The production effect is consistent over material variations: support for the distinctiveness account.

The production effect is the superior memory for items read aloud as opposed to silently at the time of study. The distinctiveness account holds that produced items benefit from the encoding of additional elements associated with the act of production. If so, then that benefit should be consistent regardless of item type. Three experiments, using three different sets of materials and three different methods, tested this hypothesis. Experiment 1, using recognition testing, showed consistent production benefits for high and low frequency words. Experiment 2, using free recall, showed consistent production increments for pictures and words. Experiment 3, using incidental learning, showed consistent production benefits for recognition of nonwords and words. Taken together, these results fit with the distinctiveness account: Production at encoding dependably adds information to the memory record, regardless of item type or method of testing, producing a consistently reliable memory benefit.

The influence of cue probability on item and source judgments in item method directed forgetting.

The current study examined how selective rehearsal strategies in item method directed forgetting are influenced by the probability of remember or forget cues from different sources. In four experiments, study words were presented by one of two sources in an item method directed forgetting paradigm. In all experiments, one source was mostly-remember (presenting twice as many remember as forget words) and the other source was mostly-forget (presenting twice as many forget as remember words). Participants completed item recognition tests (providing cue tags in Experiment 2) with source judgments. Item recognition of forget words was generally greater for the mostly-remember source than for the mostly forget source, whereas recognition of remember words was largely unaffected by source cue probability. Source judgments were consistent with heuristic guessing based on memory strength and knowledge of source cue probability. Experiment 4 analysed overt rehearsal, and showed that words from the mostly-remember source were more likely to be rehearsed prior to the memory cue. Results are discussed in terms of the influence that source cue probability knowledge has on selective rehearsal strategies, recognition decisions, and source memory attributions.

Pre-experimental sleep effects on directed forgetting.

A directed forgetting (DF) paradigm was used to compare the remembering and forgetting of participants with good sleep quality to those with poor sleep quality and the presence of insomnia symptoms. This study implemented a point system in place of remember and forget instructions in a DF task with the goal of computing DF costs and benefits. Relations among memory, sleep, and working memory capacity (WMC) were also examined. DF benefits were observed in both groups, with negative costs found for participants without the presence of insomnia symptoms. WMC was found to be related to memory for positive point items only, and did not differ based on sleep quality. These results suggest that the presence of self-reported insomnia symptoms does not affect performance on a DF task.

Misleading emotions: judgments of learning overestimate recognition of negative and positive emotional images.

Research has shown that memory predictions are higher for emotional words, pictures, and facial expressions, relative to neutral stimuli, with recognition memory performance often not following the same pattern as predictions. Memory predictions for negative emotional images have not yet been examined. The current study examined how memory predictions and recognition memory for negative and positive emotional images differed from neutral images. Participants studied a mixed list of positive, negative, and neutral images and predicted future recognition by providing judgements of learning (JOLs). JOLs were highest for negative images, followed by positive images and then neutral images. However, recognition accuracy showed the opposite pattern: neutral images were recognised most accurately and negative images were the most poorly recognised. Participants incorporate beliefs and subjective experience in predicting recognition of emotional images, but fail to account for the influences of study and test conditions.

The effects of context in item-based directed forgetting: Evidence for "one-shot" context storage.

The effects of context on item-based directed forgetting were assessed. Study words were presented against different background pictures and were followed by a cue to remember (R) or forget (F) the target item. The effects of incidental and intentional encoding of context on recognition of the study words were examined in Experiments 1 and 2. Recognition memory for the picture contexts was assessed in Experiments 3a and 3b. Recognition was greater for R-cued compared to F-cued targets, demonstrating an effect of directed forgetting. In contrast, no directed forgetting effect was seen for the background pictures. An effect of context-dependent recognition was seen in Experiments 1 and 2, such that the hit rate and the false-alarm rate were greater for items tested in an old compared to a novel context. An effect of context-dependent discrimination was also observed in Experiment 2 as the hit rate was greater for targets shown in their same old study context compared to a different old context. The effects of context and directed forgetting did not interact. The results are consistent with Malmberg and Shiffrin's (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 322-336, 2005) "one-shot" context storage hypothesis that assumes that a fixed amount of context is stored in the first 1 to 2 s of the presentation of the study item. The effects of context are independent of item-based directed forgetting because context is encoded prior to the R or F cue, and the differential processing of target information that gives rise to the directed forgetting effect occurs after the cue.

The influences of valence and arousal on judgments of learning and on recall.

