asserts that because gist representations are shaped by prior knowledge, when an item is detected -even at an "unconscious" level (e.g., Draine & Greenwald, 1998) -a semantic tag can be assigned rapidly without sustained attention to the item (cf., McClelland & Rumelhart, 1985). Early studies using divided attention manipulations found that when participants' attention was divided between encoding memoranda (e.g., words) and simultaneously completing a concurrent task (e.g., an auditory reaction time task), their ability to remember specific items from the encoding period was impaired, but they could remember the gist of the studied items (Odegard & Lampinen, 2005;Rabinowitz et al., 1982; for similar results in studies of visual processing, see Li et al., 2002). Although these results suggested that gist representations are encoded automatically (i.e., with no need for attention), recent studies of visual associative recognition have shown that divided attention at encoding disrupts LTM specific and gist representations , 2022c. ...
... Specific representations consume a lot of attention during encoding , 2022c, 2023bOdegard & Lampinen, 2005;Rabinowitz et al., 1982) and erode rapidly (Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2022aSachs, 1967;Thorndyke, 1977). Thus, we hypothesized that participants would be less capable of accessing specific representations in tests of LTM for items encoded under larger relative to smaller set sizes. ...
... Gist representations, however, can be encoded rapidly (Ahmad et al., 2017;Draine & Greenwald, 1998;Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2023dMelcher, 2006;Potter, 1976;Potter et al., 2004;Tatler et al., 2003;Thorpe et al., 1996) and with reduced need for sustained attention (Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2023b;Li et al., 2002). Studies of item memory using divided attention manipulations have suggested that one can encode an item's gist with little to no sustained attention (Odegard & Lampinen, 2005;Rabinowitz et al., 1982;cf., Li et al., 2002). If this is so, then representations may be weak for some/most of the items, quickly disintegrating once the stimulus is no longer present. ...
Working memory limitations constrain visual episodic long‐term memory at both specific and gist levels of representation
Article
  • Jun 2024
  • MEM COGNITION
Limitations in one’s capacity to encode information in working memory (WM) constrain later access to that information in long-term memory (LTM). The present study examined whether these WM constraints on episodic LTM are limited to specific representations of past episodes or also extend to gist representations. Across three experiments, young adult partici- pants (n = 40 per experiment) studied objects in set sizes of two or six items, either sequentially (Experiments 1a and 1b) or simultaneously (Experiment 2). They then completed old/new recognition tests immediately after each sequence (WM tests). After a long study phase, participants completed LTM conjoint recognition tests, featuring old but untested items from the WM phase, lures that were similar to studied items at gist but not specific levels of representation, and new items unrelated to studied items at both specific and gist levels of representation. Results showed that LTM estimates of specific and gist memory representations from a multinomial-processing-tree model were reduced for items encoded under supra-capacity set sizes (six items) relative to within-capacity set sizes (two items). These results suggest that WM encoding capacity limitations constrain episodic LTM at both specific and gist levels of representation, at least for visual objects. The ability to retrieve from LTM each type of representation for a visual item is contingent on the degree to which the item could be encoded in WM.
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... The word-association task typically makes use of highly associated items (e.g., doctor-nurse), whereas the examples in categoryexemplar production are typically less strongly associated with the category cues (in both Gabrieli, Stone, Shackleton, et al., 1996, andHartman, 1996, the studied examples did not rank in the 10 most frequently produced instances, according to the norms of Battig & Montague, 1969). It is possible that the use of very strong associates eliminates the need for elaborative processing to produce relatively accessible memory traces (Bentin et al., 1995;Rabinowitz, Craik, & Ackerman, 1982). ...
... Are there automatic semantic encodings that lead to longer term retention? Rabinowitz et al. (1982) and Bentin (1994;Bentin et al., 1995) argued that core (or context-invariant) semantic features of words are encoded automatically and impact long-term memory tests. In contrast, elaborative encoding processes and the integration of words with the contexts in which they occur (both of which also influence long-term retention) are hypothesized to require attention (Bentin, 1994;Bentin et al., 1995;Rabinowitz etal., 1982). ...
... Passive identification of the study words does not produce conceptual priming on these tasks either at all or at least at much lower levels than in full-attention conditions. This implies either (a) that contrary to Bentin (1994;Bentin et al., 1995) and Rabinowitz et al. (1982), the encoding of core semantic features requires attention, or (b) that the memorial vestiges of automatic semantic processing during word identification influence only some long-term memory tests. ...
The Role of Attention During Encoding in Implicit and Explicit Memory
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 1998
In 5 experiments, participants read study words under conditions of divided or full attention. Dividing attention reduced performance on the general knowledge test, a conceptual implicit test of memory. Likewise, dividing attention reduced conceptual priming on the word-association task, as well as on a matched explicit test, associate-cued recall. In contrast, even very strong division of attention did not reduce perceptual priming on word-fragment completion, although it did reduce recall on the matched explicit test of word-fragment-cued recall. Finally, dividing attention reduced recall on the perceptual explicit tests of graphemic-cued recall and graphemic recognition. The results indicate that perceptual implicit tests rely minimally on attention-demanding encoding proceses relative to other types of memory tests. The obtained pattern of dissociations is not readily accommodated by the transfer-appropriate-processing (TAP) account of implicit and explicit memory. Potential extensions of the TAP view are discussed.
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... Many factors could explain why an individual remembers the gist but not the specifics of an episode, including how old the individual is (Abadie et al., 2021;Brainerd & Reyna, 2015;Craik, 2002a;Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2020, 2023aSchacter et al., 1997;Tun et al., 1998), how attentionally demanding it is to encode or retrieve specific versus gist representations (Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2022b, 2022d, 2023bLuo & Craik, 2009;Odegard & Lampinen, 2005;Rabinowitz et al., 1982), and how much time has elapsed between encoding and subsequent retrieval (Andermane & Bowers, 2015;Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2022a, 2022b, 2023cSachs, 1967;Sekeres et al., 2016;Thorndyke, 1977). One critical mechanism that may mediate these other factors is the amount of time required to encode the gist versus the specifics of an episode (Ahmad et al., 2017;Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2023e;Navon, 1977;Tatler et al., 2003). ...
... The encoding of specific representations is more attentionally demanding than the encoding of gist representations (e.g., Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2023b;Rabinowitz et al., 1982). Increases in encoding time likely provide older adults, like younger adults, with sufficient time to attend to the specific, perceptual features of information, thus strengthening their specific representations. ...
The Time Course of Encoding Specific and Gist Episodic Memory Representations Among Young and Older Adults
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2024
How rapidly can we encode the specifics versus the gist of episodic memories? Competing theories have opposing answers, but empirical tests are based primarily on tasks of item memory. Few studies have addressed this question with tasks measuring the binding of event components (e.g., a person and a location), which forms the core of episodic memory. None of these prior studies included older adults, whose episodic memories are less specific in nature. We addressed this critical gap by presenting face–scene pairs (e.g., an old man with a park) at various encoding presentation rates to 80 young (M = 21.83 years) and 86 older (M = 68.62 years) adults. Participants completed associative recognition tests featuring old/intact (e.g., the old man with the same park), similar (e.g., the old man with a different park), and unrelated (e.g., the old man with a kitchen) pairs. Multinomial-processing-tree model analyses revealed that young and older adults encoded each pair’s gist representation more rapidly than its specific representation, supporting fuzzy-trace theory. No age-related differences in gist representations were obtained at any presentation rate, but older adults required more time to encode specific representations commensurate with those of younger adults. However, older adults’ abilities to retrieve these representations were cue-dependent, as they were more susceptible than younger adults to experiencing vivid false memories of similar lures. These phantom recollections were remediated with further increases in encoding time. Thus, slower speed of encoding partially underlies age-related declines in episodic memory specificity, but retrieval mechanisms also play a role.
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... To explain this pattern of results, FTT posits that divided attention harms verbatim memory more than gist memory. This proposition is based on the assumption that encoding of verbatim traces (the integrated representation of specific surface details) demands greater attentional commitment than encoding of gist traces (the general meaning), as the latter is assumed to occur relatively automatically (Rabinowitz et al., 1982;Rumelhart & McClelland, 1985). This assumption is supported by the evidence that disruption of verbatim memory emerges with weaker forms of attentional interference compared to gist memory (Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2023). ...