Much is known about how the emotional content of words affects memory for those words, but only recently have researchers begun to investigate whether emotional content influences metamemory-that is, learners' assessments of what is or is not memorable. The present study replicated recent work demonstrating that judgments of learning (JOLs) do indeed reflect the superior memorability of words with emotional content. We further contrasted two hypotheses regarding this effect: a physiological account in which emotional words are judged to be more memorable because of their arousing properties, versus a cognitive account in which emotional words are judged to be more memorable because of their cognitive distinctiveness. Two results supported the latter account. First, both normed arousal (Exp. 1) and normed valence (Exp. 2) independently influenced JOLs, even though only an effect of arousal would be expected under a physiological account. Second, emotional content no longer influenced JOLs in a design (Exp. 3) that reduced the primary distinctiveness of emotional words by using a single list of words in which normed valence and arousal were varied continuously. These results suggest that the metamnemonic benefit of emotional words likely stems from cognitive factors.

A misleading feeling of happiness: metamemory for positive emotional and neutral pictures.

Emotional information is often remembered better than neutral information, but the emotional benefit for positive information is less consistently observed than the benefit for negative information. The current study examined whether positive emotional pictures are recognised better than neutral pictures, and further examined whether participants can predict how emotion affects picture recognition. In two experiments, participants studied a mixed list of positive and neutral pictures, and made immediate judgements of learning (JOLs). JOLs for positive pictures were consistently higher than for neutral pictures. However, recognition performance displayed an inconsistent pattern. In Experiment 1, neutral pictures were more discriminable than positive pictures, but Experiment 2 found no difference in recognition based on emotional content. Despite participants' beliefs, positive emotional content does not appear to consistently benefit picture memory.

Metacognitive monitoring during category learning: how success affects future behaviour.

The purpose of this study was to see how people perceive their own learning during a category learning task, and whether their perceptions matched their performance. In two experiments, participants were asked to learn natural categories, of both high and low variability, and make category learning judgements (CLJs). Variability was manipulated by varying the number of exemplars and the number of times each exemplar was presented within each category. Experiment 1 showed that participants were generally overconfident in their knowledge of low variability families, suggesting that they considered repetition to be more useful for learning than it actually was. Also, a correct trial, for a particular category, was more likely to occur if the previous trial was correct. CLJs had the largest increase when a trial was correct following an incorrect trial and the largest decrease when an incorrect trial followed a correct trial. Experiment 2 replicated these results, but also demonstrated that global CLJ ratings showed the same bias towards repetition. These results indicate that we generally identify success as being the biggest determinant of learning, but do not always recognise cues, such as variability, that enhance learning.

When will bigger be (recalled) better? The influence of category size on JOLs depends on test format.

Although it is well known that organized lists of words (e.g., categories) are recalled better than unrelated lists, little research has examined whether participants can predict how categorical relatedness influences recall. In two experiments, participants studied lists of words that included items from big categories (12 items), small categories (4 items), and unrelated items, and provided immediate JOLs. In Experiment 1, free recall was highest for items from large categories and lowest for unrelated items. Importantly, participants were sensitive to the effects of category size on recall, with JOLs to items from big categories actually increasing over the study list. In Experiment 2, one group of participants was cued to recall all exemplars from the categories in a blocked manner, whereas the other group was cued in a random order. As expected, the random group did not show the recall benefit for big categories over small categories observed in free recall, while the blocked group did. Critically, the pattern of metacognitive judgments closely matched actual cued recall performance. Participants' JOLs were sensitive to the interaction between category size and output order, demonstrating a relatively sophisticated strategy that incorporates the interaction of multiple extrinsic cues in predicting recall.

State-based metacognition: how time of day affects the accuracy of metamemory.

Although there is an abundance of research on how stimulus characteristics and encoding conditions affect metamemory, and how those effects either do or do not mirror effects on memory, there is little research on whether and how characteristics of participants' states-like mood, fatigue, or hunger-affect metamemory. The present study examined whether metamemory ability fluctuates with time of day. Specifically, we evaluated whether learners can successfully account for the effects of time of day on their memory, and whether metacognitive monitoring is more accurate at an individual's optimal time of day. Young adults studied and recalled lists of words in both the morning and the afternoon, providing various metamemory judgements during each test session. We replicated the finding that young participants recalled more words in the afternoon than in the morning. Prior to study, participants did not predict superior recall in the afternoon, but they did after they had an opportunity to study the list (but before the test on that material). We also found that item-by-item predictions were more accurate in the afternoon, suggesting that self-regulated learning might benefit from being scheduled during times of day that accord with individuals' peak arousal.

It's All About That Case.

Prior evidence has indicated that the act of producing a word aloud is more effortful than reading a word silently, and this effort is related to the subsequent memory advantage for produced words. In the current study, we further examined the contributions of reading effort to the overall production effect by making silent reading more effortful. To do this, participants studied words that were presented in standard lowercase font format and words that were presented in an aLtErNaTiNg CaSe font format (which should be more effortful to read). Half of the words in each font condition were read aloud, and half were read silently. Participants completed an old/new recognition test. Experiment 1 was conducted online; Experiment 2 was conducted in-lab and recorded reading times at study to confirm that alternating case font slows reading. In both experiments, we found a production effect in recognition that was uninfluenced by font type. We also found that alternating case font selectively increased recollection (but not familiarity) relative to lowercase font. Thus, the additional time to read words in a disfluent font does not appear to interact with memory benefit of producing words aloud.

Does the Effect of Production Influence Memory for Background Context?

The current study examined whether the benefit of mixed-list production could extend to memory for background contexts using word-background context pairs. Participants studied words presented on background images; words were read aloud or silently. In Experiment 1a, half of the studied items were tested on their studied background image and half were tested on a new image using old-new recognition. Although a production effect in word recognition was observed, context reinstatement had no effect on sensitivity and only a marginal effect on hit rates; it did not interact with production. In Experiment 1b, whether participants encoded the backgrounds and whether that encoding was affected by production was tested using separate recognition tests. A production effect was found in word recognition, but there was no effect in image recognition. Experiment 2 used a cued-recall test, with the studied background images as the cues to directly test whether associations were formed between words and backgrounds at study. A production effect was found but did not interact with the presence of cues during recall. Both the benefit of production and the benefit of context reinstatement appear to be independent of one another, with production not aiding memory for the associations between items nor the context.

Generation (not production) improves the fidelity of visual representations in picture naming.

The production effect refers to the finding that participants better remember items read aloud than items read silently. This pattern has been attributed to aloud items being relatively more distinctive in memory than silent items, owing to the integration of additional sensorimotor features within the encoding episode that are thought to facilitate performance at test. Other theorists have instead argued that producing an item encourages additional forms of processing not limited to production itself. We tested this hypothesis using a modified production task where participants named monochromatic line drawings aloud or silently either by generating the names themselves (no label condition) or reading a provided label (label condition). During a later test, participants were presented with each line drawing a second time and required to reproduce the original color and location using a continuous slider. Production was found to improve memory for visual features, but only when participants were required to generate the label themselves. Our findings support the notion that picture naming improves memory for visual features; however, this benefit appears to be driven by factors related to response generation rather than production itself.

Same faces, different labels: generating the cross-race effect in face memory with social category information.

Recognition of own-race faces is superior to recognition of other-race faces. In the present experiments, we explored the role of top-down social information in the encoding and recognition of racially ambiguous faces. Hispanic and African American participants studied and were tested on computer-generated ambiguous-race faces (composed of 50 % Hispanic and 50 % African American features; MacLin & Malpass, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 7:98-118, 2001). In Experiment 1, the faces were randomly assigned to two study blocks. In each block, a group label was provided that indicated that those faces belonged to African American or to Hispanic individuals. Both participant groups exhibited superior memory for faces studied in the block with their own-race label. In Experiment 2, the faces were studied in a single block with no labels, but tested in two blocks in which labels were provided. Recognition performance was not influenced by the labeled race at test. Taken together, these results confirm the claim that purely top-down information can yield the well-documented cross-race effect in recognition, and additionally they suggest that the bias takes place at encoding rather than testing.

Production benefits learning: the production effect endures and improves memory for text.

The production effect is the superior retention of material read aloud relative to material read silently during an encoding episode. Thus far it has been explored using isolated words tested almost immediately. The goal of this study was to assess the efficacy of production as a study strategy, addressing: (a) whether the production benefit endures beyond a short session, (b) whether production can boost memory for more complex material, and (c) whether production transfers to educationally relevant tests. In Experiment 1 a 1-week retention interval was included, and a production effect was observed. In Experiment 2 a production effect was observed for both word pairs and sentence stimuli. In Experiment 3 educationally relevant essays were read and tested with a fill-in-the-blanks test: Memory was superior for questions that probed information that had been read aloud relative to information that had been read silently. We conclude that the production benefit is enduring and generalises to text and different test formats, indicating that production constitutes a worthwhile study strategy.

Source reinstatement in item-method directed forgetting influences recognition strategies.

In item-method directed forgetting, participants study items paired with instructions to either remember or forget each item for the purpose of an upcoming memory test. Such instructions are effective, in that participants recall or recognize more remember- than forget-cued items when asked to disregard the cues at test. Recent research has shown that context and source information associated with targets at encoding are not subject to any influence of directed forgetting, such that both remember and forget items benefit equivalently from context reinstatement at test. In the present study, remember and forget items were presented by two sources, one of which presented mostly remember items and one of which presented mostly forget items. When the sources were reinstated at recognition, participants displayed more liberal responding to the mostly-remember source, such that item discriminability was actually worse compared to the mostly-forget source. When source information is reinstated at test, participants use their knowledge about the sources heuristically when making recognition judgements. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional memories are (usually) harder to forget: A meta-analysis of the item-method directed forgetting literature.