True and False Recognition in MINERVA2: Integrating Fuzzy-Trace Theory and Computational Memory Modeling
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2025
Previous research suggests that the MINERVA2 model can capture basic Deese/Roediger/McDermott (DRM) false recognition findings with either randomized representations or distributional semantic representations. In the current article, we extended this line of research by showing that MINERVA2 can accommodate not only basic DRM recognition findings but also the effects of various theory-driven manipulations. Importantly, we incorporated two assumptions of fuzzy-trace theory into MINERVA2: the verbatim–gist distinction and hierarchies of gist. To implement the verbatim–gist distinction, we represented local gist traces with distributional semantic vectors and verbatim traces with holographic word-form vectors. With separate representations incorporated, MINERVA2 successfully simulated a wide range of empirical effects in the DRM illusion, as well as remember/know and source judgments. To incorporate hierarchies of gist into the framework, we added an assumption that an item’s storage quality depends on its semantic similarity to the preceding item. This accommodated the effect of global gist beyond that of local gist and solved the problem of storage independence in multitrace models of episodic memory. Our findings provided extensive evidence that MINERVA2 is a viable candidate for scalable modeling of the DRM illusion and strengthened the connection between computational modeling and substantive theories of false memory.
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... Consequently, participants under threat did not benefit from the effect of imagery strategy, in contrast to those in the control group whose memory performance improved through use of the imagery strategy. When under threat, participants have to manage intrusive thoughts and stress; consequently, their cognitive resources are less available to perform a task, especially when this requires high cognitive resources, notably for older adults whose cognitive resources are reduced due to aging (Rabinowitz et al., 1982). ...
Openness to experience, a personality trait that reduces susceptibility to memory age-based stereotype threat
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2024
Introduction Age-based stereotype threat (ABST), the concern of being judged according to a negative age stereotype may lead to underperformance in the stereotype domain. The present study aims to replicate the negative effect of ABST on episodic memory. Importantly, we further examine openness to experience as a potential buffer of the ABST effect as well as the role that different memory strategies may play in episodic memory performance. Method Seventy-five older adults were randomly assigned to the ABST condition or the control condition before taking a word-stem cued recall memory task. They learned word-lists with either a repetition strategy, low resource demanding but less efficient, or a mental imagery strategy, high resource demanding but more efficient. Openness was measured with the Big-5 personality questionnaire. Results ABST reduced memory performance and disrupted more the recall of words learned with the imagery strategy. The results also showed that openness predicted recall performance associated with the imagery strategy only in the threatened group. Conclusion These results indicated that a high level in openness may disrupt the negative effect of ABST by improving the capacity of threatened people to execute efficient, resource demanding memory strategies. This finding supports the idea that contextual factors as well as individual characteristics such as personality, need to be considered when assessing episodic memory in aging.
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... One such factor is aging. An examination of existing research across a variety of domains suggests that older adults' representations are more general (e.g., Rabinowitz, Craik, & Ackerman, 1982), contain less source-related information (e.g., Hashtroudi, Johnson, & Chrosniak, 1989), are more affected by irrelevant information (e.g., Hess, McGee, Woodburn, & Bolstad, 1998), are less likely to contain unexpected information (e.g., Hess & Tate, 1991), and emphasize different types of event information (e.g., Carstensen & Turk-Charles, 1994;Hess, Bolstad, Woodburn, & Auman, 1999) than representations of younger adults. Although there are notable exceptions (e.g., Adams, 1991;Carstensen & Turk-Charles, 1994;Hess, 1999), most hypotheses concerning the source of this age-related variability in representational processes are based in decrements in basic cognitive functions, such as processing speed (Salthouse, 1996), inhibitory functions (Hasher & Zacks, 1988), or working memory (e.g., Park et al, 1996). ...
Motivation and Representational Processes in Adulthood: The Effects of Social Accountability and Information Relevance
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2001
The role of motivation in determining age differences in social representations was examined. Adults aged 20 to 83 years were given an impression formation task that attempted to manipulate motivation by varying the characteristics of the target and the extent to which participants would be held accountable for their impressions. It was hypothesized that increasing age would be associated with greater selectivity in the use of available cognitive resources to support the construction of accurate representations. Support for this hypothesis was obtained when trait inferences and recall were examined. Specifically, older adults made more accurate trait inferences and recalled more information when the target was similar in age or they were held accountable for their impressions. In contrast, younger adults demonstrated similar levels of accuracy across conditions. The fact that these effects were observed when cognitive resources was controlled suggests a motivational effect that is independent of age differences in cognitive ability.
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... Age-related differences in perceptual specificity for voice information, according to this account, are a result of older adults having less access to voice and other nonlinguistic properties stored in these episodic representations. Consistent with this proposal are findings of age-related deficits in reporting perceptual-contextual details of both spoken and written words (Craik & Byrd, 1982;Rabinowitz, Craik, & Ackerman, 1982;Spencer & Raz, 1995). For example, a meta-analysis (Spencer & Raz, 1995) conducted to examine age differences in memory for content versus context found reliably greater age differences in remembering contextual details of both auditory and visual stimuli. ...
Perceptual Specificity and Implicit Auditory Priming in Older and Younger Adults
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 1999
Age differences in perceptual specificity for implicit auditory priming were examined in 3 experiments. All 3 experiments began with a study phase during which participants rated words based on perceptual (shallow encoding) or semantic (deep encoding) attributes. After the study phase, participants were asked to identify filtered versions of repeated and new words (implicit test) and then to make old/new recognition judgments (explicit test). In contrast to earlier findings (D. L. Schacter, B. Church, & D. M. Osowiecki, 1994), older and younger adults were equally sensitive to study-to-test changes in speaking rate (Experiment 1), fundamental frequency (Experiment 2), and voice (Experiment 3). Explicit memory, in contrast, was significantly poorer for older adults but was minimally affected by changes in surface features. Findings from the study are discussed with respect to their implications for establishing the mechanisms mediating perceptual specificity and for their importance in understanding age-related changes in implicit memory.
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... The role of processing resources in encoding of new memories has been investigated at length using verbal stimuli (Craik &Byrd, 1982;Perlmutter& Mitchell, 1982;Rabinowitz, Craik, & Ackerman, 1982;Smith, 1980;Waugh & Barr, 1982). The role of processing resources in retrieval, on the other hand, has been the focus of relatively few studies. ...
Age Differences in Retrieval: Further Support for the Resource-Reduction Hypothesis
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 1996
Age differences in processing resources seem salient to age-related declines in secondary (or “recent”) memory. Community-dwelling adults (N = 90, ages 30–80) completed 4 memory tests: Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised (WMS–R) Logical Memory (LM), Cowboy Story (CS), WMS–R Visual Reproductions (VR), and Extended Complex Figure Test (ECFT; Fastenau, in press). Two space-capacity measures (WMS–R Digit Span and Visual Memory Span) and 4 processing speed measures (cancellation and mental-tracking tasks) assessed processing resources. A statistical control procedure was used to isolate retrieval efficiency and measure contributions of age and processing resources to retrieval. A negative relationship between age and retrieval efficiency emerged on all measures (p < .05). The age effect was reduced 60% on LM and CS when processing resources were controlled, eliminated for VR, and unchanged on ECFT. It is possible that visual–spatial retrieval requires fewer processing resources than does verbal retrieval.
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... 208). Similarly, Rabinowitz, Craik, and Ackerman (1982) suggested that older adults do not create distinctive, contextually specific encoding of new events. In one of their studies, target words at the study phase were paired with either weak or strong associates. ...
Memory for Context and Its Use in Item Memory: Comparisons of Younger and Older Persons
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 1995
This study compared memory for words and the font in which they appeared (or the voice speaking them) in young and old participants, to explore whether age-related differences in episodic word memory are due to age-related differences in memory for perceptual–contextual information. In each of 3 experiments, young and older participants were presented with words to learn. The words were presented in either 1 of 2 font types, or in 1 of 2 male voices, and participants paid attention either to the fonts or voices or to the meaning of the words. Participants were then tested on both word and font or voice memory. Results showed that younger participants had better explicit memory for font and voice memory and for the words themselves but that older participants benefited at least as much as younger people when perceptual characteristics of the words were reinstated. There was no evidence of an age-related impairment in the encoding of perceptual–contextual information.