The current meta-analysis explored whether emotional memories are less susceptible to item-method directed forgetting than neutral memories. Basic analyses revealed superior memory for remember (R) than forget (F) items in both the neutral, M = 19.6%, CI95% [16.1, 23.1], and the emotional, M = 15.1%, CI95% [12.4, 17.7], conditions. Directed forgetting in either valence condition was larger for (a) words than for other stimuli; (b) recall than recognition tests; (c) studies that used recall prior to recognition testing; (d) shorter lists; and (e) studies that included buffer items. Direct comparison of the magnitude of the directed forgetting effect across neutral and emotional conditions within studies revealed relatively diminished directed forgetting of emotional items compared to neutral items, with an average difference of 4.2%, CI95% [2.0, 6.4]. However, the nature of this finding varied broadly across studies, meaning that whether - and to what degree - emotional memories are more resilient than neutral memories likely depends on the methodological features of the study in question. Moderator analyses revealed larger differences (a) in studies for which the emotional items were more arousing than the neutral items, and (b) when buffer items were included. Together, these findings suggest that emotional memories are often more resilient to intentional forgetting than neutral memories, although further research is necessary to characterize the circumstances under which these differences emerge.

Production of picture names improves picture recognition.

Words read aloud are later recalled and recognized better than words read silently: the production effect. Previous research (Fawcett, Quinlan, & Taylor, 2012) has demonstrated a production effect in old/new recognition of line drawings. The current study examined whether production at encoding can improve memory for the visual details of a picture, or whether it is primarily memory for the picture's verbal label that benefits from production. Participants studied a list of photographs of nameable objects by naming half of the objects aloud and half silently. In Experiment 1, a control group completed a free recall test for the object names while the experimental group completed a 4-alternative forced-choice recognition test for the studied pictures and provided confidence judgments in their recognition decisions. Both groups showed a significant production effect. Experiment 2 obtained image typicality ratings and naming data for use in Experiment 3. In Experiment 3, studied items were tested after a 1-week delay in one of three different types of 2-alternative forced-choice recognition test: versus a different picture exemplar of the same item; versus a different picture; or as a verbal label versus a different verbal label. Results showed a significant production effect in all testing conditions, with the magnitude of the effect similar across conditions. Production improves memory for both the visual details and verbal label of pictures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Directed forgetting of visual symbols: evidence for nonverbal selective rehearsal.

Is selective rehearsal possible for nonverbal information? Two experiments addressed this question using the item method directed forgetting paradigm, where the advantage of remember items over forget items is ascribed to selective rehearsal favoring the remember items. In both experiments, difficult-to-name abstract symbols were presented for study, followed by a recognition test. Directed forgetting effects were evident for these symbols, regardless of whether they were or were not spontaneously named. Critically, a directed forgetting effect was observed for unnamed symbols even when the symbols were studied under verbal suppression to prevent verbal rehearsal. This pattern indicates that a form of nonverbal rehearsal can be used strategically (i.e., selectively) to enhance memory, even when verbal rehearsal is not possible.

Aging and recognition memory: A meta-analysis.

Recognizing a stimulus as previously encountered is a crucial everyday life skill and a critical task motivating theoretical development in models of human memory. Although there are clear age-related memory deficits in tasks requiring recall or memory for context, the existence and nature of age differences in recognition memory remain unclear. The nature of any such deficits is critical to understanding the effects of age on memory because recognition tasks allow fewer strategic backdoors to supporting memory than do tasks of recall. Consequently, recognition may provide the purest measure of age-related memory deficit of all standard memory tasks. We conducted a meta-analysis of 232 prior experiments on age differences in recognition memory. As an organizing framework, we used signal-detection theory (Green & Swets, 1966; Macmillan & Creelman, 2005) to characterize recognition memory in terms of both discrimination between studied items and unstudied lures (d') and response bias or criterion (c). Relative to young adults, older adults showed reduced discrimination accuracy and a more liberal response criterion (i.e., greater tendency to term items new). Both of these effects were influenced by multiple, differing variables, with larger age deficits when studied material must be discriminated from familiar or related material, but smaller when studying semantically rich materials. These results support a view in which neither the self-initiation of mnemonic processes nor the deployment of strategic processes is the only source of age-related memory deficits, and they add to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying those changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).