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Who said what to whom? Memory for sources and destinations in monolinguals and bilinguals
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  • Jun 2024
Two experiments with monolingual and bilingual participants tested memory for sources (speakers) and destinations (listeners) in conversations consisting of self-referential statements. In Experiment 1, participants directly interacted in English conversations with audio-visually recorded confederates. In Experiment 2, participants observed recorded conversations among confederates. In both conversational situations, source memory was more accurate than destination memory, indicating that the attentional resources consumed by self-focus or sentence production/completion do not explain why destinations are less well remembered than sources in direct-interaction conversations. Source and destination memory were positively associated with item memory at the participant level, indicating that stronger item encoding is associated with stronger encoding of contextual information. In the observed conversations, source and destination accuracy were negatively associated at the trial level, indicating that these features of the memory episode are not encoded independently, and there is a tradeoff in the encoding of these contextual features. Item memory did not differ for monolinguals and bilinguals and was positively associated with proficiency only in conversations with direct interaction. In the observational setting (but not the direct-interaction setting), source and destination memory were more accurate for bilinguals than monolinguals. This finding suggests that bilinguals allocate attention more efficiently than monolinguals when the cognitive demands of sentence production are eliminated. Proficiency in English was positively associated with memory for the appropriate conversational partner only when participants had to produce sentence frames and complete them with self-generated information, suggesting that language proficiency is beneficial when cognitive demands are high.
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Memorial consequences of automatized encoding
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 1975
  • J Exp Psychol Hum Learn Mem
Exp I tracked the acquisition of skilled reading as 12 undergraduates read as many as 160 pages of geometrically inverted text. The logarithm of reading time decreased linearly as a function of the logarithm of amount of practice, and performance on inverted text approached performance on normal text remarkably rapidly. Exp II assessed the consequence for memory of skill at reading. 8 undergraduates unpracticed at reading inverted text remembered for lengthy intervals the inverted sentences they read; when Ss acquired skill with the typography, their memory for inverted sentences was poorer. Results are interpreted in terms that emphasize an operational basis to memory--pattern-analyzing procedures rather than conscious contents. This view is contrasted with 3 other accounts of recognition. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory
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Full-text available
  • Mar 1977
Tested the 2-process theory of detection, search, and attention presented by the current authors (1977) in a series of experiments. The studies (a) demonstrate the qualitative difference between 2 modes of information processing: automatic detection and controlled search; (b) trace the course of the learning of automatic detection, of categories, and of automatic-attention responses; and (c) show the dependence of automatic detection on attending responses and demonstrate how such responses interrupt controlled processing and interfere with the focusing of attention. The learning of categories is shown to improve controlled search performance. A general framework for human information processing is proposed. The framework emphasizes the roles of automatic and controlled processing. The theory is compared to and contrasted with extant models of search and attention. (31/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Category norms of verbal items in 56 categories A replication and extension of the Connecticut category norms
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 1969
  • J Exp Psychol
Presents complete normative data for responses to 56 verbal categories by students from the universities of Maryland (N = 270) and Illinois (N = 172). All 43 categories from the Connecticut norms are included, and complete data are presented for all responses given by each S to each category label within 30 sec. Additional data include (1) number of times each response was given 1st and mean rank of each response; (2) correlations between the various measures and between the Maryland and Illinois samples for each category; and (3) "category potency" measures and ratings for each category. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Associative encoding and retrieval: Weak and strong cues
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 1970
  • J Exp Psychol
Reports data from 3 experiments in support of the encoding specificity hypothesis of retrieval: the effectiveness of retrieval cues depends upon the specific format of encoding of the to-be-remembered (TBR) words at the time of their storage, regardless of how strongly the cues are associated with the TBR words in other situations. In the critical experimental conditions, TBR words were studied in presence of weakly associated cue words. 180 female undergraduates served as Ss. Recall of the TBR words in the presence of these cues was greatly facilitated in comparison with noncued recall; recall of the TBR words in presence of their strongest normative associates, which had not been seen at input, did not differ from noncued recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Encoding Specificity and Retrieval Processes in Episodic Memory
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 1973
Recent changes in pretheoretical orientation toward problems of human memory have brought with them a concern with retrieval processes, and a number of early versions of theories of retrieval have been constructed. This paper describes and evaluates explanations offered by these theories to account for the effect of extralist cuing, facilitation of recall of list items by non-list items. Experiments designed to test the currently most popular theory of retrieval, the generation-recognition theory, yielded results incompatible not only with generation-recognition models, but most other theories as well: under certain conditions subjects consistently failed to recognize many recallable list words. Several tentative explanations of this phenomenon of recognition failure were subsumed under the encoding specificity principle according to which the memory trace of an event and hence the properties of effective retrieval cue are determined by the specific encoding operations performed by the system on the input stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Automatic and Effortful Processes in Memory
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 1979
Proposes a framework for the conceptualization of a broad range of memory phenomena that integrates research on memory performance in young children, the elderly, and individuals under stress with research on memory performance in normal college students. One basic assumption is that encoding operations vary in their attentional requirements. Operations that drain minimal energy from limited-capacity attentional mechanisms are called automatic. Automatic operations function at a constant level under all circumstances, occur without intention, and do not benefit from practice. Effortful operations, such as rehearsal and elaborative mnemonic activities, require considerable capacity, interfere with other cognitive activities also requiring capacity, are initiated intentionally, and show benefits from practice. A 2nd assumption is that attentional capacity varies both within and among individuals. Depression, high arousal levels, and old age are variables thought to reduce attentional capacity. The conjunction of the 2 assumptions of the framework yields the prediction that the aged and individuals under stress will show a decrease in performance only on tasks requiring effortful processing. Evidence from the literature on development, aging, depression, arousal, and normal memory is presented in support of the framework, and 4 experiments with 301 5–40 yr old Ss are described. (5½ p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Levels of Processing: A Framework for Memory Research
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 1972
This paper briefly reviews the evidence for multistore theories of memory and points out some difficulties with the approach. An alternative framework for human memory research is then outlined in terms of depth or levels of processing. Some current data and arguments are reexamined in the light of this alternative framework and implications for further research considered.
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Remembering operations
Article
  • Sep 1973
  • MEM COGNITION
Two commonplace assumptions about encoding are that sentences are encoded and recognized on the basis of their semantic features primarily and that information regarding form features such as typography is typically ignored or discarded. These assumptions were tested m the present experiment where, within a signal-detection paradigm, S sorted sentences according to whether he had seen them before or not (old vs new) and, if they were old, whether their reappearance was in the same typography as on the first occurrence or a different one. Of the two typographies, one was familiar and the other unfamiliar. Results show that a considerable amount of information regarding surface features is stored for many minutes and that ease of initial encoding is inversely related to likelihood of subsequent recognition: sentences in the unfamiliar typography were remembered better. The results are probably not due to time spent encoding; control tests suggest that time spent encoding a difficult typography does not by itself increase recognition of the semantic content embodied in the typography. Other control tests show that pictorial features or images of the sentences play no significant role in their subsequent recognition. One interpretation of the results is that the analytic activities or cognitive operations that characterize initial acquisition play a significant role in subsequent recognition.
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Human Memory
Article
  • Jan 1979
[reviews] research on adult age differences in human memory . . . conducted very largely within the framework of current theoretical views of memory / organized in terms of the topics and concepts suggested by these approaches / the literature on memory and aging is now so extensive that the review must be selective—we [the authors] focus on topics of current debate and largely on research reported in the last 10 years approaches to the study of memory [memory stores, processing models, memory systems] / empirical evidence [sensory and perceptual memory, short-term and working memory, age differences in working memory] / age differences in encoding [qualitative differences in encoding] / age differences in retrieval / age differences in nonverbal memory / age differences in memory of the past and for the future / aging and memory systems (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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A review of theories of human amnesia
Article
  • May 1981
Six theories of human amnesia are examined. Each is categorized according to the processing ability that is conceived to underlie the amnesic deficit. The theories fall into one of four categories: consolidation, retrieval, semantic encoding, and context encoding deficit theories. The recently proposed context encoding deficit theories are found to offer the most satisfactory account of the human amnesic syndrome. It is suggested that the other theoretical approaches are best viewed as special cases of these context encoding deficit theories.
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